Southern California home prices rose in October, stopping a five-month skid that saw the average home value fall more than $14,000 since April.
In October, the average home price across the six-county region climbed to $860,773 — a 0.01% increase compared to September. However, prices were still down 1.4% compared to October 2024.
Economists and real estate agents say a variety of factors have slowed the market, including high mortgage rates, rising inventory and economic uncertainty stemming from tariffs. The same factors continued in October, but the uptick reflects a slight dip in inventory as more sellers choose to hang on to their homes.
Listings in L.A. County fell 2% month-over-month, and the share of homes with price cuts dropped slightly as well. But there’s still inventory aplenty compared to 2024. In October, there were 19% more homes for sale than there were last year.
Back then, rising mortgage rates were knocking many buyers out of the market. Values started increasing again when the number of homes for sale plunged as sellers backed away, unwilling to give up mortgages they took out earlier in the pandemic with rates of 3% and lower.
Real estate agents say homeowners increasingly want to take the next step in their lives and are deciding to move rather than hold on to their ultra-low mortgage rates. But many first-time buyers, without access to equity, remain locked out.
Add on the economic uncertainty and you get a market that’s noticeably downshifted.
If the Trump administration’s policies end up pushing the economy into a recession, some economists say home prices could drop much further.
For now, Zillow is forecasting that the economy will avoid a recession and home prices will increase over the next year. The real estate firm expects that one year from now, home prices in the Los Angeles-Orange County metro region will be 1.4% higher than they are now, though that number is lower than the estimated national increase of 1.9%.
Housing prices by city and neighborhood
Note to readers
Welcome to the Los Angeles Times’ Real Estate Tracker. Every month we will publish a report with data on housing prices, mortgage rates and rental prices. Our reporters will explain what the new data mean for Los Angeles and surrounding areas and help you understand what you can expect to pay for an apartment or house. You can read last month’s real estate breakdown here.
Explore home prices and rents for September
Use the tables below to search for home sale prices and apartment rental prices by city, neighborhood and county.
Rental prices in Southern California
The median rent across Los Angeles ticked down for the second consecutive month, dipping to $2,206 in October. The downward trend has continued in most markets across Southern California, but the January fires could be upending the downward trend in some locations.
Housing analysts have said that rising vacancy levels since 2022 had forced landlords to accept less in rent. But the fires destroyed thousands of homes, suddenly thrusting many people into the rental market.
Most homes destroyed were single-family houses, and some housing and disaster-recovery experts say they expect the largest rent increases to be in larger units adjacent to burn areas in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with upward pressure on rents diminishing for units that are smaller and farther away from the disaster zones.
A recent L.A. Times analysis of Zillow data found that in ZIP Codes closest to the fires, rents rose more than in the rest of the county from December to April.
Other data sources show similar trends.
In Santa Monica, which borders the hard-hit Palisades neighborhood, the median rent rose 2% in October from a year earlier, according to data from Apartment List.
Apartment List does not have data for Altadena, but it does for the adjacent city of Pasadena. Rents there rose 1.2% in October from a year earlier.
An Altadena mother who came from Bangladesh nearly three decades ago has been detained by ICE. Her family says she is being denied critical medication and fears she may be deported.
Just nine months ago, Masuma Khan was briefly displaced due to the Eaton Fire and now she’s being held in an ICE detention Center. Her family and lawyer tell NBC4 it’s unclear why she’s being held and are fighting to bring her back home.
“She hasn’t done anything that would require this kind of treatment by people in power of the country that she has loved for so long,” said Riya Kahn, daughter of the detained woman.
Riya says her mother has lived in Altadena for nearly three decades. According to her lawyer, Khan came to the United States on a Visa from Bangladesh. Her application for immigration was denied in 1999, and she became undocumented
“My mom has always put her family before everybody else, especially me because I came here got sick and she was taking care of me most of my life, and my father and her are elderly and spent most of their lives together,” said Riya.
Khan has been living with her husband and daughter, both U.S. citizens and filed a petition for immigration status to apply for citizenship.
Her lawyer says Khan has a Final Order of Removal and is in the U.S. under an order of supervision, which requires regular check-ins with ICE, and it was during a routine visit that Khan was detained.
“When ICE asked her to do the check-ins, they made a determination she is not a danger or flight risk, and once you make that determination, the law says you shouldn’t be detained unless you have those findings,” said civil rights attorney Laboni Hoq.
Khan’s family and lawyer say she is being held at the California City Detention Center in Kern County and say her health is deteriorating because she is being denied critical medication for several chronic health conditions.
“It’s been really difficult seeing her struggle to breathe because they are not giving her the medications that she requires and she looks tired, she looks kinda worn down,” said Riya.
Attorney Hoq filed a habeas petition and temporary restraining order, arguing that Khan should be allowed to stay with her family on the terms of supervision because she has done that for years without any problems.
“This really shouldn’t be happening, so that’s frustrating as an attorney and frustrating to the family. We’re just not living in a situation where law and order is followed in the way it always has been,” said Hoq.
Khan’s court date for the temporary restraining order is Nov. 4
ICE and DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Khan’s case.
The firestorms that broke out in January ravaged two distinctly different stretches of Los Angeles County: one with grand views of the Pacific Ocean, the other nestled against the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
But so far, a push from congressional Republicans to investigate the Jan. 7 firestorm and response has been focused almost exclusively on the Palisades fire, which broke out in L.A.’s Pacific Palisades and went on to burn parts of Malibu and surrounding areas.
In a letter to City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, two U.S. senators this week intensified that investigation, saying they want an enormous trove of documents on Los Angeles Fire Department staffing, wildfire preparations, the city’s water supply and many other topics surrounding the devastating blaze.
U.S. Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) asked for records related to several issues raised during and after the Palisades fire, including an empty reservoir and the failure to fully extinguish a previous fire that was later identified as the cause.
In contrast, the letter only briefly mentions the Eaton fire, which broke out in the unincorporated community of Altadena and spread to parts of Pasadena. That emergency was plagued by delayed evacuation alerts, deployment issues and allegations that electrical equipment operated by Southern California Edison sparked the blaze.
Both fires incinerated thousands of homes. Twelve people died in the Palisades fire. In the Eaton fire, all but one of the 19 who died were found in west Altadena, where evacuation alerts came hours after flames and smoke were threatening the area.
Scott and Johnson gave Harris-Dawson a deadline of Nov. 3 to produce records on several topics specific to the city of L.A.: “diversity, equity and inclusion” hiring policies at the city’s Fire Department; the Department of Water and Power’s oversight of its reservoirs; and the removal of Fire Chief Kristin Crowley by Mayor Karen Bass earlier this year.
Officials in Los Angeles County said they have not received such a letter dealing with either the Palisades fire or the Eaton fire.
A spokesperson for Johnson referred questions about the letter to Scott’s office. An aide to Scott told The Times this week that the investigation remains focused on the Palisades fire but could still expand. Some Eaton fire records were requested, the spokesperson said, because “they’re often inextricable in public reports.”
The senators — who both sit on the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs — opened the probe after meeting with reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who lost a home in the Palisades fire and quickly became an outspoken critic of the city’s response to the fire and subsequent rebuilding efforts. At the time, the senators called the Palisades fire “an unacceptable failure of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.”
The investigation was initially billed as a look at the city’s emergency preparations, including the lack of water in a nearby reservoir and in neighborhood fire hydrants the night of the fire. The Times first reported that the Santa Ynez Reservoir, located in Pacific Palisades, had been closed for repairs for nearly a year.
The letter to Harris-Dawson seeks records relating to the reservoir as well as those dealing with “wildfire preparation, suppression, and response … including but not limited to the response to the Palisades and Lachman fires.”
Officials have said the Lachman fire, intentionally set Jan. 1, reignited six days later to become the Palisades fire. A suspect was recently arrested on suspicion of arson in the Lachman fire. Now, the senators are raising concerns about why that fire wasn’t properly contained.
The sweeping records request also seeks communications sent to and from each of the 15 council members and or their staff that mention the Palisades and Eaton fires. At this point, it’s unclear whether the city would have a substantial number of documents on the Eaton fire, given its location outside city limits.
Harris-Dawson did not provide comment. But Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who serves on the council’s public safety committee, made clear that he thinks the senators are confused by Southern California’s geography — and the distinctions between city and county jurisdictions.
“MAGA Republicans couldn’t even look at a map before launching into this ridiculous investigation,” he said. “DEI did not cause the fires, and these senators should take their witch hunts elsewhere,” he said in a statement.
Officials in L.A. County, who have confronted their own hard questions about botched evacuation alerts and poor resource deployment during the Eaton fire, said they had not received any letters from the senators about either fire.
Neither Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger — who currently serves as board chair — nor Supervisor Lindsey Horvath had received such a document request, according to their aides. Barger represents Altadena, while Horvath’s district includes Pacific Palisades, Malibu and unincorporated communities affected by the Palisades fire.
Monday’s letter also seeks records “referring or relating to any reports or investigations of arson, burglary, theft, or looting” in fire-affected areas, as well as the arrest of Jonathan Rinderknecht, the Palisades fire arson suspect. It also seeks documents on the council’s efforts to “dismantle systemic racism” — and whether such efforts affected the DWP or the Fire Department.
Alberto Retana, president and chief executive of Community Coalition, a nonprofit group based in Harris-Dawson’s district, said he too views the inquiry from the two senators as a witch hunt — one that’s targeting L.A. city elected officials while ignoring Southern California Edison.
“There’s been reports that Edison was responsible for the Eaton fire, but there’s [nothing] that shows any concern about that,” he said.
