As violent crime skyrocketed under President Trump during the first years of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, Americans did not know what to do to help protect themselves and their homes. Now, a new trend has arisen as rich homeowners come to grips with the horrible crime rates in their desirable cities. Those who have the means to do so are creating “panic rooms” inside their own homes to act as a safe place for family members and friends to go if they ever find themselves on the receiving end of an armed attack or home invasion.
One construction firm told The Hollywood Reporter that demand for panic rooms has skyrocketed over the last few months. But people are willing to part with a lot of money to make their homes safer than ever before. Some of these luxury panic rooms cost upward of $1 million, all in the name of safety and security.
“Panic rooms are just going to be one of those amenities that gets tacked on to every list of, ‘OK, every new home moving forward above price point must have this,'” one real estate agent told the Hollywood Reporter.
Burglars and thieves have been targeting the ultrarich for their break-ins and thefts. In February, according to Daily Mail, an unwanted intruder broke through security at Kat Von D’s $15 million Hancock Park residence while she and her son were asleep. A month earlier, disgraced Hallmark actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli reported that someone had broken into their multi-million home.
Celebrities have even been murdered during these luxury home invasions. In January, music producer Clarence Avant’s wife, Jacqueline Avant, was brutally murdered in her own $7 million Beverly Hills home when an intruder armed with an AR-15 assault rifle broke into her home and filled her up with bullets. The man with the assault weapon was a convicted robber who was doing what he does best – stealing things other people worked hard to earn.
“We once had a property, and an appraiser came and was measuring the home, and they could not figure out why there was this kind of dead space,” Holcomb said. “And we weren’t allowed to tell them what it was. They just had to assume it was dead space when in fact, behind a secret panel was a safe room.”
However, real estate agents must keep the location of the panic room secret until the new buyer has signed all the paperwork and closed on the house. Only then do they learn what they’ve truly bought.
“You never know who’s potentially casing a house. The last thing you want to do is show them, ‘Here’s the panic room, and here’s how you access it,'” Jon Grauman of The Agency, a luxury real estate firm in Los Angeles, said.
Panic rooms are nothing new. Panic Room Builders was founded twenty-five years ago and “provides safe spaces ‘where individuals, families or executives can protect themselves from violence while authorities answer a call for help.”