Celebrity real estate agents decry price gouging amid Los Angeles wildfires

As forest fires in Los Angeles continue to cause widespread devastation, many celebrity realtors are scrambling to find clients new places to live.

“I was searching the MLS (directory) trying to help families displaced by the fires find rental properties,” Sunset for sale star Jason Oppenheim he said in an Instagram story video in January 2025. “I see dozens of examples of people trying to do things like this where they can’t come up with $9,500 or even $9,000 and then yesterday they raised the rent by 30 percent to $12,000.”

The founder of the Oppenheim Group noted that while he is “in favor of free market capitalism”, he sees rising costs as a result of people “shamelessly exploiting” natural disasters.

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

“The Legislature hereby finds that during a state of emergency or local emergency, including but not limited to earthquake, flood, fire, riot, storm, drought, plant or animal infestation or disease, outbreak of pandemic or epidemic, or other natural or man-made disaster, certain merchants unfairly have taken advantage of consumers by significantly increasing the prices of basic consumer goods and services,” § 396 of the Criminal Code reads. “While the determination of the prices of consumer goods and services is generally best left to the market under normal conditions, when a declared state of emergency or local emergency causes abnormal market disruption, the public interest requires that excessive and unjustified price increases of essential consumer goods and services be prohibited.

The law further discloses that any violation is a misdemeanor offense punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a term of less than one year, a fine of less than $10,000, or a combination of both.

Despite the state’s legal ruling, many local real estate agencies still found landlords allegedly raising the prices of their properties in the midst of forest fires. Keep scrolling to see what the stars had to say:

Jason Oppenheim

“There are price gouging laws in California, they are being ignored right now, and now is not the time to take advantage of the situation,” Oppenheim he 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 brokerage also has donated his services help displaced clients find places to stay at no extra charge.

Chrishell Stause

Oppenheim’s colleague called the behavior “disgusting” in her Instagram Stories post on January 10, 2025.

“Other realtors who have a moral compass, please report to the board,” she said.

In a follow-up post, Stause noted that she kept seeing examples of price gouging when searching for properties on the MLS market.

Josh Flagg

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

“People (who) weren’t putting their homes on the market before are taking advantage now because you can ask for whatever you want on a house,” Flagg said. “You just can’t do that, then there’s a natural disaster and then you triple the price. That’s the problem.’

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

“It’s very scary right now. But at the end of the day, everyone will have somewhere to go. Now it’s just defining and everyone’s getting it wrong,” he told the newspaper. “It’s like any disaster. It’s a nightmare at first, and then it goes away on its own. But it’s not fun when you’re waiting.”

Josh Altman

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

“There’s not a lot of inventory at the beginning, and now all of a sudden you have a thousand or more new people in the market, whether they’re buying or renting, depending on their financial situation and depending on their family situation.” Altman said. “It will take years to fix it, the houses will be done. I mean the house will take two years to build. It will take a year to get permission.”

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