Residents in Altadena have previously voiced concerns about what they viewed as disparities in the Trump administration’s response to the two fires. The Palisades fire tore through the mostly wealthy neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu — home to celebrities who have since kept the recovery in the spotlight. Meanwhile, many of Altadena’s Black and working-class residents say their communities have been left behind.
In both areas, however, there has been growing concern that now-barren lots will be swiftly purchased by wealthy outside investors, including those who are based outside of the United States.
Scott, in a news release issued this week, said the congressional investigation will also examine whether Chinese companies are “taking advantage” of the fire recovery. The Times has not been able to independently verify such claims.
A new kind of financing mechanism approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will keep future property tax revenues within unincorporated Altadena, instead of flowing into the county’s general fund.
Why is that earmark important?
Because the county will use these local funds to pay for replacing damaged Altadena infrastructure such as streets, curbs, sewer lines, street trees, as well as rebuilding Farnsworth Park, the Altadena Senior Center and the Eaton Canyon Nature Center all vaporized by the Eaton fire in January.
Some of these potential projects are aimed at repairing the hidden destruction caused by the extensive and severe firestorm that demolished 9,400 structures including homes, businesses, schools, parks and government buildings.
The county estimates the toll amounts to $2 billion in infrastructure damage — and that includes public parks — as a result of the fire. Without replacing them, the town of Altadena would never come back to life.
To get what’s called tax increment financing, the board approved formation of the Altadena Wildfire Recovery Infrastructure Financing District. The District hopes to raise $500 million over 50 years to use toward projects approved by a five-member Public Financing Authority or PFA.
The PFA would be made up of three Los Angeles County Supervisors and two public members. The first to join so far is Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena. The rest will be appointed by the county’s Chief Executive Office. Anyone from the public interested in joining should contact the county CEO, said Barger.
“This is just one more tool we are using to rebuild — especially on the infrastructure side,” said Barger in an interview on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
“This is clearly a vehicle that would be beneficial, especially as it relates to infrastructure needs in Altadena,” she added.
Closed since the Eaton fire, Charles S. Farnsworth County Park, also known as Farnsworth Park, is a Los Angeles County park in Altadena. The park was photographed on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Michele Zack, Altadena historian and author of historical books on the town, said the new financing district would help with not just replacing Farnsworth Park, but rebuilding it back better.
“You might be able to finance a watershed management project at the park. To try to build in more climate resiliency,” she said on Wednesday. The watershed management at the park had consisted of sandbags, she said. She’d like to see the park used for underground storage of rainwater and mountain runoff.
The new financial district falls under state law that allows creation of Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs) or Climate Resilience Districts (CRDs), which usually take one to two years to get started.
Creation of this district got a boost from the state Legislature. Senate Bill 782 from State Sen. Sasha Perez, D-Pasadena, allowed for a new take on these financial instruments, called Disaster Recovery Districts. The bill, passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week, shortens the time needed to form a district to only a few months.
“This new law provides a streamlined option for cities and counties to establish these districts whose revenues will be dedicated to repairing, rehabilitating, or replacing disaster-damaged infrastructure and to projects such as economic recovery initiatives, resiliency enhancements, small business support, and workforce development programs, while maintaining strong public oversight,” said Perez in a statement on Wednesday.
The county has already established the tax base year of 2024-2025. Any increases in property taxes in Altadena after that is the increment, or difference. That is the money that will go to the Altadena Wildfire Recovery Infrastructure Financing District.
Governing this new district is the PFA, which should be up and running by the first week in December, said Anish Saraiya, aide to Barger who is also a civil engineer. It’s first task is to approve an infrastructure financing plan that allows the county to freeze the tax increment on Altadena properties, he said.
“We need an incredible amount of resources immediately to help us rebuild almost $2 billion dollars worth of damaged infrastructure,” said Saraiya.
Since tax increment monies take awhile to flow, the district will buy bonds to raise capital quickly, he said. “You access the financial markets to issue bonds, to accelerate the funding you need.”
Infrastructure projects will be the District’s main goal. But even with $500 million, it will not be enough to meet the $2 billion need.
Barger said to fill in gaps, she’s looking at philanthropic donations, especially for rebuilding a new Eaton Canyon Nature Center. The L.A. Dodgers Foundation helped fund the rebuilding of Loma Alta Park, she noted.
“Infrastructure includes parks because they are a vital part of Altadena,” Barger said.
Zack said she expects many from Altadena would be interested in serving on the new authority. “For those two community positions there will be a lot of jockeying,” she said.
Wood frames are rising from the ashes of burned-out lots in Pacific Palisades, signaling the start of a new era for the fire-torn community. But down the road in Malibu, the scene is bleak.
Cars wind through a gauntlet of traffic cones and caution tape. Sweeping ocean views are sullied by hollow shells of graffiti-tagged homes and miles of chain-link fencing.
Nearly a year after the Palisades fire, one of Southern California’s most iconic communities is frozen in place.
In Altadena and Pacific Palisades, the two communities hit hardest by the January fires, there are rebuilding permits aplenty. The city of L.A., which is handling most permits in the Palisades, has issued 801 — around 43% of the total applications received, according to data from the state’s rebuilding dashboard. L.A. County, which is handling most permits in Altadena, has issued 577 — around 26% of the total applications received.
So far, Malibu has issued four — about 2% of the total applications received.
“It’s depressing,” said Abe Roy, Malibu resident and professional builder.
In May, Roy was appointed as the city’s first Rebuild Ambassador, a volunteer role created to find solutions to administrative obstacles and speed up the rebuild. He publicly resigned last month, citing frustrations with the slow permitting process.
“If this current pace continues, rebuilding will take way longer than a decade,” he said.
A view of cleared lots and sparse construction after the Palisades fire in the Sunset Mesa neighborhood of eastern Malibu.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
A buyer’s market
In contrast to other California communities, where sprawl and expansion led to skyrocketing populations over the last few decades, Malibu has long embraced “slow growth.” Fewer live there now than when the city was incorporated 34 years ago.
But after roughly 720 Malibu homes burned in the Palisades fire, burned-out lots are sitting empty. Locals are worried that the city may never get fully back on its feet, and property values will suffer. And in a place like Malibu — one of the most expensive markets in the country, where a 10% price drop can mean millions of dollars lost — property values are king.
Of the 160 lots listed this year that are still on the market, 47 have received a price cut.
In the Big Rock neighborhood, a burned lot listed for $1.65 million in September, but that price has already been lowered twice. On Las Flores Beach, an oceanfront parcel hit the market for $3 million in April, but with no takers, relisted for $1.95 million in October.
Roughly 75 lots have sold in Malibu since the fire. But as more homeowners decide to sell instead of rebuild, sales are slowing down — and a buyer’s market is emerging.
“Supply is exceeding demand, and lots are selling anywhere from a 20 to 60% discount,” Roy said. “That’s a premonition for a freefall.”
Roy said the overwhelming majority of residents want to stay and simply replace the home they have. But as applications get kicked back for corrections, and the rebuilding timeline turns from months to years, many are getting discouraged and choosing to sell.
“Remodeling a kitchen or bathroom is onerous for most people. But building a house from the ground up is almost impossible,” Roy said. “After a while, you raise your hand and say, ‘I don’t know how long I can be on this treadmill.’”
Real estate agent Daniel Milstein is currently listing a 3.25-acre lot on a promontory in Carbon Canyon that once held a Mediterranean mansion formerly owned by record producer David Foster. Before the fire, it was listed for $35 million.
After it burned, the lot returned to market at $16 million. But with the slowing market, Milstein is planning to trim the price down to $12 million.
“The property is worth a lot more, but the nuances of building here and the limited permits issued have led to a setback in the market,” he said. “The value will be higher down the road, but there’s a discount for buyers right now.”
Milstein added that the buyer pool is limited to people who can afford to park their money for a while — three years, six years, maybe more. For those hoping to build a house right away, Malibu isn’t an option.
But Milstein said that’s by design.
“Malibu is stringent on permits. But that’s where the value is,” Milstein said. “It’s exclusive. And those that understand that value will be very happy with their property values down the road.”
In the meantime, locals who lost homes are stuck in limbo.
Permit trouble
The choice of whether to sell or stay has been well-documented over the last year, with homeowners in Altadena and Pacific Palisades speaking out about their decision-making process.
But Malibu locals — permit-less and facing rebuild timelines significantly longer than their fellow rebuilding communities — are a bit more circumspect. The Times reached out to over a dozen homeowners with lots on the market, but none wanted to publicly participate in the story.
One homeowner, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution from neighbors or the city, called the past few months “a nightmare.”
“I have friends a few miles east in Pacific Palisades who are starting to build already. I submitted my applications in the spring, the same time as them, but it still hasn’t gotten approved,” said the homeowner, whose Malibu home burned down in January.
The homeowner planned to rebuild the same house that was there before, but their application was sent back because the plans didn’t comply with FEMA’s updated flood elevation standards, which require many rebuilt oceanfront homes to sit higher above the sand.
It’s a snag that several have run into over the past year. One local, whose house survived but sustained smoke damage, told Fox 11 that he may be forced to demolish the property in order to comply with the heightened elevation standards.
Comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla has emerged as a face of the frustration building in Malibu, vlogging about the bleak state of the city. He claims that Malibu is emphasizing the wrong things in its requirements for rebuilding.
Carolla visited a construction site on the beach that was installing 30 caissons six stories deep into the ground. Between the caissons, the seawall and retaining wall, the crew estimated it would cost $2 million to $3 million to install the foundation.
