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Navigating the LA Fires and Real Estate

• Courtney Twiss • Episode 51

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Step into the high-stakes world of Los Angeles luxury real estate with our captivating guest, Adam Brawer, who has made an extraordinary leap from working on hit shows like "America's Got Talent" to becoming one of LA's most sought-after realtors. Through engaging storytelling and insightful anecdotes, Adam shares how his entertainment industry skills in storytelling, multitasking, and problem-solving translate seamlessly into the real estate world. The episode uncovers Adam's journey from New York to LA and offers an insider's view into the vibrant LA property market, providing listeners with a unique perspective on what it takes to thrive in this competitive field.

Amidst this high-paced real estate narrative, we also navigate the somber reality of the recent fires that have ravaged Southern California, leaving a profound impact on Adam's community. Hear firsthand about the challenges faced during rebuilding efforts, the threat of underinsurance, and the mental health implications on affected families. Adam's heartfelt recounting of the Topanga community's resilience and unity exemplifies the spirit of coming together in times of crisis. We urge listeners to contribute to ongoing relief efforts, shining a spotlight on vital support from organizations like FEMA, and highlight ways to assist through fundraising platforms. Join us for a compelling exploration of real estate, resilience, and community strength in the face of adversity.

If you want to help the LA wildfires: https://www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-support-topangas-community-firefighting-efforts?utm_medium=email&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=p_email_m_pd-5332-donation-receipt-adyen&utm_content=internal

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www.adambrawerestates.com

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Speaker 1:

I just feel like I don't. I'm not good at doing my hair. I hate doing my hair. What should you just magically be good? I guess that would be a wig. I could be Dolly Parton.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to the NOW Podcast Making Moves in Real Estate. Today, we're diving into the high-stakes, star-studded world of Los Angeles luxury real estate with a guest who brings Hollywood flair to every deal. Meet Adam Brower. A powerhouse in LA residential market and a true authority on turning homes into show-stopping stories, adam's journey is nothing short of extraordinary. Born and raised in New York City, he made the leap to LA in 2004 to pursue a dream in entertainment. From working at the prestigious William Morris Talent Agency to producing hit shows like America's Got Talent and co-founding Sentinel Pictures, adam knows what it takes to turn big dreams into reality. But when Hollywood's twists and turns led to an existential gosh, I'm having a hard time speaking today.

Speaker 1:

Crossroads. Adam found his true calling in real estate. With a producer's eye for detail and a knack for storytelling, adam found his true calling in real estate. With a producer's eye for detail and a knack for storytelling, adam quickly became one of LA's most sought-after luxury realtors, closing 18 deals in his first year alone. Today, he combines his entertainment background with a meticulous, client-first approach to selling high-profile properties which I learned about one on our last call with style, speed and record breaking results. So anyway, let's dive into Adam's story. Welcome.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me and thanks for such an extraordinary introduction.

Speaker 1:

Gosh, I butchered it, I'm so my apologies. Like I'm hard, you've crushed it. Thank you, apologies, like I'm hard, you've lost it, thank you I do have one note.

Speaker 2:

So I used to work at the production company that produces america's got talent. I didn't personally produce it, just to clarify. But yeah, america's got talent, american idol, all that stuff, and I'm very happy to not be in that business and to be in real estate.

Speaker 1:

Yes, Quite a difference to go from that to real estate. I would imagine that's quite a leap big leap, big pivot.

Speaker 2:

Very, very similar skillset Virtually I would say virtually the same skillset producing film or television versus, you know, representing buyers and sellers. The actual work is different, but the talent needed to succeed is the same. You know, as we know, in real estate we wear a lot of hats. Sometimes you're a salesperson, sometimes you're a marketer, sometimes you're a therapist In film or TV, you're often a therapist to actors who might not be stable. You are a pitch artist, I would say. You are a marketing expert. You're a crisis solver. As a producer, you're constantly solving big issues. As a realtor, you're also solving issues, big and small, and so any producers out there who are looking to make a pivot, I highly suggest real estate.

Speaker 1:

So interesting. So you know, I met Adam a week ago, met Adam a week ago and, like learned all about his great story and had an amazing meeting with him and less than 24 hours one of like the largest tragedies in our state broke off. So we felt like it was a little timely not to take away from your story but certainly want to be mindful of what you and your community you're going through in Southern California. What has it been like the last six days? All the fires.

Speaker 2:

If I'm being honest and I don't know, if we do a little editing and post, it's been back crazy. There have been full spectrum of emotions. I've had so many clients who have lost their homes. Courtney, I think I was telling you about my $25 million Malibu listing that burned to ashes. I'm completely vaporized. I have another client who lost their place in the Palisades. On the same day they lost their weekend home on the PCH in Malibu. I have many, many friends who have lost homes, from small homes to massive estates. They're displaced. You know, I have a friend who went from like a 4,500 square foot beautiful home in the Palisades and now he's renting an 800 square foot two bedroom with two kids because that's all that was available. It's a very challenging time Evacuations, just uncertainty, it's really crazy.

