ALTADENA, California — This California grandmother’s newly renovated house was completely demolished by the deadly LA wildfires — but she’s still on the hook for the $800,000 mortgage she took out to pay for the upgrade.
Miriam Cotero, a 46-year-old Costco worker, had just finished the upgrade — which valued the house at $1.2 million — when the Eaton Fire tore through her neighborhood on Jan. 8.
But because she hadn’t yet upgraded her insurance on the property, where she and her family had lived for years, she said she’s only covered for $200,000.
“I had insurance,” Cotero told The Post Sunday.
“We went from one bedroom and one bathroom to three bedrooms, two bathrooms and an attached garage. The insurance wasn’t updated to reflect the changes.”
“We had just appraised it, because we had it refinanced, and it was appraised for $1.2 million. We borrowed to remodel and the money I owe on the house right now is $800,000.”
Cotero said she bet everything on the family home, and it’s gone up and smoke — leaving her with a $6,000 mortgage payment and nowhere to live.
“I feel horrible,” Cotero said.
“I can’t find anything.”
Cotero’s situation is one example of the major crunch facing fire victims in California’s heavily regulated, extremely expensive housing market.
Homeowners who bought years ago have seen their property values skyrocket — discouraging them from moving elsewhere.
That also has left many homes under-insured, experts say, after insurers pulled out of California markets in droves ahead of the wildfires.
Cotero’s and her three children, ages 17, 22, and 25, had been at Disneyland as the fires were sparking up, and rushed back home when they saw the news.
They spent a few hours taking what they could, then fled to safety.
They believe the house was engulfed just four hours after they left. Returning on Sunday for the first they found only a pile of charred rubble.
“We lost everything, all our memories,” she said.
“I didn’t take anything with me, the wind was so strong and the fire was so close that I didn’t have time to collect anything before we evacuated.”
“I was looking for pictures. I wanted to find at least one photo of my granddaughter, my kids, my parents or paintings of the Virgin Mary I had for 20 years or more.”
Cotero and her family – three kids, plus her partner and a granddaughter – have been living out of a hotel, but don’t know where they’re going to go when they check out on Wednesday.
And Cotero says they can’t go far because her eldest son is halfway through his senior year at Pasadena High school – leaving them stuck paying LA’s crisis rent prices until they can get back on their feet.
“The insurance covers $44,000 for rent. But it will be at least two years until we can rebuild our home. I still have to pay a mortgage of $6,000 a month and rent somewhere to live,” she said.
Mortgage lenders will often pause payments in the event of a natural disaster, but even if she gets a reprieve Cotero still doesn’t know how she’s going to cover the mortgage without the proper insurance.
“$44,000 is not going to pay for everything,” she said.
“There’s only ash.”