“It’s totally unnecessary. The former structure that was there lasted 75 years, and the tide didn’t get it, the fire did,” Carolla said. “If telephone poles sunk into the soil worked for 75 years, why do we need to build Hitler’s bunker under the sand?”
Carolla said it’s a symptom of the larger trend across L.A. that he regularly complains about: regulations and over-engineering bogging development down to the point where no one can afford to build.
Real estate agent Jason Ventress said the strict rules are limiting the buyer pool for his latest listing, a $12.5-million burned lot spanning half an acre on the ocean.
“The city is bogged down by confusion and interpretations of newly implemented laws that are being contested,” Ventress said.
In addition to the FEMA height requirements, he pointed to Malibu’s new septic standards, which requires rebuilders to replace existing septic systems with onsite wastewater treatment systems, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to install.
Ventress, a fire victim himself dealing with a daunting rebuild, credited the Malibu Rebuild Center as a helpful resource to locals who lost their homes. Opened in March, it serves as a one-stop shop for both homeowners and contractors to ask questions and get help submitting applications.
Yolanda Bundy, who runs the center under her role as Community Development Director, said of the 720 families impacted by the fire, 585 have visited.
Bundy said it’s a necessary resource, since building in Malibu — a land of eroding cliffs and rising sea levels — is trickier than building in the flat lots found in Altadena and parts of the Palisades. She said 50% of burned homes were on the water, and 30% were on steep slopes.
“These homes require septic systems, sea walls, retaining walls and complex foundations. Those come with restrictions,” Bundy said.
Acknowledging the slow pace of permits, Bundy’s team has launched a handful of strategies aimed at streamlining the approval process, highlighting the changes at an Oct. 15 City Council meeting.
According to Bundy, one of the biggest reasons for applications getting bogged down is architectural plans missing necessary notes and numbers. So the city created templates that architects can use to avoid corrections.
The city also trimmed the 12-step application intake procedure down to six steps and beefed up its staff, hiring a case manager to serve as a bridge between staff and homeowners.
Despite only four building permits being issued, Bundy said the collective rebuild is further along than the number suggests. Applications have to pass through two phases: the planning and entitlement phase, and the building and safety review phase. Bundy said half of the roughly 160 applications have passed through planning, but are still waiting to get through the building phase.
“It’s an oversimplification to say that we’re not making any progress compared to L.A.,” Bundy said. “Families are frustrated, but I want every family to know we’re doing our best to get them home.”
Lost identity
As rebuilds get costlier, locals are getting concerned that by the time Malibu eventually gets back on its feet, it won’t feel the same. Lifelong residences will be replaced by Airbnbs, development groups and deep-pocketed foreign buyers with enough time and money to navigate the laborious permit process.
Two brothers from New Zealand bought up $65 million worth of burned-out lots on the beach this year. Ventress said he’s fielding interest from a Canadian development group and a Miami hedge fund for his oceanfront listing.
Milstein said he’s noticed a surge in interest from Europe, Canada and Asia, and roughly a third of his inquiries this year have come from international networks such as private banks and wealth managers.
“There’s fear that Malibu’s identity will change, and that might fuel folks to move as well,” Roy said. “It might not be the Malibu we loved for years, where the bartender knows your drink and you see your neighbors at the local restaurants.”
But Roy said the city should welcome all buyers, international or not. He spoke with the New Zealand duo and said he supports their vision of adding housing.
“People selling lots are in dire straits. They don’t care whether offers come from international buyers or not,” he said. “As long as those people are believing in the future of Malibu and willing to invest.”
Voices across Malibu say the only solution is issuing permits quicker so fire victims want to come back.
“Malibu is a way of life. Most of us are doing our darndest to maintain that way of life,” Ventress said. Seconds later, while driving down Pacific Coast Highway, he passed a naked man walking down the beach.
“He’s got a metal detector or something…no wait, it’s a golf club!” he exclaimed over the phone. “Right now, it’s the wild, wild west out here.”
Lottery billionaire pledges to rebuild fire-ravaged Altadena community
UCLA study reveals severe racial impact of Eaton Fire
Local reactions mixed as Castro buys scorched neighborhood lots
Powerball’s $2 billion winner Edwin Castro has pledged to rebuild his hometown of Altadena in Los Angeles County, Calif., much of which was destroyed by wildfire in January.
Edwin Castro, above, gave his first interview since his 2 billion lottery win to the WSJ as he pledged to restore properties in his hometown, Altadena, Calif. (Image: Fontoura)
The world’s richest lottery winner is one of the biggest buyers of scorched lots in the town, which are being purchased by investors from residents who have chosen to sell up rather than rebuild.
Castro bought his winning lottery ticket in 2022 for $10 from a gas station, Joe’s Service Center, on the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Woodbury Road in Altadena. The fire burned more than 100 homes in Fair Oaks Avenue but spared Joe’s, prompting The New York Times to describe it as “the luckiest gas station in America.”
Devastating Fire
Many others were not lucky. The Eaton fire broke out on the evening of January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. Fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds, it swept down into the foothill communities, hitting Altadena especially hard.
Some 48% of Black households and around 37% of non-Black households were destroyed, according to a UCLA study. That suggests that around 39% of all households were wiped out – devastating for a community of around 43K people.
In total, 31 people died in the numerous California wildfires of January 2025, at least two in Altadena.
I want it to feel like the old neighborhood,” Castro told The Wall Street Journal in his first words to the media since his gargantuan windfall. “Like if you put all those houses pre-fire in a time bubble.”
Castro is looking to build homes for families who want to settle in Altadena, rather than those wanting to rent them out. But he emphasized that he was also looking to make a few bucks from the venture.
“The profit margin doesn’t have to be egregious. But I’m not building these homes just to give them away,” he told WSJ, adding that they might take ten years to build.
Man of Mystery
Castro, who lost a $3 million Malibu mansion to the California fires, has largely been an enigma since his win, but he revealed some details about himself this week to WSJ.
He said he grew up in a middle-class family, and his father was in construction. He was a Boy Scout who spent his childhood going on fishing trips, fixing up old cards, and obsessing about Pokémon and Dungeons & Dragons.
He was renting his home when he won big and working as a private architecture consultant. He is single and wants kids “like yesterday.”
But not everyone is convinced by Castro’s pitch. One resident, whose house was damaged by smoke, complained to WSJ that he was “just another person trying to get some profit.”
San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity Thursday, Oct. 16, began framing the walls for what will be the new home of Kenneth and Carol Wood, an Altadena couple who lived in the community for more than 40 years before the Eaton fire destroyed their home and the homes of their adult children.
It’s the first home Habitat for Humanity will rebuild in Altadena since the fire.
While a series of speakers that included Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, spoke Thursday morning about the impact of the milestone, a small team of construction workers began prepping the first phase of construction.
Wong said there’s no time to waste for what Habitat’s goals.
“As you can tell, construction crew doesn’t really care what we do, they’re moving forward,” Wong said. “The reason why is we’ve got a really tight schedule. It is our goal to make sure that they are home for the holidays.”
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
1 of 12
Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Starting Thursday until Saturday afternoon the construction team and volunteers will be setting up pre-built walls, installing the roof framing and plywood sheeting on the walls.
Kenneth Wood knew people were going to come out to help build his new home but seeing them in action Thursday filled him with appreciation.
“It’s like something that I had heard that would happen, but I’d never seen it,” Wood said. “It’s one thing to hear it and something else to see it and so it’s almost beyond words.”
Wood said living at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains for more than 40 years went beyond his dreams as a child of just being able to see mountains someday.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever live here again,” Wood said. “So to be here, I call it a dream come true.”
Carol Wood said the goal from the beginning was to stay and rebuild in Altadena.
“I don’t know anywhere else I want to go, that was the thought,” Wood said. “Now, how it was going to be possible is another story, but as far as our wish, our hearts were to stay in Altadena.”
That’s where Habitat came into play. The Wood home is the first of 25 rebuilds with the goal of being completed in the next 12 months, Wong said. The Altadena Builds Back Foundation, a creation of the Pasadena Community Foundation, is funding 22 of the 25 rebuilds thanks to a $4.55 million grant.
Wong said while the first batch of homes being rebuild is a start, it’s not enough.
“We need to be doing 25 houses a month,” Wong said. “We need to get things geared up, we need to build things up. Only with all of your support that we will get there. It’ll take us a little while to ramp up but we will get there.”
Construction Director Brian Stanley walked a group of about 60 volunteers through the safety procedures on the work site. Stanley said despite Mother Nature and some mishaps getting all the materials to Altadena putting them a few days behind schedule, the Habitat team would not be deterred.
“This is the last of the old-fashioned barn raisings right where the community gets together, volunteers just to help out,” Stanley said.
Habitat will need about 60 volunteers every day until the target date of completion — around the week of Thanksgiving.
As the frames of the home’s walls were stood up, Stanley said the foundations of future home rebuilds were being laid around Altadena.
Victoria Knapp encouraged the gathered volunteers by explaining the gravity of the work they were about to undertake.
“Your work here matters,” Knapp said. “It matters to me and it matters to Altadena and it matters to the Wood family. So, with that, let’s get building.”
Nonprofit organization Foothill Catalog Foundation helped design the building plans for the Wood’s home and for some of the other planned rebuilds in coordination with Habitat for Humanity.
The catalog includes pre-approved home designs for fire survivors to pick from to speed up the rebuilding process and make it more affordable. The Wood family project is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom 1,160- square-foot home. In the catalog, their home design is called “The Lewis.”
