Transcription
We're off to a wild start in 2025. Wildfires have taken over California. Here are the facts: we're going to be going through what happened, who is affected, what is happening in real estate because of this, and how I will be capitalizing on the situation—and how you can capitalize on the situation as well.
Now, we could argue about Gavin Newsom, Elon Musk, Trump, and all these guys fighting back and forth, but that's not the purpose of this video. I just want to go through the facts today and then tell you how you can monetize, how you can capitalize on this situation.
So, number one: two people have already passed away. It's horrible, absolutely horrible, but it's not as significant in terms of the amount of people that have been evacuated. 300,000 people have been evacuated. What does that mean? That means those people have got to find places to stay.
So, what you're seeing in California right now is that Airbnb prices have tripled. People are doubling rent just to capitalize on this, and I don't think that this is the right way to capitalize on the California wildfires, but that's what's happening right now.
300,000 people are evacuated from the area. 15,000 structures—that's homes, businesses, Starbucks, gas stations—15,000 structures totaling $50 billion in damages just this far.
Now, this is where I start thinking. I start thinking as a real estate investor. Okay, there are all these houses. I think it's about 12,000 houses out of the 15,000 structures—12,000 houses. I looked up today how many of those houses still have a mortgage on them.
Because think about this: you have a house that's a $5 million home in Pacific Palisades. These houses are averaging $3.5 to $9 million in that range. Of course, there are the $20 million and the $50 million houses, but it's a pocket of like $3 to $9 million homes. What percentage of those homes have mortgages on them? And what percentage of these people have just lost the house that they have a debt against?
40%. 40% of these people have lost a home that they are supposed to be living in. And guess what happens next month? They have a mortgage payment. The next month, they have a mortgage payment on a house that does not exist.
So, the damages are so much greater than you can even imagine. We plan on making this a part one of a multiple-part series. We're going to be flying out there and interviewing some of my friends that own properties out there and their neighbors, asking them, "What are you guys going to be doing? Are you going to be moving? Are you going to be rebuilding? How are you going to rebuild your life?"
Now, here's what I started looking at. I started looking at 300,000 people. What is going to happen? Well, if you look at the U-Haul index, you'll see that California has been, over the last several years, one of the biggest states that people are moving out of. But this just spikes that number even greater.
You now have states like Texas, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Seattle, and some other places—Tennessee, North and South Carolina—that people are going to be migrating to. I've already started getting calls to my business from people in California saying, "Hey Pace, I know you're the guy that does no and low money down type of deals. Do you have deals for me to move my family in while I rebuild my life in California?" And the answer is yes.
So, here's one of the ways that we at our company are helping out. If you guys go to pacmore.com/buyersmap, you would be a buyer if you're affected by the California fires. If you're one of those 300,000 people that have been evacuated and you need a place to stay, you want to buy a house with low or no money down, I can help you find a house.
What I focus on is I focus on people that are in foreclosure. I save them from foreclosure. I take over their existing payments via subject to, and then I can take those payments and I can gift those to a family.
So, what we're going to be doing for the next 12 months is my company is going to be covering your moving costs, your down payments, and anything else that is required to get into any one of those houses. That is one of the ways that we are going to be helping the victims of this fire, actually utilizing our real estate prowess and understanding how to get deals.
We're going to turn around and help families get into these homes, even if it's just a lease. If you just need a place to lease, please reach out to us. You can always email my team at team@acmore.com, and we will help you out.
Now, the next thing I start thinking about is, of course, there are people that still have mortgages. They still have payments. Are these mortgage payments going to stop? Is the California government going to step in and say, "Hey, we'll cover your mortgage payments while this is going on?" I doubt that's going to happen.
So, the damages are so much further than you can even imagine. Of course, 15,000 structures are gone. You guys have all seen the videos. I'm sure my team will put some B-roll of how bad this really was. An entire city, state, and country have been affected by this horrible, horrible situation.
However, when you start looking at it from a real estate investor standpoint, you go, "40% of those people are still making payments on these houses." Let alone, okay, what about the people that don't have a mortgage on the house? They're still paying property taxes and insurance on all of these properties.
Now, guys, the homeowners did not lose all their insurance. State Farm came in; they zapped hundreds of thousands of people's policies out of their hands just about four or five months ago. But that doesn't mean they lost their homeowners insurance. They lost fire damage insurance. There are multiple different categories of homeowners insurance.
So guess what? Even if I have my house paid off in Pacific Palisades, I'm paying state property taxes, I'm paying insurance, I'm paying all of these things. I still have utilities ran to the property. Just because these people don't have a house to live in doesn't mean they're not making debt payments on all of these things.
