Razed Altadena Home Sells for $100K Over Its Asking Price—as L.A. Residents Flee Their Fire-Ravaged Houses

A home in Altadena, CA, that was burned to the ground by last month’s Eaton fire has been sold for more than $100,000 above the asking price—as questions remain about the future of the Los Angeles suburb in the wake of the devastating blazes.

The 9,109-square-foot vacant lot on West Calaveras Street, which until early January had been used as a rental home, was sold last week for $550,000 in an all-cash deal.

It is the latest in a growing number of decimated properties to hit the market in recent days—following a similar listing for an incinerated home in Pacific Palisades, which was sold for “well over” $1 million, despite being listed for $999,000.

Real estate agent Brock Harris, who represented the seller in the Altadena deal, says the burnt-out piece of land, which was originally listed for $449,000, generated a frenzy of interest.

Speaking to Realtor.com®, Harris, with the firm Brock & Lori, says he listed the vacant lot a week ago, and before long was getting up to 20 calls a day about the property.

Although some of the callers were curious “looky-loos,” he says, the first serious offer came within a day. 

Land listings typically can linger on the market “for years,” he explains. What sets this piece of property apart is that it is a flat lot, which is rare in hilly Southern California. Therefore, it is more valuable to homebuilders and house flippers.

Still, even he was a little surprised by the swiftness of the sale so soon after the fire, he says. “I didn’t expect so many serious offers.”

The tidy ranch-style home, built in 1939, was last sold in August 2023 for $965,000 to an investor, who then rented it out.

After the house was reduced to rubble in January, Harris says, the owner decided to sell the land, rather than becoming mired in what could be an intensive three- to five-year rebuilding process.

“She wasn’t sure what the value of the home would be as a rental when she was finished building it,” Harris explains. “She is moving on.”

Altadena homeowners weighing their options

According to the real estate agent, many homeowners in Altadena share that view.

“At least one-third to half of the owners in Altadena are unwilling or unable to rebuild a house,” Harris estimates. “And when they look at their net proceeds from the insurance on their lot sale, this makes sense to take their money and move on, and leave the building up to a professional who will build the home and get a resident back in it much faster than they could have.”

Harris says his firm is getting calls every day from potential sellers who lost their homes in the fire and are now weighing their options.

“We’ve spoken to people with very small children,” according to the agent. “We spoke to people who are senior citizens. These are not people who are able to rebuild a home, or able to rent in three to five years it takes to build a new home, so they’re mostly happy to leave it to someone else and to take the money and move on.”

The devastating Eaton fire, which ignited on Jan. 7 in the San Gabriel Mountains, killed at least 17 people and consumed close to 9,500 structures in Altadena and nearby Pasadena, ravaging entire city blocks in some areas.

Altadena’s Black community hit hard by fire

By the time the wind-driven wildfire was finally contained more than three weeks later, it had wiped out or heavily damaged nearly half of all African-American households in Altadena, a historically Black, thriving middle-class community, according to a recent data analysis from UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center.

Freddy Sayegh, a community organizer behind the “Altadena Not For Sale” and “Altadena Strong” movements, told NBC Los Angeles that the goal is to rebuild the community as it was before the fire, not to replace it with another.

“What we don’t want to see is a displacement of large-scale swaths of Altadena residents,” Sayegh told the outlet. “What we don’t want are people to come buy, build, and then sell it for a profit.”

According to UCLA researchers, Black households in Altadena were disproportionately more likely to experience destruction from the Eaton fire. And ultimately, at least 2,800 Black households were forced to evacuate.

“Our fear is the mere fact that we had a natural disaster should displace these people and have a whole different community come in and change the demographics and the make-up of this historic community,” Sayegh said. 

Harris, the real estate agent, says that while he agrees with the general sentiment of the “Altadena Not For Sale” call to action, he believes that homeowners have the right to sell their land to the highest bidder and walk away with as much money as possible.

And while the town’s character might change somewhat in the process, Harris notes that half of Altadena is still standing, and that the city continues to be a great place to buy an affordable home or start a business in Los Angeles County.

Harris further argues that some of the fear surrounding property sales in Altadena is “misplaced” due to misconceptions about who is buying the land, much of which is divided into single lots.

“There’s no giant corporation that is going to come in to build 50 to 100 homes that all look alike,” Harris insists. “That’s not going to happen. Single-lot homebuilding is a mom and pop business.”

The agent notes that since listing the tract of land on West Calaveras Street, he has not received a single phone call from a big corporation or a hedge fund, but only from local builders.

“What makes it a neighborhood is not the houses; it’s not even the style of the houses. It’s the people,” Harris says. “And the sooner we can get houses rebuilt and people back in those homes, the sooner Altadena will come back.”