Stanley said prior construction experience is not necessary to be a Habitat volunteer.
“Our staff acts as teachers through the process, and we provide the tools and we do everything we can to keep them safe and so it’s on the job training so to speak,” Stanley said. “So just enthusiastic willingness to help the community is what is really needed.”
Wong said people can help Habitat reach its goals through volunteering their time, money or materials and can visit sgv.habitat.org for more information. He said it’s not too late for fire survivors to apply for the rebuilding program.
“We’re beginning to see the light,” Carol Wood said. “At first it’s like everything is gone, everything is dark, what do we do, where to we go? You just feel out of it. To see everyone working together, coming together to help us it’s so wonderful.”
For the residents of Altadena, California, the beginning of 2025 began with fire, when the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires started burning between January 7, and January 9. Those fires joined a series of smaller fires to burn more than 16,000 buildings across southern California—9,414 of which were in Altadena. Months later, a “second wave of disaster” has hit the area, according to the Wall Street Journal, as investors look to profit off the scorched land.
But one investor is not like the others.
Edwin Castro, 33, who won $2 billion in 2023 after buying a winning Powerball lottery ticket in a local gas station, is hoping to bring the streets of his hometown of Altadena back to its pre-fire state, and he says he wants to make sure families are prioritized in the rebuild.
“I want it to feel like the old neighborhood,” Castro told WSJ. “Like if you put all those houses pre-fire in a time bubble.”
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
With over 9,000 structures gone in Altadena due to the fires, and many residents living in temporary housing waiting to rebuild, Altadena is primed for new developments.
As a real estate development novice, Castro has hired a team of experts, from a design consultant to craft designs and deal with permits, to a community outreach team to connect with local nonprofits and earn the resident’s trust. To date, Castro has spent $10 million for 15 lots of land—and while many investors are pitching multifamily homes— he is proposing single-family units that resemble the area’s architectural vernacular.
According to the Journal‘s report, Castro predicts the massive real estate development project—which includes three-bedroom homes in the small lots, and flashier offerings for the larger pieces of land—will take around 10 years to complete. And while Castro isn’t planning on overcapitalizing on the situation, although he still looks at it as a business opportunity, WSJ revealed.
“The profit margin doesn’t need to be egregious,” he said. “But I’m not building these homes just to give them away.”
Prior to his rebuilding initiative, Castro remained out of the spotlight, using his winning on various investments, including vintage Porsches and multimillion dollar homes, two of which also burned down earlier this year.
And while many residents are praising Castro’s efforts, with one telling WSJ that he felt “better about him than anybody else because he’s from the area,” many are skeptical of Castro’s intentions and long-term effects on diversity.
“The fear is that Black homeownership will drop,” one resident told WSJ.
According to the Journal, Castro says he plans to sell to only those looking to settle down in his hometown, not others looking to buy the developments are rentals or investments. Additionally, he says he is done buying lots, only planning to finish the 15 lots.
“This is for a family that wants to move in,” Castro told WSJ. “Those are the people that need to be looked out for right now.”
This is bigger than football, and no matter what, we’re all on the same team
The amazing residents living here in Los Angeles and the surrounding cities all over Southern California are some of the strongest and most resilient people on Earth. Whether it’s intensely passionate political protests or the second-biggest wildfire catastrophe in California’s history, it’s never a matter of “if” they will recover, but “when” they recover.
Want proof? Look no further than the Donny-Ashley family, a beautiful blended family that sadly lost their home earlier this year during the dreadful Eaton fires that raged in the Altadena area. And like many other unfortunate victims of the terrible fires that ran rampant across Southern California, the Donny-Ashley family was left scrambling about how to proceed after their lives changed forever in the blink of an eye.
“For my husband and I, it felt a lot like losing a loved one. You go through a wave of emotions, like sadness, denial and anxiety,” says Quinn Mitchell-Ashley, a third-generation Altadena/Pasadena native, and loving wife to husband Donny Ashley. Quinn and Donny had just begun to truly settle into their warm Altadena home, along with their wonderful children—Kristina, age 19, Dimitri, age 14, Kenneth, age 11 and Diem, age 1, before disaster struck.
Credit: Los Angeles Rams
Immediately, it was a tough uphill battle for the Donny-Ashley family, with no roof over their heads, and no direction to lean towards; but of course, their first priority was to find proper shelter for the kids. “Thankfully, the perks of being a blended family allowed for our children to have a sense of normalcy with our co-parents,” says Quinn, before continuing on, “There was also the additional struggle of maintaining our clientele and income—as entrepreneurs, losing our home affected our businesses tremendously.”
Eventually, word of the Donny-Ashley family caught wind to Aurianne Tuttle, a hardworking agent for the nonprofit organization, The Change Reaction, that specializes in aiding struggling Angelenos during dire times of need. Aurianne is no stranger to the supportive role, thanks to the massively positive impact made by her own nonprofit operating in the Watts Area, ROC ERA. Once Aurianne connected with the family and heard their story, she felt obliged to do everything in her power to assist them, including partnering with the LA Rams’ charitable initiative, Rams Foundation.
Credit: Los Angeles Rams
“Aware we were one family of hundreds that needed help, we were grateful for even being considered. After four months, we received a request to be interviewed as wildfire survivors, which we now know was only a ploy to surprise us with a new home for a year!” said Quinn.
Scroll to continue reading
Molly Higgins, Executive Vice President (EVP) of Community Impact and Engagement for the LA Rams, was eager to assist after being absolutely blown away by the family’s selflessness upon initially meeting them. “You’ve lost your home, and yet you’re here to learn about ways to help your community. You know, so cool and inspiring,” Molly recalls before continuing, “They were just so grateful to be alive and said that they were just so appreciative of the community and the way that community rallied around them in such a time of loss.”
Through the generous efforts of the Rams Foundation, the Donny-Ashleys, and one other family, were given a rental home chosen through Zillow’s handy rental platform, with one year’s rent completely covered, and the houses fully furnished thanks to a thoughtful $15,000 donation from Bob’s Furniture. Additionally, five LAUSD employees whose homes were affected by the fires would receive rental assistance.
Credit: Los Angeles Rams
“It was a moment that I’ll never forget and probably one of the most, you know, emotional moments and my 24 years with the Rams, and I’ve had a lot of emotional moments along the way, but just to be able to give that family a fresh start and such a beautiful family at that, and just their gratitude and appreciation it was just incredible,” stated Molly.
It’s hard not to root for the Donny-Ashley family. Having overcome so much trial and tribulation, Quinn, Donny, and the children know that second chances rarely come around. But thanks to all the remarkable efforts and contributions of Aurianne Tuttle, the Rams Foundation, and their partners, Zillow and Bob’s Furniture, the Donny-Ashley family hold that second chance in their palms. And while they’re extremely grateful for their new housing, Quinn and the rest of the family know that home isn’t just about the walls around you or the roof over your head—as Quinn says passionately, “Home to us has and always will be family… regardless of relation, status or time!”
The doors and windows are done. The appliances are on the way. The hardwood floors are stacked and ready to lay down.
In January, Ted Koerner’s Altadena house was incinerated in the Eaton fire along with thousands of others.
But today, he and his 13-year-old dog, Daisy, are just weeks from returning to their property after spending most of the year in temporary quarters, and they might be the first Altadenans to move into a completely rebuilt house.
“We’re starting to practice being home,” Koerner said in his front yard, with Daisy at his feet and a work crew applying finishing touches in the living room.
Daisy, a dark-eyed golden retriever with a coat that looks like a luxurious white bathrobe, is the star of this story and the reason Koerner is determined to have the house completed as soon as possible.
“I just want to go home,” said Ted Koerner to neighbors about his home that is being rebuilt.
Daisy, or Daisy Mae, as Koerner sometimes calls her, is well beyond average life expectancy for a golden retriever, and he wanted her to live out her life on the property that was their sanctuary. He feeds her salmon and bottled water; no impurities for his girl, who has Russian and Danish lineage and is as smart as she is sweet, according to the proudest of dog owners.
“That dog has saved my life more times than I can count,” said Koerner, 66, who is single, suffers from bouts of depression, and bonded with Daisy the day he rescued her as a puppy. “She is my service dog.”
They lost everything but each other, and for Daisy’s sake, as much as his own, he has pushed and prodded, eager to get home.
“They framed the whole house, and the garage, in three days. Thirty journeymen framers. Because of her,” said Koerner, his voice breaking as he recalled the house-raising that began in mid-July. “They all understood, if she dies before I get home, don’t finish building it, because I’ll be dead the same day.”
Work continues on Koerner’s home, where he expects to be moving in soon in Altadena.
Koerner believes he’ll be the first person to move into a brand new house in the Altadena fire zone. An L.A. County rebuilding coordinator backed that up, although Victoria Knapp, who chairs the Altadena Town Council, said one other project is speeding toward completion.
Given that two-thirds of the 6,000-plus burned properties haven’t even hit the permitting phase yet, and that it could be a few years before a rebuilt Altadena takes shape, the questions here are obvious:
What magic did Koerner perform to approach the finish line in short order, and are there lessons for others?
Koerner runs an investigations and fraud-prevention company that has had decades of dealings with government agencies and assorted businesses, including insurance companies. So although he was just one David against an army of Goliaths, he was not new to the practice of reloading a slingshot.
Before the smoke of the Eaton fire had cleared, while staying with Daisy at a Pasadena hotel, Koerner met an Army Corps of Engineers official who advised him that once his lot was cleared, he should pour the cement of a new foundation as soon as possible. Whatever it took to make it happen, do it. That would put him at the front of the line in a crowd of thousands rebuilding from scratch.