It is so much worse than you can even imagine. In part two, part three, and part four of this, we will be traveling out to California and interviewing people that actually are affected by this and talking to them: "How are you handling your mortgage? How are you handling these things?"
Now, let's talk about how I'm going to capitalize on it. A: I'm going to do nothing. B: I'm going to do the same thing I've always been doing. And C: I'm going to leave them alone.
And why is that? Because there's going to be enough scam artists. There's going to be enough people taking advantage of these people in the California wildfires. I don't want to be one of those people. I want to be here in Arizona and other states where I buy properties. I currently buy properties in over 40 states.
I can help you if you are affected by the California wildfires get into a home for your family without going through a bank. That is what I specialize in—either seller finance or subject to. We can help you out.
But here's the other thing that I really am grateful for. I don't necessarily love Gavin Newsom. I think that there are people that absolutely loathe the guy, and there are people that think he's God's greatest gift to the Earth. Welcome to humans, right? Humans are weirdos.
But one thing I want to talk about that he did a great job at is he actually signed two executive orders into place just recently—one five days ago and one yesterday.
So let's talk about the one that he signed in as an executive order five days ago. It's N-425. Okay, now what this executive order does is it alleviates the majority of the red tape associated with getting permits for rebuilding this area.
So the people that are affected—these 15,000 structures—they now will go through one-tenth of the permit process. What I was actually originally worried about when I heard about this was, "Man, California is one of the worst places to build in because the average permit takes three years to secure."
And the scrutiny of how bad these permits are to get and how expensive they are—good luck ever rebuilding the Pacific Palisades and all of the other areas like Brentwood and the other places that are affected. However, N-425 actually helps with this. It brings the statutes and the requirements of these permits in California down to a level closer to Arizona.
Guys, welcome to Arizona. We're like the Wild Wild West. You want to build something? We can get you a permit literally in two hours for something minor, two months for something major. Okay, that is how a democracy should work.
Even at our state of Arizona, you go down to the planning office, and there is a person sitting there literally on floor two at the Washington Street office. Their job is literally to sit there and go, "How can I help you get a permit today?" That is how helpful our government is here in Arizona.
So Gavin Newsom signed this into law—an executive order that is effective immediately—that helps remove those permit requirements so they can start rebuilding.
Now, one of the things I was also afraid of that N-425 removes is that in the state of California, you can't do any demo yourself. The state has to do the demolition of a fire structure. And so what this allows you to do is start doing the demo without having to wait for the city. You can start cleaning, you can start getting your lot cleaned up, and you can start planning your rebuild almost immediately. Pretty cool.
Now, the other executive order that just happened today—this is big, big, big news—is N-725, which prohibits real estate investors and prospectors, people that are speculating, from going in and even offering a price on any one of these structures. You are not even allowed to solicit, "Hey, I'm a buyer. I can invest. I can buy this property. I can give you cash immediately."
Now, it doesn't mean these homeowners can't sell. It means you cannot solicit them. It is now illegal, and I actually agree with it. Okay, is it a free market? No, it technically is not a free market. This is like a socialist country, or like we're in Russia or something like that.
However, I actually agree with this. People right now that are damaged by the wildfires are getting slammed and hammered by real estate investors because this is the most sought-after piece of real estate in almost the entire world.
Some people are speculating, "Hey, maybe this was done on purpose." Well, I'm not the person that knows anything about that, and we'll tell some stories later. We may open up some of the truth, but the main thing we want to uncover is how are these people going to rebuild? How can we, as a country, get around and help these people?
And how I, as a real estate investor, can continue to do the same thing I've always been doing, which is doing creative finance and helping families get into these houses without the use of a bank, without the use of credit, and in a lot of ways, without their own cash.
If you are a California wildfire victim, I will even cover your moving costs. I will cover all of those types of things. We will help you out. Our company is here for you.
So go to pacmore.com/buyersmap, tell me where you'd like to buy a house, and I will help you. My team will help you find one of those houses.
Now, in the meantime, we're going to be talking more and more about these executive orders, but I'm so grateful that N-725 came into place to protect these people who are literally out of their homes, living in hotels, Airbnbs that are three times the cost, traveling across the country, moving in with family members, and they're getting hammered by real estate speculators trying to offer 50 cents on the dollar for these houses.
Meanwhile, these people have mortgages on their homes that the offers are not even covering. So I look forward to giving you guys more news as we fly out and uncover some of these things and tell you guys more stories.
But in the meantime, hopefully, this was informative. If you guys know somebody affected by the California wildfires, please share this video with them. And on your way down, let us know what your number one takeaway from this video was down in the comments. We'll see you in another video.