‘Million Greenback Itemizing’ agent Josh Altman speaks solely to Fox Information Digital about his new partnership with House Worth Lock, as consumers can cowl as much as 10% of their residence buy worth if bought inside three years of a market downturn.
EXCLUSIVE: When superstar actual property agent and investor Josh Altman will get a product partnership pitch, he says 99% of the time the reply is “no.”
However on Wednesday, Altman begins a brand new gig as an advisor and spokesperson for a device he calls a “sport changer” for shielding first-time homebuyers in one of the vital costly and aggressive housing markets within the nation.
“Actual property, in my view, is the most effective funding, not an excellent funding. It’s all the time the most effective funding,” Altman solely instructed Fox Information Digital. “Once I heard about House Worth Lock, there’s a pair totally different the explanation why I cherished it and I imagine in it, and now I’m a part of it. Primary – it helps the lots.”
By teaming up with California-based insurance coverage supplier House Worth Lock, Altman — greatest identified for his 15 years on Bravo’s “Million Greenback Itemizing” — mentioned he desires to convey confidence again to homeownership, notably for first- or second-time consumers buying properties underneath $2 million.
CALIFORNIANS TEMPTED TO LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND FOR MIAMI’S SCORCHING REAL ESTATE MARKET
After a trial run in Sacramento, the corporate now affords homebuyers a assured “security internet” by overlaying as much as 10% of the acquisition worth if the house is bought inside three years throughout a market downturn. The client safety will launch in Los Angeles, Orange County and the San Francisco Bay Space, with plans to develop to Arizona and Texas.
“Million Greenback Itemizing’s” Josh Altman has partnered with House Worth Lock to guard residence purchases if a market downturn hits. (Getty Photos)
“Shopping for a house must be thrilling, not terrifying,” House Worth Lock CEO Oliver Tickner mentioned in an announcement. “For too lengthy, on a regular basis consumers have carried all the danger. We constructed House Worth Lock to flip that script — to pave a means ahead even when headlines learn ‘keep put.’ Not solely does having Josh on board convey credibility to our product, but it surely underscores our shared perception that confidence, not concern, ought to outline this market.”
“The affordability issue of actual property has actually modified … A purchaser on the market with a median-price residence of about 1,000,000 bucks in California, we’re speaking a few down cost of about $250,000. That’s an excellent amount of cash. So there’s little or no room for error,” Altman mentioned.
“The California home-buying market is all the time difficult, proper? And that’s what we delight ourselves in — navigating our consumers and sellers by way of that market,” he added. “It’s a must to understand shopping for and promoting a home is a really scary course of … defending them and defending their funding is crucial factor you are able to do.”
Josh Altman instructed Fox Enterprise that there is going to be a “entire new group” of those that transfer into the Pacific Palisades.
“In fact, you hear of mortgage insurance coverage. Guess who that protects? It protects the financial institution, the lender. So I am extra [in], due to what I do for a residing, defending the customer. I would like them to be in an excellent place the place, in the event that they ever have to promote within the first three years of buying a property, it makes it simpler for them to get out of that property.”
In line with the California Affiliation of REALTORS® 2025 forecast, the statewide median residence worth is projected to rise to $909,400 in 2025 — up from about $869,500 in 2024 and $814,000 in 2023. In the meantime, estimates offered by state builders to nonprofit CalMatters present that building-code updates in California over the previous 15 years added between $51,000 and $117,000 to the development value of every single-family residence.
“In California, it is costly. There isn’t any query about it,” Altman mentioned. “Due to the house costs, lots of people have been priced out. And for the reason that pandemic, we have simply seen it proceed to rise and rise … And it doesn’t matter what the taxes are, it doesn’t matter what the mansion taxes are or something like that, primary, charges are nonetheless aggressive … It’s telling that homes are shifting, the offers are simply getting more durable.”
In Los Angeles, Realtor.com knowledge reveals the median residence worth is greater than $1.1 million. –> | Getty Photos
Altman says early ends in California have been “an enormous success” and that “you shouldn’t be shopping for a house underneath $1.5 million with out this.”
“That is one other layer of safety, not for the lender, not for the whole lot else, however for the precise homebuyer. And that is why it is a sport changer,” he mentioned. “It is such a small charge that anybody ought to have the ability to get this.”
“Being in actual property up to now 12 months … the whole lot has modified … There’s our trade as an entire and even on the company aspect, it is consistently shifting: the brand new guidelines, the brand new ordinances, the brand new legal guidelines, no matter it could be. I’ll inform you, although, that that is simply one other factor that is moving into the precise course of defending the customer and vendor,” Altman expanded.
“I have been hand holding folks for 20 years now — defending them and defending their funding is crucial factor you are able to do. Once I spend money on actual property, it doesn’t matter what it’s, I all the time attempt to be as conservative as potential. And that is how it’s best to all the time go into any actual property deal.”
Although he’s usually the face of multimillion-dollar offers, Altman expressed eagerness to assist consumers make what he calls “the largest funding of their life.”
“Whether or not it is a $500,000 deal or a $50 million deal, it is the identical deal,” he mentioned. “Rich folks, they’ve many alternative instruments on the way to spend money on actual property, the way to hedge their bets, how to verify their losses are in opposition to the acquire someplace else, it doesn’t matter what it’s. However that is extra for that homebuyer … with regards to the lots of America that it is defending.”
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Josh and Heather Altman of Bravo’s “Million Greenback Itemizing: Los Angeles” share their keys to managing an everchanging housing market stuffed with uncertainty.
For skeptics who might imagine California’s market remains to be too dangerous or query the necessity for a back-up plan, the superstar agent urges consumers to organize for the surprising — and give attention to confidence over concern.
“We are able to take a look at the way forward for the market, we will guess, we will go off of information, however on the finish of the day, for those who discover a residence that you simply love, you can purchase it. However you simply gotta just remember to can afford it – and all the time plan for a conservative exit, versus what all people’s telling you what is gonna occur out there.”
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