Koerner took the advice to heart and decided not to wait on an insurance payment, which could be indefinitely disputed and delayed. Instead, he liquidated retirement funds and plowed ahead on his own nickel with the hope of getting reimbursed later.
Koerner and Daisy spend a warm moment together.
Any major construction project is a herding expedition in a blinding fog, and it can be a test of patience and sanity. The plumber is here but the faucets aren’t. The drywall crew shows up but can’t do anything until the electrician runs the wiring. The sprinkling system is done but the inspector just left on a Hawaiian vacation. And the roof tiles were last seen on a pickup truck that might or might not have left a warehouse in Arizona, or possibly New Mexico.
This is why people often crack that you should take the promised cost and timeline of a project, double both, and line up a good marriage counselor. In the aftermath of an epic disaster, you also have to wrangle with the complications of destroyed infrastructure, permitting bottlenecks, insurance disputes and scary levels of contamination.
I know of one company, Genesis Builders, that says it’s managing and speeding the entire process with pre-designed homes that can be completed in 15 months, but I haven’t checked out the details yet.
For those interested in following Koerner’s lead, how best to proceed?
Koerner Lesson No. 1: “Email is not communication.”
And what’s he mean by that?
“If you send an email and wait for a callback, you’re not going to get one,” he said. “No city, no county, no governmental agency is ever ready for a disaster of this magnitude. It’s always going to be chaos.”
He called people, instead, and kept a file of direct lines, or he met with people face to face. He was the proverbial squeaky wheel, never taking no for an answer, and he was able to invest a ton of his own time, even if it meant being on hold long enough to repeatedly read “Old Yeller” and watch the movie.
Koerner heaped praise on Anish Saraiya, director of the Altadena recovery for L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, for helping him navigate the maze. When I used the word “persistent” to describe Koerner, Saraiya corrected me.
“He’s tenacious,” he said.
Saraiya said Koerner has helped identify roadblocks to progress — such as the typical lead time in lining up utility services — and the county is working to streamline the entire rebuilding process for everyone.
Koerner Lesson No. 2: “Make a decision to go home.”
By that, he means get moving, and keep the blueprints simple.
“This is not the time to build a mansion to your legacy,” Koerner said. “Do you want to go home, or do you want to mess with every three inches of where the sink goes, the closet goes, every door, every window? Make a decision and stick with it. … This is not some grand demonstration of your design capabilities. This is about going home, or you go to the back of the line and wait.”
Koerner Lesson No. 3: “Hire a builder who understands the meaning of the word ‘finish.’”
Before the fire, Koerner was having his bathrooms remodeled by Innova Creative Solution, a Van Nuys-based general contracting company. He trusted project manager Jossef Abraham, so he hired him to build his new house. And Abraham, according to Koerner, has kept things moving as promised.
“I think it helps a lot for people who are victims of fire to see progress,” Abraham told me, saying he’s managed the bureaucratic hurdles and made sure his material suppliers are lined up.
The house will be better shielded against fire, Abraham said, with concrete roof tiles, tempered windows, sprinklers and enclosed eaves. He said he’s well aware of Koerner’s bond with Daisy, and although he doesn’t know if he can get man and his best friend home by Halloween, he thinks six weeks is doable.
“Daisy is his entire world and she’s just amazing. What a dog,” Abraham said. ”
Koerner and Daisy sit in the backyard of their Altadena home.
Koerner’s house sits just west of Lake Avenue, where mountain and metropolis meet, with sweeping views across the valley and down to the sea. On clear days, Koerner said, he can see to Dana Point and to Ventura.
He avoided visiting his property before framing began, too depressed by the empty space where home had been since 2006. When Daisy was a pup, Koerner began planting dozens of native plants near the Aleppo pines and fig trees, creating what he called their campground arboretum. Most of which was destroyed.
On a recent visit with Daisy, Koerner took a seat in the front yard, under a heritage oak tree that survived the fire, and looked down the hill toward dozens of vacant lots where houses once stood and disaster seemed remote. Daisy seemed surprised, maybe even confused, by the altered terrain. But she soon fell into a familiar rhythm.
“She immediately walked over to me and wiggled around like goldens do,” Koerner said. “She looked at me, licked my hands, lay down next to my feet and went sound asleep. And the neighbor and I cried a lot because that’s all that matters to dogs, is that they’re with us.”
The 21 year-old performer began his tour with packed shows in San Diego and Los Angeles
2hollis performs ‘eldest child’ at Soma in San Diego on the opening night of the ‘Star’ tour.Credit: (Photo by Natalia Oprzadek)
21-year-old artist 2hollis, an Altadena native, kicked off his highly anticipated ‘Star‘ tour last weekend with epic shows in San Diego and Los Angeles.
The rapper and producer is known for his genre-bending, melodic tracks as well as his electric live shows. 2hollis performed a sold-out hometown show in LA last Tuesday, getting emotional onstage at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
Videos from the concerts show the venue transforming by the track into a nightclub, a raging mosh pit, a rave, and an intimate setting for performing a heartfelt acoustic ballad. 2hollis stopped the show several times to check on fans, who eagerly packed venues to the brim and jumped for every song, as seen in this TikTok posted by a fan.
The young musician released his fourth album, Star, in April 2025 with Interscope Records and is now selling out venues across the US, Canada, and Europe for the Star Tour. The opening show was at SOMA San Diego, where fans lined up hours early hoping to get a coveted barricade spot in front of the stage.
2hollis’ first three albums were self-produced and released, earning him a cult fanbase and spot on Ken Carson’s Chaos Tour as the opener. This past year, he played at Coachella where his live performance got rave reviews from festival goers. Now, 2hollis is headlining the Star Tour, with support from rappers Nate Sib and Rommulas.
Scroll to continue reading
2hollis self-released his first album, White Tiger, in 2022. The album grabbed the attention of experimental rap and EDM fans. His next album, 2, dropped a year later and his track ‘Poster Boy’ was featured in EA Sports FC24’s soundtrack. Boy, his third album came out in 2024 and he announced his first North American tour.
Due to high demand and popularity, 2hollis added another LA show to his tour and will play at the Shrine again on October 27.
Nearly nine months after the Eaton fire destroyed something unique, something beloved, something cherished even more in death, the mountains remain scarred and dusty streets criss-cross the vanished neighborhoods of what is still, essentially, a ghost town.
If it’s true that time heals all wounds, the clock is moving slowly in Altadena, where 9,400 structures were destroyed and 19 lives were lost.
There will be a resurrection, without question. Building permits are grinding slowly through the bureaucracy, hammers are swinging and a new Altadena will one day rise from the ashes.
I know one homeowner who hopes to be in his newly built house in a month or two. Victoria Knapp of the Altadena Town Council told me she knows people who sold their lots immediately after the fire and now regret it. And L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the permitting process has been revamped and she doesn’t sense that many people are bailing on Altadena.
People who were fully committed to rebuilding in the immediate aftermath of destruction are now rethinking it, having grown weary of the slog.
“It could be years of living in a construction zone, and that’s had me awake in the middle of the night with some panic attacks,” said Kelly Etter, who lost the house where she lived with her husband and ran a Pilates studio.
“When I go up there every week,” said Elisa Nixon, whose home was badly smoke-damaged and needs an interior gutting, “I find it really sad and really depressing. I’m trying to imagine myself living there, and it’s really hard.”
Taylor Feltner, who lived with his wife in a smoke-damaged Pasadena home on the edge of Altadena, would like to stay in the area because his wife’s Altadena family is a big part of their lives. But they’re no longer sure what to do or how to decide.
“We have wavered so much throughout this whole process, because every time we have a fight with the insurance company it’s like reliving the trauma of that night over and over again,” Feltner said.
An aerial view of cleared properties and a home under construction this month in Altadena.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
He and his wife are in their eighth temporary home since the fire. His mother-in-law, whose Altadena home survived the fire, wears a mask when gardening in the backyard. Feltner said he and his wife planted fruit trees in their own yard, but wonder if it’ll be safe to eat the fruit when they go back home, given widespread contamination and haphazard testing.
I get it, and I honestly don’t know if I’d be able to endure what people from the Altadena and Palisades areas are going through. I get impatient if a problem isn’t resolved in a day. The fire survivors are in limbo, still, with no idea how many years of upheaval they’re in for.
Joy Chen, co-founder of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, has been tracking community sentiment for months. She said an initial, “almost defiant” sense of pride, with T-shirts and property signs declaring “Altadena is not for sale,” still lingers. But “a dose of reality” has set in.
Here’s what people are sorting through, said Chen:
How long will it take to get back home? Can we afford to rebuild? Will our kids be safe, given lingering contamination? Is the Southern California Edison settlement proposal a fair deal or a ploy to avoid bigger payouts? Will the new Altadena remotely resemble the place we loved? And will we ever sleep well in an area that has not seen the last of wildfires and frightful winds?
Even for those who can see their way past all of that, said Chen, there’s a gap between their insurance settlement and the cost of rebuilding.
“It’s around $300,000 on average,” said Chen, “and that’s a huge hurdle.”
Barger said the settlement proposal from Edison could help close that gap for some people. But the investigation into the fire’s cause is not yet complete, and some lawyers have advised clients not to accept what they consider a lowball offer. And yet, for those who pass up on the offer, it could take years for lawsuits to play out in court.
