Real estate agents have seen an increase in celebrities and rich homeowners looking to move out of the beloved Hollywood area of Los Angeles.
The sudden interest in moving comes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, homeless crisis and a potential rise in taxes, according to an article published Thursday by Fox News.
Celebrities are fleeing urban coronavirus hotspots for Wyoming, Montana and other Western rural regions, a move experts are criticizing as dangerous to those who live in those areas year-round. https://t.co/5PfpqAngC1
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 12, 2020
Hollywood publicist Cherie Kerr told the outlet that many of her famous friends are looking to move into the suburbs and even to places like Wyoming or Montana.
“They want to be in the suburbs in the San Fernando Valley or places farther out like the Westlake area – places more peaceful, safe, and clean,” Kerr told the outlet. “Places like Hollywood and Westwood don’t boast the same allure as they once did – not like 40 years ago. It’s too easy to live in other areas and enjoy similar amenities.” (RELATED: Residents Of Chicago Plan Moves After Widespread Looting In The City)
Los Angeles real estate broker Ron Wynn told Fox News that many of his clients are looking for more space due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“People are opting for larger homes, bigger backyards, swimming pools because the kids are home,” Wynn said. “They need a home study area, they need an office for her, an office for him. So the ones that are staying local and not leaving the state are moving to areas like Hidden Hills [and] Calabasas where you can get big pieces of land.”
California is still the state with the largest population at 39.96 million as of December of 2019, the California Department of Finance reported. However, the state of California lost 39,500 people, marking the first year since 2010 that more people left the state than moved into the state in a year, according to Fox News.
Real estate broker David Kean claimed the celebrities are “running away” from the Hollywood area due to the homeless crisis.
“The first instinct they have is they just don’t want to have it,” he told the outlet. “They don’t want to have to drive through it. They don’t want to have to walk around poop on the street.”
“There are cardboard cities everywhere and you see young people out there with their Starbucks cups – it’s like OK, you can afford the $6 coffee,” Kean said. “It’s weird but yeah, celebrities are running away.”
On top of the homeless crisis and the need for more space is an impending new wealth tax. There has also been a proposed increase in income tax for the wealthy.
The wealth tax plan would hit Californians worth more than $30 million with a 0.4% tax every year and for at least 10 years after a resident of California had moved out of the state, Fox News reported.