Fires in 2025 How it affects home sellers and home buyers regarding buying, selling and potentially rebuilding

Podcast Title: Wildfires and Santa Clarita Real Estate – What Buyers and Sellers Need to Know

Wildfires are a reality in Southern California, and their impact on the Santa Clarita real estate market is undeniable. In this episode, we dive deep into how wildfires shape the housing market, from influencing property values to reshaping insurance practices.

Explore the critical challenges homeowners face in fire-prone areas and learn actionable strategies for buyers and sellers alike. We discuss key topics such as:

• How wildfires affect property values in neighborhoods like Valencia, Canyon Country, and Stevenson Ranch.
• The role of defensible space, fire-resistant materials, and community fire safety programs in boosting marketability.
• Insurance hurdles in high-risk zones and tips for securing comprehensive coverage, including the California FAIR Plan.
• Long-term trends in fire mitigation and what they mean for real estate investments.

With insights from local market experts, this episode is your guide to navigating real estate in fire-prone areas. Whether you’re a homeowner looking to sell or a buyer searching for your dream property, understanding wildfire risks is crucial for making informed decisions.

Don’t miss this in-depth discussion on the evolving Santa Clarita real estate landscape. For more detailed information, visit:
Fires 2025: What Home Sellers and Home Buyers Need to Know to Stay Safe
Google Local Business Update

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Transcript

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everybody we're gonna talk about those fires here in Southern California that aren't very far away from Santa Clarita but let me get into the daily inventory currently in the last seven days in Santa Maria we've had eight coming soon listings 69 properties are placed on the market new this is very much the regular trend for most years as we start the beginning of every year 2025 is no difference so 69 new properties have been placed on the market just in the last week in all of Santa Clarita Valley cities to see those you can just go to Santa Clarita Openhouses com and you'll be able to see everyone that's there posted that's in the Multiple Listing Service so all of them 49 properties have had their prices changed a sellers little bit overzealous and their pricing strategies right now but that will probably change very very very soon as we move into February and March we do have 26 properties that have fallen out of escrow sixteen properties are active under contract so those are properties that have gone into escrow 37 property pending and those are properties that have gone deeper into escrow so that trend is a little slow for this time of year but that's not unusual coming through the holidays once we get into February and March we're gonna see those numbers double so instead of the 27 closings we're probably gonna have 60 or 70 closings every seven days or so we have seven properties expired nine canceled 11 put on hold in three withdrawn okay so here's the fire issue here in Southern California and it affects real estate well in a big scale because these poor people lost their houses in many different areas they lost their shops they lost the schools and those sorts of things so that does change the property value dynamic quite a bit but on top of that it also has the insurance companies taking a double look at other areas so if you're living in an area that might have hillsides or might have had historical fires in the past that's something that insurance companies are gonna look at and it could impact your ability to sell if you wanted to get out of the state of California if you're coming into California wanna buy a house that could impact your ability to purchase one because without insurance the bank isn't going to or give you a loan on the property now if you're paying cash that's a different animal but again you're still probably gonna wanna have insurance unless yourself bond and you carry some kind of an owner's policy but that's an entirely different level that's mega rich people doing that stuff but for all of us regular folk we're probably gonna wanna have insurance cause if you have some gardener over and he trips and falls and breaks an ankle and he sues you it's not a life killing suit you actually have homeowners insurance or some kind of a policy that's going to help you through that mess if in fact that happens and there's a thousand other things fire of course flooding of course earthquake of course if insurance companies are unwilling right to the policy then that's an issue and those are things you wanna check out early so the advice now is you start that process even before you get your house on the market for sale if you're thinking about selling if you have an insurance company don't just think it's all gravy and and sunshine and rainbows it could be that you call your company and say well what's gonna happen when I sell my house when we're not gonna ensure any more properties in Southern California so once you're done and everybody else is done once you're finished you sell your house we're not gonna renew your policy in fact you might have already gotten a notice that they're not gonna renew your policy when it comes due because they're leaving the state so then the question asked is where's the new buyer the one that you're gonna sell your house to where they gonna get insurance and they might not be able to get it and then that's gonna create a problem then they can't buy your house so do those investigations early a few suggestions on that you can go to your insurance agent and find out if in fact they're still writing policies and then have that information prepared so when a buyer you do get your house on the market we list it for sale then this is the advice I give to all my sellers then when that buyer comes in the works already been done and say call this cat he's an agent he works at this company and he says he already has the policy on this residence he'd be more than happy to renew it that open door is probably gonna give that buyer other access points to other types of insurance out there so that's gonna be very helpful if you're buying a house question to be and probably the most nimble type of insurance agent you can tie up with is gonna be a broker so kick out kick out information to whichever broker in the area you like and they're not all created equal either just like on the mortgage end of it some of the mortgage loan brokers they're very much tied up in a making a certain amount of money is what it would seem so they're reluctant to give particular types of loan programs and then on the other side of it you have a very happy to give other types of loan programs creating an issue the home insurance games kind of the same the only reason why I say that is I worked with brokers in the past that couldn't get things done and then I found other brokers that could so if one broker case it here's the point if one broker tells you they can't do it don't let that be gospel in the word of God and you stop I would call up a couple others and find out if there's any difference and I know that we had a closing recently where the broker that they were tied in with wasn't able to get it done and the broker that I was associated with was and it was at a much better rate much better deal and they have insurance on the house so they're not all created equal but I would do that prior to really starting that real estate search reach out to a broker especially if you kind of have an idea an area that you're looking for and say listen are there certain types of houses in certain locations in a certain zone that I should stay away from or you can't get insurance on that might be something to think about now when you're driving around in Santa crude you're gonna see hillsides you're gonna see brush filled hillsides that's something to consider as well if you're buying a house at the top of one of these hillsides that could create an issue and you might not be able to secure insurance especially at this time now the fire season in this issue this is going to hopefully trickle away at some point and not be as top of mind we'll see other insurance programs coming to the state of California other vendors these sorts of things but right now just like when we have the earthquakes after an earthquake every property that's in process that's in escrow everything stops nothing moves until they do their due diligence and figure it out because insurance companies well they're in the business because they make money if everybody was paying out all the time hand or fist on with policies and people claiming damages and they were always doing this there wouldn't be an insurance world at all they wouldn't make any money therefore wouldn't make sense for them to be in the business cause they're not gonna do it because it's a right thing or ethical thing to do research that I'm Connor with honor we'll talk to you soon thanks for watching be well