Speaker 1:

And you're evacuated as we speak, as we're recording this currently evacuated.

Speaker 2:

So I, on tuesday, I left my office. I realized, okay, this is actually a pretty tuesday early afternoon, it's going to be a big issue, normally 20 minutes door to door home to office. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to get back because of, you know, they blocked off pch and I called a friend on the way, a friend who's also in topanga. We talked for a while. I mentioned the fire. I said you know, how are you feeling about this? He said you know I'm about. I'm about concerned enough that I think I'm about to take a nap. Yeah, that friend is the one who stayed back with his wife to beat the fire and didn't go to sleep for a couple days.

Speaker 2:

It's been extremely chaotic. I mean, topanga has banded together in a way I have never experienced. We have volunteer fire brigades, fire spotters, 911 callers, arson and looter watch. They call it like the Topanga sages, people who are taking care of the senior citizen community in Topanga, delivering Starlinks to fire. We're asking the fire department what do you need? They need fuel for generators, they need Starlinks to fire. You know we're asking the fire department what do you need? You know they need fuel for generators, they need Starlinks. They need Zin nicotine gum because they're up for like 40 hours straight. You know coffee like. You know assembling like small armies and thank God there are a lot of startup people in Topanga who know how to get stuff done quickly. So people have really risen to the occasion. The community's come together super strong. I don't know what the exact figure is, but it feels like 90% of Topanga has been saved, more than any other area that's been affected by the Palisades fire.

Speaker 1:

That's positive. I was waiting for 90% of something super negative, so that's, that's a good rapport. Yeah, and I feel like uh, oh sorry, Go ahead. No, no, no, you go. None of that you go.

Speaker 2:

I insist.

Speaker 1:

I just feel like when, um, these things happen, it's like people that aren't boots on the ground, like all we hear is what we see in the news and social media. So I mean, like you're actually boots on the ground in it, Is there like anything you can report? It's like real time you know, like that maybe people don't know that's actually going on or that we need.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I'll tell you a little story. So when the fire broke out, so Bravo 69 is the fire department, the fire station in Topanga, and they were diverted out of the canyon to help the Palisades. So when the fire started ripping through Topanga, we didn't have any fire presence whatsoever, none. And so what we started doing is we had people spotting fires and we were calling in 911s like crazy and eventually they got inundated with so many calls that they had no choice but to send in air support. And then we realized, generally, within 10, 12 minutes of calling a home in that was under fire, we would have like a 10,000 gallon drop on the home. And we realized, okay, cool, now we have a direct line. No, we've got a direct line to the fire chief, direct line to the sheriff. Really started getting stuff done.

Speaker 2:

There are looters. You know, there have been citizens arrests made. There are looters. There have been citizens' arrests made. There are looters.

Speaker 2:

We've got a chat where it's unbelievably organized, where we've got sometimes videos, photos, addresses where they were seen, descriptions, people are researching distinctive clothes, where the clothes are sold, um, just really getting to it. Uh, the national guard has come in and I saw like it looks like an urban assault vehicle. I don't even know what it was. It looks like it's out of a you know terminator movie, um, and you've got, you know, no one's being let in on on the? Uh, at the cross, at the borders, the whatever those are called checkpoints, um, but people are hiking into the canyon with e-bikes and backpacks. And so we've got yeah, we've got like a citizens patrol.

Speaker 2:

You know doing all the things turning off propanes, taking the propane tanks out of the fire, putting hoses into the pools and pumps. We had a list of like 100 homes with pools. So the fire department, when the hydrants were running dry, they could pump water out of a pool and fight the fire. That way it's all hands on deck, people sleeping in their cars. So they're, they can volunteer, you know, all year round air. One donated air. One is the most bougie, uh, you know grocery store you can imagine they've got like 20 like mushroom lattes. They delivered hundreds of meals. We had restaurants deliver hundreds of meals. It's been unbelievable, the outpouring of support, like tremendous.

Speaker 1:

That's so great and not to turn from something positive to a negative. But I do want to get your take on this. I saw I don't know if you saw it, michelle from the California Association of Realtors about people price gouging and just upping rents so astronomically in this time of crisis and it just broke my heart. I mean, I believe in a free economy, don't get me wrong, but that's insane. Like how awful that's. What's your thought on that?

Speaker 2:

Um, my understanding of the law is that. First off, I think price gouging in a crisis is unethical. Yeah, you know, I think the penal code says you can't raise the list price more than 10% if it was listed prior to the emergency. What I am seeing, though, is new listings hit the market that are really high, and demand is so high they're trading like crazy. I made an offer for a client Friday at 3.2 on the Venice canals. We thought we were about to open escrow. On Sunday, lo and behold, another buyer came in all cash quarter million dollars more, and this is a property that's been on the market for four months.