Chen, a former deputy L.A. mayor, has been demanding that insurance companies deliver what their clients paid for, and imploring state insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara to get tough with them. According to the nonprofit Department of Angels, 70% of the roughly 2,000 insured Eaton and Palisades fire survivors who were surveyed said delays, denials and underpayments are “actively derailing recovery.”
“These delays and denials aren’t just devastating to families, they’re illegal under California law,” said Chen. “It’s Commissioner Lara’s job to stop them. His refusal to act is stalling the entire Los Angeles recovery. Families who spent decades building stability for their kids are watching those futures slip away.”
Lawsuits are pending against multiple insurance companies, including Feltner’s carrier: Mercury.
“They’re fighting us on everything,” said Feltner, who has filed complaints with what he called the “toothless” state insurance commission.
For one Altadena family, whose house survived with minimal damage, it wasn’t an insurance issue that exhausted their resolve. Initially committed to moving back in, they later sold their house and relocated to another area. They asked me to withhold their names for privacy reasons.
“It boiled down to risk,” said the husband, citing concerns about contamination, years of construction noise and dust, and the impossibility of knowing if the new Altadena will resemble the one that drew them there in the first place.
A sign adorns a homeowner’s Altadena property.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
“It was a head decision and not a heart decision,” said his wife, who still feels attached to her home, her street, and to Altadena. “I don’t think that will go away. Obviously, this trauma is a part of us now, but our heart and our memories will always be there.”
Tim Kawahara, executive director of the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, grew up in Altadena and his mother still lives there in a house that survived the fire. The rebuilding of Altadena is in the early stages, he said. With thousands of separate projects to push through the permitting process, and a construction workforce shortage compounded by immigration raids, the new Altadena is not yet on the horizon.
“You’re talking about three years to start seeing some considerable building happening, and probably more like five years for something happening at some big level. But it could take up to 10 years,” Kawahara said. “And it’s not just homes. It’s schools, parks, libraries, police stations and infrastructure, too.”
You could argue that there’s something exciting about the chance to draw a new community on the blank canvas of the old one. But that’s a lot to endure if you’re breathing the dust, and as speculators move in and properties turn over, who’s going to be in charge, what will homeowner insurance cost, and will character and history survive?
“People are suffering and struggling to find their way, and they don’t trust anyone anymore,” said Nixon. “And with all of that comes this feeling of, this is too much. It’s hijacked my life, I can tell you that. It’s overwhelming, the amount of work it takes to stay on top of this and also just keep your life balance.”
“Having so many unknowns is just incredibly exhausting and limits capacity for enjoying other areas of life,” said Etter. “The connection to community, to neighbors and fellow survivors has really been a lifeline. There’s shared resources, hugs, and midnight texts in the middle of the night when you’re panicked about whatever.”
In coming weeks, I’ll be exploring different angles of the Eaton fire recovery story, so feel free to share your thoughts with me.
What can be done to speed the process?
What should Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators do to speed fair resolution of insurance disputes?
Given climate change and the fire-prone natural geography, would you consider a move to Altadena?
What will Altadena look like in five years, in 10, in 20?
Deodar cedar trees in Altadena will once again glisten with the twinkle of festive lights since the city’s beloved Christmas Tree Lane is slated to return this winter.
Organizers for the event announced on Saturday that the cherished tradition will go on, months after the Eaton Fire devastated the community.
“This year holds special meaning for our community,” organizers said in the announcement. “After the challenges we’ve faced – especially the impact of the Eaton Fire – we come together not just to celebrate, but to remember, reflect, and rise.”
“Let’s gather as one community, honoring our strength, supporting one another, and kicking off the holiday season with warmth, light, and joy.”
A Winter Festival will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. and the lighting ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. on the main stage. This year’s event – a special one following January’s hardships – serves as a symbol of the community’s resilience and hope as it rebuilds.
Live performances will be made by marching bands, local choirs and musicians. For extra holiday magic, Santa Claus will be present to visit children who attend.
There will also be plenty of opportunity to shop from local vendors and the chance to satisfy one’s sweet tooth with holiday treats for sale. Those who are looking for a full meal can purchase meals from food trucks that will be parked at the event.
In addition to the tree lighting ceremony, the public can participate in a vote for the holiday decorating contest. Homes along Christmas Tree Lane will vie for the coveted recognition to see which house is decorated with the most Christmas spirit.
For more information on Christmas Tree Lane, click here.
California town hopes for Powerball luck after devastating wildfires – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Saturday’s Powerball jackpot soared to $1.8 billion, making it the second-largest jackpot in history. One town north of Los Angeles is looking for a little luck after a devastating year. Elise Preston has the story from Altadena.
Jeremy Culhane will appear as a featured player on the 51st season of “Saturday Night Live.”
Credit: 4kclips via Adobe Stock
Ahead of it’s upcoming 51st season, “Saturday Night Live” has added five new cast members, including L.A. Native Jeremy Culhane.
The 33-year-old actor and writer is from Altadena, a Los Angeles suburb just north of Pasadena. Culhane trained at The Groundlings School, an L.A.-based improvisation and sketch comedy theatre that has a history of producing “SNL” greats like Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph.
Culhane rose to internet notoriety through his viral sketches and regular appearances on Dropout TV. He also performs with the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles, a improvisational sketch comedy group, founded in part by “SNL” alum Amy Poehler.
Culhane’s credits include Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Sex Lives of College Girls, 9-1-1, and Yes Day. He also co-hosts the podcast “Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists” with fellow comedians Kylie Brakeman, Angela Giarratana, and Patrick McDonald.
Following the news Culhane took to his instagram (@jazzy_jelly) to react. Posting the official “SNL” cast announcement, along with a playful childhood beach photo captioned “Holy shit I think.”
Joining Culhane as featured players are Tommy Brennan, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska. This news comes just days after multiple cast members announced their departure from the show, and executive producer Lorne Michaels revealed there would be cast shake-ups post-50th anniversary.
The new season of “SNL” premieres Oct. 4 at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT, live on NBC and Peacock.
With many dreaming big of winning the Powerball’s massive billion-dollar jackpot on Monday, one Altadena gas station that sold a ticket that won the largest jackpot in the game’s history is seeing an increase in traffic from customers hoping to get that same luck.
One by one, lottery hopefuls shuffled into Joe’s Service Center in hopes they’d garner the same luck Edwin Castro did. In November 2022, Castro won the largest Powerball jackpot ever after he purchased a ticket from Joe’s Service Center that ended up being worth $2.04 billion.
Since the gas station sold the lucky ticket, owner Joe Chahayed won $1 million.
Many people may be dreaming of striking it rich as tonight’s Powerball jackpot is worth more than a billion dollars. John Cádiz Klemack reports for the NBC4 News at 6 a.m. on Sept. 1, 2025.
These days, Chahayed still works at his store, despite the generous bonus he was given. He said he used a chunk of those funds to pay for his grandchildren’s college education – all 11 of them. Their ages range from 3 to 30 years, he said.
“Family first, then you can have fun with what you want with the rest,” he said.
If Monday’s drawing garners a single winner, the lump sum cash option for the jackpot will be about $498.4 million. Castro opted for the lump sum and took home $997.6 million.
Chahayed said if he were to see Castro again, he’d greet him just as he does any other customer – a hello and a warm “good luck” to all who purchase lottery tickets from him.
Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini has a big decision on her hands.
For Petrini, the night of Jan. 7 brought total loss. The Eaton fire decimated her quaint home in the northwest corner of Altadena near Jane’s Village, reducing her sanctuary to a pile of rubble.
“I have a spiritual connection to that house,” she said. “It was the only place I felt safe.”
Now, like thousands of others, she’s crunching the numbers on whether to sell her burned lot and move on, or stay and rebuild.
For many, it makes more sense to sell. Experts estimate a rebuild could take years, and navigating contractors, inspectors and governmental red tape, all while recovering from a traumatic incident, just isn’t worth the effort. It’s the reason why lots are hitting the market daily.
But for Petrini — for reasons both emotional and financial, a melding of head and heart — staying is the only realistic option.
Breaking down the math
Petrini, 47, bought her Altadena home, where she lived with her partner and two daughters, for $705,000 in 2019. Built in 1925, it’s 1,352 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on a thin lot of just over 5,300 square feet.
She was able to refinance her loan during the pandemic, lowering the interest rate to 2.75% on a $450,000 mortgage. The move brought her mortgage payments from $3,600 down to $3,000 — a relative steal, and only slightly more than the $2,800 rent she has been paying for a Tujunga apartment since the fire.
The property was insured by Farmers, which sprang into action following the fire, sending the first of her payouts on Jan. 8.
Petrini received $380,000 for the dwelling, an extra 20% for extended damage equating to roughly $70,000, and $200,000 for personal property. She used the $200,000 payout to cover living expenses such as a second car, medical bills and a bit of savings, and also tucked away $50,000 to use toward rebuilding.
She estimates that even the thriftiest rebuild will cost around $700,000, and right now, she can cover around $500,000: the $380,000 and $70,000 insurance payouts, plus $50,000 of the personal property payout she stashed for a rebuild.
To cover the extra $200,000, she received a Small Business Administration loan up to $500,000 with an interest rate of 2.65%, which can be used for property renovations. Once she starts pulling from that loan, she estimates she’ll pay around $1,000 per month, which, combined with her $3,000 mortgage, totals roughly $4,000.
It’s a hefty number, but still far cheaper than selling and starting over.
“I could sell the lot for $500,000, take my insurance payout and buy something new, but my house was valued at $1.2 million,” she said. “So even if I put $500,000 down on a new house, to get something similar, I’d have a $700,000 mortgage with a much higher interest rate.”
