Extreme Weather and Real Estate

Like a Hurricane

Inhabitat

Well, hurricanes seem to have supplanted earthquakes in urgency level for me, particularly since my daughter is in Brooklyn.  Thankfully, she is not living in an evacuation area.. Though I usually focus on the golden gate here, it's clear it's all one planet when it comes to weather and loved ones. Its also clear that real estate concerns seem pretty trivial when lives are in danger, so my prayers are with everyone encountering extremes of all kinds, all over this magnificent globe.

Tree Hugger

Meanwhile, in today's risk assessment for real estate (excellent distraction for a the worried Mom in me) we have more maps  (yay!) of San Francisco and Marin to identify potential danger zones for flooding, which is obviously very bad for property value and building health. Flooding here at the golden gate could be caused by a tsunami or by a severe winter storm and may be exacerbated by high tides/heavy rain/dam failure/pipe failure or any combination thereof.  When purchasing property in historically flooded areas, you'll want your inspectors to alert you to any residual damage or moisture that could continue to have negative impact on the building.

Museum CA

The good news is that to some extent one can predict areas of greater or lesser vulnerability to inundation, (hint: water flows downhill)  and though of course all bets are off in the big picture of climate change, still there are many areas of higher ground to consider in your real estate search. The tough trade-off  for so many of us who love the sea, is that property near the water comes with the possibility it will become property IN the water.

Is flood insurance neccessary?

SF Dam Failure Inundation Zones

SF Tsunami Inundation Maps

Marin County Tsunami Inundation Maps

Tsunami Risk Zone (scroll down for the map)

FEMA Map tools This is a huge data set, and requires a fast internet connection, but you can make your local map and save it. Companies like JCP will put this, and some of the data above, in a disclosure package which the Listing agent will have to offer interested buyers, but if you are the kind who'd like to take a look before you formally inquire about a specific property, this can be worth the effort.

livescience