Speaker 2:

I'm seeing, I'm seeing people are wary. The price gouging thing is very it's a topic of conversation. Very it's a topic of conversation. So, you know, most people seem to comply with it, but once bidding wars start on rentals and they're happening it's whatever the market demands. So they might not list it at. You know they might list it as 10 more, but it might trade for 40 more because the demand yeah so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Speaker 1:

I listened to another podcast called All In and they were talking about specifically, with the Palisades and some of these coastal homes that are, and Malibu, I think, the coastal homes that are gone Will they be able to rebuild, because I think there's a cap on what insurance will pay you back. Build, because I think there's a cap on what insurance will pay you back. So let's, I think they're matching, you know, 3 million or somewhere along that lines, where some of these homes were 20 million. And then you have all of the environmental regulations to contend with and it's a. We're kind of wondering what will happen. Do you have any idea?

Speaker 2:

I know it's all fresh and new and we're all going to have to just see, but there's a lot of displaced people that are going to have to do something and I'm just wondering what you think will happen expedite fire rebuild permits so that people aren't waiting a year, two years to get ready to issue permits Like, let's expedite that, let's make sure people can start rebuilding or at least have approved permits ready to issue in the next three to six months. That sounds probably unrealistic, but I think it's going to be a gold rush for contractors and builders, that's for sure. I think that there are going to be large equity groups like BlackRock who will see a lot of opportunities, smell blood in the water and start swooping up. I bet you Thomas James Homes, which is the biggest builder in LA. They're going to buy everything they can in the Palisades and build spec homes which unfortunately will drive prices up for consumers.

Speaker 2:

A lot of the owners in the Palisades bought in the 80s and 90s when prices were normal. They're priced out. They can't rebuild. You know rebuild costs. Let's say it's 1,000 a square foot. Let's say it's a 3,500 square foot home. It's 3.5. California Fair Plan goes up to 3 million. Now a lot of people over the last six months their difference in conditions insurance above California Fair Plan was canceled and so they're underinsured. So you've got someone, let's say, who bought a home for half a million dollars. Now that home's worth, let's say, five, and they're insured up to three, well, they don't have the money to build. Maybe you know if they get.

Speaker 2:

Here's the other thing to know. So we don't know which way this is going to go, but I'm told from people. I'm told from a friend who got the largest settlement for a fire case in LA County history, for the Woolsey fire that LEDWP might have some liability due to some negligence. I don't know, this is what I'm hearing. I'm not spreading a rumor. I don't know if this is true or not, but it comes from an expert source. If that is the case, beyond whatever the insurance policies these people have even whether or not they have insurance there might be some very significant um lawsuits and claims made um for emotional distress, contents, rebuild, costs, all of these things displacement, um, and if that's the case, there are going to be probably billions of dollars in settlements.

Speaker 2:

In the meantime, you have close to 20,000 families who've lost their home. Where do they live? There's a shortage of housing. This is driving demand through the roof for rentals. I think people will be. Some people will flee la, whether it's temporary or permanent. That's going to happen um. I've got clients who have money on the sidelines, they're going to swoop in and start making offers. Um, you know, there's opportunity. When people get scared, there's always opportunity. I think certain sellers who were underinsured might have to sell in a fire sale. There's a reason it's called a fire sale. Um, I think none of us have a crystal ball.

Speaker 2:

Who knows exactly how this is going to play out, I think I think the rebuild will probably take around five years. We're rebuilding swaths of a city. This is not entire communities. I mean, they just opened Equinox Pacific Palisades, which was open for two weeks. For two weeks it became the community hub of the Palisades. Now there are very few homes in the Palisades, so I don't know Of the Palisades. Now there are very few homes in the Palisades, so I don't know. It's going to take a long time.

Speaker 1:

And let's not like forget to like touch on, like the mental health of all these people. I mean like I mean you're joining us and I'm like, are you okay? I mean you seem like you're doing all right, but we've been through this not at this magnitude, and it's we have had. You know, living in outside Yosemite, we have fires every single summer. Our children do their little fire baths at the beginning of summer to be ready for evacuations, because we've been evacuated multiple times over the years and we had one fire two years was it two or three years ago now where we lost 130 homes, which was a lot for a very small rural community. So we can relate to a smaller degree, way smaller, yeah so, but just there's trauma, there's so much trauma in that and it's now. I mean, the magnitude of this is just hard to believe actually yeah, it's, it's unfathomable.

