Randall Bell Explained

Randall Bell
Birth Place:Cleveland, Ohio
Nationality:American
Occupation:Real estate damage economist[1]
Alma Mater:UCLA, Fielding Graduate University
Thesis Title:Posttraumatic Behaviors: The Socioeconomic Reasoning of Homeowners Who Voluntarily Remained in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina[2]
Thesis Year:2013
Doctoral Advisor:Miguel Guilarte, PhD
Discipline:Socioeconomics
Known For:"The Master of Disaster"[3] [4]
Children:4

Randall Bell (born 1959), is a socio-economist,[5] real estate economist and appraiser,[1] expert witness, and author based in Los Angeles, California known for dealing with stigmatized property.[6] [7] Bell is an expert on real estate damages,[8] who authored a highly referenced textbook on the subject, and was called "Dr. Disaster" by The Wall Street Journal. Bell's notable cases include: Nicole Brown Simpson's Los Angeles condominium, the mansion where 39 Heaven's Gate members died of suicide, the JonBenét Ramsey house in Colorado, the World Trade Center site, and properties damaged in the Rodney King riots and by Hurricane Katrina.[9] [10] [11]

Early life and education

Bell grew up in Fullerton, California as the son of an engineer and homemaker, and attended Troy High School.[12] He has an MBA from UCLA. He received his doctoral degree from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, with a dissertation on the socioeconomic reasoning of Hurricane Katrina survivors.[13]

Career

Bell began working on appraisals of environmental and asbestos damage in the 1980s.[14] He has also assessed Chinese drywall and sink holes.[8] In 1992, Bell assessed the damages of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. After the riots, he decided to focus only on damaged properties. Also in 1992, Bell created the Bell Chart, a rating system that categorizes the 10 types of detrimental conditions and their corresponding economic damages of properties. The system ranks properties from class 1 (no detrimental effects) to class 10 (an incurable condition). In 1994, he began assessing stigmatized properties such as the damages of the Northridge earthquake and wildfires in Malibu, California.[15] [11] In 1997, he became the national director of the Real Estate Damages practice of Price Waterhouse. He left the firm in 1999, and co-founded Bell Anderson & Sanders with two partners. He is presently CEO of Landmark Research Group.[16]

Bell works with properties that have been affected by crime, environmental contamination, construction defects, reported hauntings, and natural disasters.[17] He has consulted on Nicole Brown Simpson's condominium; the Beverly Hills estate where Charles Manson's followers murdered Sharon Tate and four other people in 1969; the Rancho Santa Fe mansions where the bodies of 39 Heaven's Gate cult members were found, the house in Boulder, Colorado, where JonBenét Ramsey was killed; the home of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza; and the house of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock.[3] [18] [19] [20] He has also consulted on Hurricane Katrina; the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands; the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center; and the United Airlines Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville. Bell has traveled to Chernobyl, Hiroshima; to the World Trade Center site; and to Egypt, Jordan, Israel and West Bank to find comparisons in properties damaged by terrorist attacks.[8] [14] He has also traveled to Antarctica to interview scientists about climate change and how it affects costs, such as insurance for home owners.[21] The Appraisal Institute published Bell's book Real Estate Damages: Applied Economics and Detrimental Conditions in 2008.[8] In 2011, Bell returned from Guam, where he consulted with landowners whose property included the cave where Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese army sergeant, hid for 28 years, unaware that World War II had ended. The landowners opened a theme park on the property.[8]

In recent years, Bell has begun writing self-help books, inspired by his interactions with disaster victims and his personal experiences with overcoming trauma and obstacles.

Bell hosted the 2020 docuseries, Distressed Real Estate, produced by Topic Studios.[22]

Bibliography

Personal life

Randall Bell lives in Laguna Beach, California with his wife and has four children. Bell volunteers at the Laguna Beach homeless and rehabilitation center, Friendship Shelter.[23]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. News: 'A look at San Diego's most infamous homes' . ABC 10 News San Diego . 18 November 2020 . 13 September 2021 . Rachel Bianco.
  2. PhD . Posttraumatic Behaviors: The Socioeconomic Reasoning of Homeowners Who Voluntarily Remained in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina . Bell . Randall . 2013 . Fielding Graduate University, UMI Dissertation Publishing . Santa Barbara, CA.
  3. Web site: 'Master of Disaster' helps Newtown acquire gunman's home . Greenwich Time . 4 December 2014 . 9 December 2014 . Nanci G. Hutson.
  4. News: 'Celebrity sellers have little effect on home prices' . LA Times . 19 May 2012 . Lauren Beale.
  5. News: 7 'rich habits' of highly successful people, from a man who studied them for 25 years . Kathleen Elkins . 7 April 2017 . 13 September 2021.
  6. Appraiser puts a price tag on sites of tragedy. Cynthia L. Webb. Associated Press.
  7. News: Need To Sell A House With A History? Call Randall Bell. 1997-11-21. Vincent J. Schodolski. 2014-11-01. Chicago Tribune.
  8. News: Tragic events stigmatize properties. Cynthia Anderson. Sarasota Times. December 1, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111211091645/http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111202/ARTICLE/111209895 . 11 December 2011 . 2020-06-21.
  9. Web site: Tragic events stigmatize properties. 2011-12-02. Cynthia Anderson. 2014-11-01. Herald Tribune.
  10. News: Appraiser is go-to guy for stigmatized properties. https://web.archive.org/web/20141204105408/http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2022022839_stigmapropertiesxml.html. 4 December 2014. 2013-10-11. Andrew Khouri. 2014-11-01. Seattle Times.
  11. News: Appraiser of doom finds his niche. 2013-08-09. Jeff Collins. 2014-11-01. OC Register.
  12. 1997-11-03. Master of Disaster. People.
  13. PhD . Posttraumatic Behaviors: The Socioeconomic Reasoning of Homeowners Who Voluntarily Remained in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina . Bell . Randall . 2013 . Fielding Graduate University, UMI Dissertation Publishing . Santa Barbara, CA.
  14. News: Christina Binkley. 16 May 1997. Dr. Disaster has a prescription for problem properties. . 21 June 2020.
  15. Web site: Carole Fleck. May 1997. Stigma or Superstition?. https://web.archive.org/web/20170626112831/http://realtormag.realtor.org/sales-and-marketing/selling/article/1997/05/stigma-or-superstition. 26 June 2017. 2014-11-01. Realtor Magazine.
  16. News: More Storms Like Ida Will Probably Come, Upending Real Estate Markets . 2 September 2021 . 13 September 2021 . Clare Trapasso.
  17. News: Should sellers disclose a house's dark secret? In some states it's the law . . 27 August 2021 . 13 September 2021.
  18. News: Newtown Weighs What to Do With Adam Lanza's Home . . 12 December 2014 . 27 December 2014 . Cowan, Alison Leigh.
  19. Web site: How to Sell a House of Horrors. ABC News. May 5, 2006 . April 21, 2016.
  20. Web site: Las Vegas mass shooter's Nevada home is up for sale. AoL. 3 October 2018 .
  21. News: Does Satan Worship Affect Value. October 8, 2013. Andrew Khouri. LA Times.
  22. Distressed Real Estate . 2020 . TV.
  23. News: Randall Bell Made Millions Appraising the Real Estate of Infamous Homes. OC Weekly. Matt. Cooker. March 16, 2016. April 21, 2016.