As it stands, if she cashed out, she’d be renting for the foreseeable future in the midst of a housing crisis where rents rise and some landlords take advantage of tenants, especially in times of crisis. Price gouging skyrocketed as thousands flooded the rental market in January, leading to bidding wars for subaverage homes. To secure her Tujunga rental, Petrini, through her insurance, had to pay 18 months of rent up front — a total of more than $50,000.
“It sounds so lucrative: sell the land, pay off my mortgage and be debt-free. But then my children wouldn’t have a home,” she said.
Bigger than money
Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini, from left, and her daughters, Marli Petrini, 19, and Camille Petrini, 12, look over the lot where their home stood before the Altadena fire. It was the first time the daughters had looked through the lot.
(Robert Hanashiro / For The Times)
While the math makes sense, Petrini has bigger reasons for staying: she’s emotionally tied to the lot, the community and the people within it.
Altadena is a safe haven for her. She bought her home after escaping a domestic violence situation in 2017. The seller had higher offers, but ended up selling to Petrini after she wrote a letter explaining her circumstances.
It’s also the place where she got sober after abusing stimulants to stay awake and keep things running as a single mom.
“When I was getting sober, I’d go for walks five times a day through the neighborhood,” she said. The trees, the animals, the flowers, the variety of houses. It was — is — a special place.”
Petrini once worked as the executive director of operations at Occidental College, but took a break in 2023 to focus on her children and her health. She and a daughter both have Type 1 diabetes.
Petrini hasn’t been employed since, and her parents helped her pay the mortgage before the fire. She acknowledges that she’s operating from a place of privilege, but said accepting help is crucial when recovering from something.
“Even being unemployed, I just knew I’d be okay here,” she said. “I would trade potting soil to a man who owned a vegan restaurant in exchange for food. You always get what you need here.”
Getting crafty
For Petrini, speed is the name of the game. Experts estimate rebuilding could take somewhere between three and five years or even longer, but she’s hoping to break ground in August and finish by next summer.
In addition to nonprofits, she’s also reaching out to appliances manufacturers and construction companies. The goal is to stitch together a house with whatever’s cheap — or even better, free. She recently received 2,500 square feet of siding from Modern Mill.
“I’m not looking for a custom-built mansion, but I also don’t want an IKEA showroom box house,” she said. “My house was 100 years old, and I want to rebuild something with character.”
To help with costs, she’s also hoping to use Senate Bill 9 to split her lot in half. She’d then sell the other half of the property to her contractor, a friend, for a friendly price of $250,000.
Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini is diving into the complicated process of staying in Altadena and rebuilding her property.
(Robert Hanashiro / For The Times)
To speed up the process, she’s opting for a “like-for-like” rebuild — structures that mirror whatever they’re replacing. For such projects, L.A. County is expediting permitting timelines to speed up fire recovery.
So Petrini’s new house will be the exact same size as the old one: 1,352 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. She submitted plans in early June and expects to get approval by the end of the month.
For the design, she turned to Altadena Collective, an organization collaborating with the Foothill Catalog Foundation that’s helping fire victims in Jane’s Village rebuild the English Cottage-style homes for which the neighborhood is known. For customized architectural plans, project management and structural engineering, Petrini paid them $33,000 — roughly half of what she would’ve paid someone else, she said.
“I’m going with whatever’s quickest and most efficient. If we run out of money, who needs drywall,” she said. “I want my house to be the first one rebuilt.”
It doesn’t have to be perfect. Petrini and her daughters have been compiling vision boards of their dream kitchen and bathrooms, but she knows sacrifices will be made.
“It’s gonna be a scavenger hunt to get this done. We’re gonna use any material we can find,” she said. “But it’ll have a story. Just like Altadena.”
When ICE agents raided the construction site of a burned property in Altadena this month, they made no arrests. The man they were after was not there. But the mere specter of them returning spooked the workers enough to bring the project to a temporary halt.
The next day, half of the 12-man team stayed home. The crew returned to full strength by the end of the week, but they now work in fear, according to Brock Harris, a real estate agent representing the developer of the property.
“It had a chilling effect,” he said. “They’re instilling fear in the workers trying to rebuild L.A.”
Harris said another developer in the area started camouflaging his construction sites: hiding Porta Potties, removing construction fences and having workers park far away and carpool to the site so as not to attract attention.
The potential of widespread immigration raids at construction sites looms ominously over Los Angeles County’s prospects of rebuilding after the two most destructive fires in its history.
A new report by the UCLA Anderson Forecast said that roundups could hamstring the colossal undertaking to reconstruct the 13,000 homes that were wiped away in Altadena and Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7 — and exacerbate the housing crisis by stymieing new construction statewide.
“Deportations will deplete the construction workforce,” the report said. “The loss of workers installing drywall, flooring, roofing and the like will directly diminish the level of production.”
A house under construction in Altadena.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The consequences will spread far beyond those who are deported, the report said. Many of the undocumented workers who manage to avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be forced to withdraw from the labor force. Their specialties are often crucial to getting projects completed, potentially harming the fortunes of remaining workers who can’t finish jobs without their help.
“The productive activities of the undocumented and the rest of the labor force are often complementary,” the report said. “For example, home building could be delayed because of a reduction in specific skills” resulting in “a consequent increase in unemployment for the remaining workforce.”
Jerry Nickelsburg, the director of the Anderson Forecast and author of the quarterly California report released Wednesday, said the “confusion and uncertainty” about the rollout of both immigration and trade policies “has a negative economic impact on California.”
Contractors want to hire Americans but have a hard time finding enough of them with proper abilities, said Brian Turmail, a spokesperson for the Associated General Contractors of America trade group.
“Most of them are kind of in the Lee Greenwood crowd,” he said, referring to a country music singer known for performing patriotic songs. “They’d rather be hiring young men and women from the United States. They’re just not there.”
“Construction firms don’t start off with a business plan of, ‘Let’s hire undocumented workers,’” Turmail said. “They start with a business plan of, ‘Let’s find qualified people.’ It’s been relatively easy for undocumented workers to get into the country, so let’s not be surprised there are undocumented workers working in, among other things, industries in construction.”
The trade group said government policies are partly to blame for the labor shortage. About 80% of federal funds spent on workforce development go to encouraging students to pursue four-year degrees, even though fewer than 40% of Americans complete college, Turmail said.
“Exposing future workers to fields like construction and teaching them the skills they need is woefully lacking,” he said. “Complicating that, we don’t really offer many lawful pathways for people born outside the United States to come into the country and work in construction.”
A home under construction in Altadena, where immigration agents visited earlier this month.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The recently raided Altadena project had plenty of momentum before the raid, Harris said. The original house burned in the Eaton fire, but the foundation survived, so the developer, who requested anonymity for fear of ICE retribution, purchased the lot with plans to rebuild the exact house that was there.
Permits were quickly secured, and the developer hoped to finish the home by December. But as immigration raids continue across L.A. County, that timeline could be in jeopardy.
“It’s insane to me that in the wake of a natural disaster, they’re choosing to create trouble and fear for those rebuilding,” Harris said. “There’s a terrible housing shortage, and they’re throwing a wrench into development plans.”
Los Angeles real estate developer Clare De Briere called raids “fearmongering.”
“It’s the anticipation of the possibility of being taken, even if you are fully legal and you have your papers and everything’s in order,” she said. “It’s an anticipation that you’re going to be taken and harassed because of how you look, and you’re going to lose a day’s work or potentially longer than that.”
De Briere helped oversee Project Recovery, a group of public and private real estate experts who compiled a report in March on what steps can be taken to speed the revival of the Palisades and Altadena as displaced residents weigh their options to return to fire-affected neighborhoods.
The prospect of raids and increased tariffs has increased uncertainty about how much it will cost to rebuild homes and commercial structures, she said. “Any time there is unpredictability, the market is going to reflect that by increasing costs.”
The disappearance of undocumented workers stands to exacerbate the labor shortage that has grown more pronounced in recent years as construction has been slowed by high interest rates and the rising cost of materials that could get even more expensive because of new tariffs.
“In general, costs have risen in the last seven years for all sorts of construction,” including houses and apartments, said Devang Shah, a principal at Genesis Builders, a firm focused on rebuilding homes in Altadena for people who were displaced by the fire. “We’re not seeing much construction work going on.”
The slowdown has left a shortage of workers as many contractors consolidated or got out of the business because they couldn’t find enough work, Shah said.
“When you start thinking about Altadena and the Palisades,” he said, “limited subcontractors can create headwinds.”
On a sunny Tuesday in Anaheim in the parking lot of a firefighter training center, a tiny house burst into flames while its neighbor survived.
The fiery display was part of a demonstration showcasing the effectiveness of wildfire defense strategies, and it could serve as a road map for Pacific Palisades and Altadena as the communities begin to rebuild in the wake of the devastating January fires.
The event — co-hosted by the nonprofit research group Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety and the California Building Industry Assn. — pitted two tiny homes, about the size of sheds, against a fire. One was built to typical standards, and the other was built above and beyond, employing a handful of fire-mitigation techniques.
Predictably, the unprotected home met the fate that thousands of structures did during the windy and dry Jan. 7 disaster.
A firefighter lights small ignition points around test houses at an Anaheim site June 10, 2025.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
First, firefighters used drip torches to simulate embers landing around it. Four industrial fans provided the wind, spreading the fire across dry wood mulch onto small shrubs lining the house’s exterior.
