(According to one analysis, 30% of the properties sold in Paradise, California, after the catastrophic Camp fire went for less than their assessed value.)
Assessed value will incude the value of the building – and even if not, that the piece of land is in an area surrounded by other buildings, and electricity, and telephone, and water connections and – all the things that no longer exist.
Burnt out rubble in a whoilly burnt out town is cheap. Horrors.
One assumes the Lahaina Community Land Trust (LCLT) will eventually go bankrupt and the developers will grab the land for even less than they’re offering now.
Shouldn’t a shedload of people be getting convicted for over-stating the value of their properties?
I hear that Cara Delevingne’s house has dropped in value recently.
Shouldn’t a shedload of people be getting convicted for over-stating the value of their properties?
Only those whose surname is Trump.
@John – “Shouldn’t a shedload of people be getting convicted for over-stating the value of their properties?”
Before a big fire like this, some buyers will think the property is safe and pay an appropriate price on that assumption. After the fire, they have been spectacularly proved wrong, so the properties are objectively worth less. And, of course, replacing a house is not like replacing a car – it takes considerable time to rebuild, in which period the owner may be forced to move elsewhere, so the site is available at a literal fire sale price.
I also note in the article: “The trust is also exploring … another that would enable homeowners who cannot rebuild to sell the lease but retain the land title.”. So leasehold, which all right-thinking lefties in the UK are totally opposed to.