Speaker 2:

I mean it's incomprehensible, it's devastating, it's just wow.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean, is there anything that we can do to help? It's like the natural response of like what can we do to even partner and like I mean we can talk about this like offline, but why our listeners might want to help. Yeah, we have like homes up here. I know it's far, but we have property and you know it's a drive. But we could, we could, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, um yeah, if you were closer I'd say that's. That's probably realistic. Um, I mean, the good news is that while it's only about 19% contained, it's calmed down a lot. Topanga will probably be let back and repopulated this weekend. Knock on wood, there are a series of. I can, after this, send over a GoFundMe for the listeners. Yeah, for the LA Fire Department. Our fire department is not that well funded, unfortunately. Um, so in Topanga, we're literally sending donations to the fire department. Um, which is a shame. Um, yeah, I mean, uh, you know, and then there, thankfully, there are a lot of resources. You know FEMA has some. I mean, there's a lot of resources that are coming to light, which is great, but this rebuild is going to be extra. I mean, wells Fargo is saying potentially in excess of $130 billion. So who's going to pay for that? We all are in one way or another. I don't know how exactly.

Speaker 1:

Well, with all the policies that are fair plan, I mean, it will have to come from somewhere, from the taxpayers most likely. Exactly, it's the reality of it. Well, adam, thank you so much for joining us today. I mean, it's like we didn't really talk about your business, but I feel like your business is kind of out of stand still at the moment no, it's actually in a well, last week I had two deals in topanga which you know didn't happen because of the fires.

Speaker 2:

I mean, basically everything kind of fell apart last week, yeah, and this week it looks like people are you know, certain people are ready to start buying or selling. I've got a massive $50 million listing that I'm getting ready to put on the market and the owner wants to push up the list date now because of the demand.

Speaker 1:

I was going to ask about that one too, because I was like you told me about that one. I was like I don't know if I should bring that up.

Speaker 2:

I can talk about it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, let's talk about it. I want to hear about a $50 million listing coming up.

Speaker 2:

Me too.

Speaker 1:

Me too.

Speaker 2:

Me too. It is a sprawling, uh, andalusian style, um architectural estate, um jetliner views, on 3.6 acres there is so it's 21,000 square feet, uh, nine bedrooms, 18 bathrooms. There's a full, massive theater. Every possible amenity you can imagine, amenities that you can imagine. There's a shark tank, not one, but two, inside this home. There's a grotto with two waterfalls. There's a 30-foot water slide. There's a 70-foot lazy river that flows into the pool. The views are absolute jetliner views. Just does not get any better than this. It's a spectacular, spectacular residence, extremely, extremely rare, and it's got underground parking for about 20, another motor court for like another 12 to 15. It's absolutely massive. It's grand in every way oh my goodness, so dreamy.

Speaker 1:

I can't wait to see anybody told me that I was like how'd you get a $50 million listening Nothing?

Speaker 2:

Let's know some good people.

Speaker 1:

See, we're going to have you back on how to break into that market, because that's another amazing conversation.

Speaker 2:

Well, he told me.

Speaker 1:

I got it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, one of my closest friends is a close confidant to the seller and, yeah, I was recommended. You know it was a competitive situation, but I was highly recommended and I put together uh, there was an initial listing. Meeting went very well, about 90 minutes, uh. And then I put together a specific um marketing plan, pr strategy, and I basically told the owner I don't just want to list your home, I want to treat this as a product launch and so I want to create a brand around this property branded assets, logo, the whole thing. There's a very prominent architect involved and let's go to town on this and let's hit the trades in the right way. Let's market this very specifically. Ultra high net worth these are the buyer archetypes that I see for this type of property. This is how I think we reach those buyers and I'm willing to put my full might behind it and I'm very excited and it'll be my top priority and it worked.

Speaker 1:

Wow, I mean as a $50 million listing, that's so much worth prioritizing. Okay, so we got to get. We need to tell our listeners where they can follow you so they can like see this listing go why yes, uh, socials instagram at adam brower a-d-a-m-b-r-a-w-e-r.

Speaker 2:

Um. Wwwadambrowerestatescom. Uh. T A T E Scom. Uh, you can find me on LinkedIn. I actually don't, I think it's just Adam Brower. Um, those are the best places I'd say.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Great. So follow Adam and we'll get the links for um. You know, go fund me or whatever else you want. Send it to us and we'll make sure our editor includes it, and we'll be sure to include that on when we push this out.

Speaker 2:

Sounds great. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, adam, thank you for coming, and our hearts and our prayers go down to you, your whole community, and I hope keep saying good thoughts your way, that you'll get back in this weekend, and if there's anything else you think of that we can do, just let us know. And I hope keep saying good, good thoughts your way, that you'll get back in this weekend, and if there's anything else you think of that we can do, just let us know.

Speaker 2:

I definitely will. Thanks so much for the time and, yeah, be safe out there.

Speaker 1:

You too you.