Five minutes in, the shrubs crackled as a stack of firewood on the side of the home — a common storage place for properties with wood-burning fireplaces — ignited. Soon, the flames crawled up a tall juniper bush planted on the side of the home, spreading flames onto the exterior wall and roof, shortly before a wood fence burst into flames.
The vinyl rain gutter sagged and melted, its plastic material flapping in the wind like a flag, and the window shattered shortly after, letting the flames enter the interior. Fifteen minutes in, the fire burned from the inside out, roaring through the walls and roof. The home’s tan color burned to black, and smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the sky.
The test house unprepared for wildfires is fully engulfed in flames.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
After twenty minutes, the house was engulfed in an inferno before the frame gave way, collapsing into a smoking heap of charred debris.
The wildfire-prepared home had a perimeter of cement pavers, surrounded by gravel, and no bushes against the house. The mulch blew onto the gravel and burned out. A few hydrangeas were singed five feet from the walls of the house, but the home was unscathed.
“This is a tale of two homes,” said Anne Cope, chief engineer for the insurance institute.
Roy Wright, the company’s chief executive, said the burned home showcased architectural features all too common across properties in wildfire-prone areas: plastic gutters, open eaves and flammable landscaping surrounding the home such as juniper, bamboo or eucalyptus.
“We’re not going to eliminate wildfires, but we can restrict their reach,” Wright said. “The easiest way starts at home.”
The main emphasis was what fire-prevention specialists call Zone 0: the first five feet of defensible space surrounding a structure. To stop a fire in its tracks, firefighters suggest removing all landscaping from the 5-foot perimeter and replacing fire-prone materials such as grass or mulch with cement or brick.
A firefighter watches a house-burning demonstration at an Anaheim site to show the effectiveness of ember-intrusion prevention.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Pavement and a cleared area next to a houselike structure at an Anaheim site show the effectiveness of what’s called ember-intrusion prevention during a house-burning demonstration.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
In contrast to the one that burned, the fire-protected house featured metal gutters, fiber cement siding, enclosed eaves, a metal fence, metal patio set of a table and chairs and cement pavers. When torched with embers, the fire burned up to the 5-foot perimeter and then halted.
“You can still have plants, just keep them five feet away from your house,” Wright said.
Wright visited Pacific Palisades and Altadena a week after the fires to analyze how they spread so quickly from house to house and found that homes generally burned in clusters, which suggests that houses either helped or hurt others around them.
If a house was a century old and not up to code, it often burned quickly and passed the fire on to its neighbors, he said. But if a house was built with fire-prevention in mind, with defensible space, fire-resistant materials, enclosed eaves and mesh coverings over vents, in some cases, it served as a shield for the houses downwind.
Modern fire-prevention strategies already are being implemented in new master-planned communities in Southern California, where home builders have the hindsight of previous disasters and implement tighter building codes. A recent success story is Orchard Hills, which survived a 2020 blaze unscathed due to meticulous planning and specialized home design.
But L.A.’s housing stock is generally older, and many homes scattered across the region’s hills and mountains are sitting ducks — architecturally vulnerable if a fire sweeps through. That’s why Wright stresses clearing out Zone 0, since it’s the quickest, cheapest way to make sure that if a fire comes to your door, you’re not fueling it.
“We need to do what we can to narrow the path of destruction and give firefighters a chance to beat it down,” Wright said.
In the wake of the devastating Eaton fire that tore through Altadena in January, hundreds of signs sprouted up in the ash-laden yards of burned-down homes: “Altadena Not for Sale.”
The slogan signified a resistance toward outside investors looking to buy up the droves of suddenly buildable lots. But as the summer real estate market kicks into gear, not only is Altadena for sale — it seems to be flying off the shelves.
Roughly 145 burned lots have sold so far, around 100 are currently listed, and dozens more are in escrow. The identity of every single buyer isn’t clear, since many are obscured by trusts or limited liability companies, but real estate records and local sources suggest that developers are buying the lion’s share of lots.
It’s far outpacing the Palisades market, where less than 60 lots have sold since the fire and roughly 180 are sitting on the market, sometimes for months.
Victor Becerra surveys his property on Wednesday, located next to a recently sold property on Wapello Street. Becerra is rebuilding and said he is anxious for the neighborhood to “bloom again.”
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The roughly 250 lots sold and listed so far in Altadena represent only a small fraction of the 6,000 homes lost in the Eaton fire, but the market will probably get even hotter. Each month has seen an increase in listings and sales, and local real estate agents say the only thing keeping more from selling is the slow process of fire victims navigating insurance claims and wrapping their heads around the reality of rebuilding, which will probably take at least half a decade.
“In a perfect world, my neighbors and I would all rebuild, and five years from now, Altadena would look the same as it did before the fire,” said one resident who asked to speak anonymously for fear of judgment from community members urging others not to sell. “But it’s just not realistic.”
She listed the lot in May and had a handful of offers in days. She ended up selling to the highest bidder, a midsize developer that has purchased a few other properties in Altadena.
“I’ll always love Altadena, but I don’t have the resources for a rebuild that could take half a decade,” she said, echoing a Times report that said fire victims are hesitant to return to the neighborhood over fears that government officials won’t fast-track new development.
Despite the surge of lots hitting the market, demand has been steady, and lots are selling fast. Through the first four months of the year, the median property in Altadena spent 19 days on the market compared with 35 days over the same stretch last year, according to Redfin.
Lots have sold for as little as $330,000 and as much as $1.865 million, with most going for somewhere between $500,000 and $700,000. The first lot to hit the market listed for $449,000 and sold for $100,000 over the asking price in an all-cash deal — though with the influx in inventory since then, buyers are typically paying just the full asking price, not more.
“Everybody in Altadena thought they were going to rebuild, but depending on their situation, a lot of the time it just doesn’t make sense,” said Ann Marie Ahern, an Altadena resident and real estate agent. “We wanted to keep things local, but unfortunately, Altadena is for sale.”
Ahern currently has a listing on Rubio Crest Avenue for $735,000. She said most of the interest has come from either single developers looking for a project or two, or large developers hoping to buy as many lots as possible.
“One agent called me and said he has someone looking to buy 100 lots,” she said.
While many properties destroyed by the Eaton fire are up for sale, some displaced residents proclaim their homes are not.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Of the sales so far, around half of the burned properties have sold to buyers that have only purchased only one, while half have sold to buyers purchasing multiple lots including Black Lion Properties, Iron Rings Altadena, Ocean Dev Inc., NP Altadena and Sheng Feng.
Ahern said the shopping spree is causing deep concern among locals that the new builds won’t match the charm and quirks of Altadena, where century-old Craftsmans mingle with Colonial Revivals and English Tudors. New development can also bring gentrification, which is why some nonprofits are attempting to buy up lots to resell them below market value to displaced locals.
The collective fear? An Altadena ego death, where the community fades into suburban sprawl obscurity. The potential culprits? Developers.
But some say the vilification of developers is misplaced.
“The big danger facing Altadena isn’t gentrification. It’s that it won’t get built back at all,” said Brock Harris, a real estate agent who has sold half a dozen burned lots, including some to developers.
Harris said most developers buying up lots aren’t huge companies looking to turn Altadena into a community of tract homes. Rather, it’s smaller developers capable of taking on 5 to 10 projects per year.
“If Altadena is going to come back, we need way more developers coming in to help out,” he said. “Otherwise, a decade from now, it’ll look desolate and unwelcoming with one house for every five lots.”
He said rebuilding is a complex process for an average citizen, and anyone considering that route should be prepared to spend the next three to five years yelling at inspectors and getting ripped off by contractors.
“Professionals will be the ones rebuilding the city,” he said, since they’re more equipped to handle the “bureaucratic mess” of building a house in L.A.
He’s not surprised at the booming speculative market. In the midst of a housing crisis — where home prices soar and empty land is scarce — a flat, buildable lot is a rare opportunity.
Harris expects the new builds in Altadena to match the ones that burned down — to a degree. One developer client told him they plan to replicate whatever style was there before. If a Tudor burned down, build a Tudor. If a Craftsman burned down, build a Craftsman.
Locals say replication brings pros and cons. One downside is that no matter what style developers opt for, the level of craftsmanship from a century ago can’t be copied due to the expensive process of building a house in the modern market and the thin margins developers have to make a profit. But modern building codes are much more fire-resistant, which could protect the neighborhood from fires in the future.
Initially, some speculators were concerned that homebuyers would be hesitant to purchase in an area that recently burned. However, in a state plagued by earthquakes, landslides and rising seas, Californians have consistently shown that they’re fine living and buying in disaster-prone areas. As offers pour in for lots in the burn zone, and with excessive lead levels found in the homes that survived, it’s clear that the fires haven’t diminished demand for Altadena real estate.
The same can be said for the surrounding foothill communities, such as La Cañada Flintridge or Sierra Madre, where a dry, windy day could put them at the same risk for disaster. In the months after the Eaton fire, both markets are surging.
To the west, the area of La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta-Montrose saw 92 home sales in the first five months of the year compared with 70 during the same stretch last year. To the east in Sierra Madre, 40 homes sold in the first five months of the year compared with 28 in 2024.
Fire victims shopping for new homes are partly responsible for the mini boom, said real estate agent Chelby Crawford. She said 10% of buyers at her open houses are people who lost their homes in the Eaton fire.
Crawford listed a house in the foothills of La Cañada Flintridge in April, and it went under contract a month later. In March, she sold a home high along Angeles Crest Highway to a displaced fire victim, who had no problem with the fire-prone location.
“Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge are benefiting the most,” she said. “Fire victims are just excited to find their next home. It’s selling season.”
