Celebrity brokers decry overpricing amid Los Angeles wildfires

like the Los Angeles wildfires continue to cause widespread devastation, many well-known real estate agents are scrambling to find new places for clients to live.

“I searched the MLS (directory) trying to help families displaced by the fires find rental properties,” I am selling Zalez star Jason Oppenheim said in an Instagram story video in January 2025. “I’m seeing dozens of examples of people trying to do things like this where they can’t get $9,500 or even $9,000 and then yesterday they increased the rent by over 30 percent to $12,000.”

The Oppenheim Group founder noted that while he’s “all for free-market capitalism,” he sees rising costs as a result of people “shamelessly taking advantage” of natural disaster.

California has a law against price gouging, which means it is illegal to raise costs during an emergency.

Related: Reality TV stars who evacuated amid LA wildfires

Roden Eckenroth/FilmMagic; Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images Many reality TV personalities have evacuated Los Angeles amid the ongoing wildfires that started in the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, January 7. “My heart goes out to those affected by the fires here in LA County,” former Bachelorette Katie Thurston wrote via Instagram Story on Wednesday, January 8. “Awakening this (…)

“The Legislature hereby establishes that during a state of emergency or local emergency, including but not limited to earthquake, flood, fire, riot, storm, drought, plant or animal invasion or disease, pandemic or outbreak of epidemic or other natural or man-made disaster, some traders have taken unfair advantage of consumers by significantly increasing the prices of basic consumer goods and services,” part of Article 396 of the Criminal Code reads. “While the pricing of consumer goods and services is generally best left to the market under normal conditions, when a declared emergency or local emergency results in unusual market disruptions, the public interest requires excessive and unjustified price increases of essential consumer goods and services to be prohibited.

The statute further discloses that each violation is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for less than one year, a fine of not more than $10,000, or a combination of both.

Despite the state’s legal ruling, many local realtors still found that landlords were allegedly inflating their property prices among forest fires. Keep scrolling to see what the stars had to say:

Jason Oppenheim

“California has price gouging laws, they’re just being ignored right now and it’s not the time to take advantage of situations,” Oppenheim told the BBC in January 2025 “Everybody has tears in their eyes all day, literally from the smoke, but also just because it’s emotional to see people struggling like that.”

Oppenheim’s brokerage has, too donate your services to help displaced customers find places to stay at no extra charge.

Krischel Stause

Taking to her Instagram stories on January 10, 2025, Oppenheim’s colleague called the behavior “disgusting.”

“Other brokers who have a moral compass, let’s report to the board,” she said.

In a follow-up post, Stause noted that he continues to see examples of price increases while searching the MLS for properties on the market.

Josh Flagg

The Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles the star talked about the price hike in a January 15 interview Fox News.

“People (who) haven’t sold their homes before are just taking advantage now because you can ask for whatever you want for a house,” Flagg argued. “You just can’t do it, then a natural disaster happens and then you triple the cost. That’s the problem.”

According to Flagg, there is not “enough inventory” to house all the individuals who have been displaced as a result of the fires.

“It’s very scary right now. But at the end of the day, everyone will have somewhere to go. It’s just being determined now and everyone is fighting,” he told the outlet. “It’s like any disaster. It’s a nightmare at first, but then everything takes care of itself. But it’s no fun while you wait.

Josh Altman

Flagg’s ex MDLLA Costar told Fox News that the situation is “much worse than you could ever imagine.”

“There’s not a lot of inventory to begin with, and now all of a sudden you have thousands and new people in the market, whether they’re buying or renting, depending on their financial situation and their family situation,” Altman said. “It’s going to be years until this is fixed, the houses are finished. I mean it will take two years to build a house. It will take a year to get permits.”

Check it out LAFD website for local wildfire alerts and click here for resources on how to help those affected.