Environmental History and Real Estate

Business Insider SF Real Estate Market Explosion 

It's no secret that San Francisco Real Estate is hot hot hot, and Marin is not far behind in terms of multiple offers well over asking. The bidding war is just part of life now, alas. If you are focused and can afford to compete, I can help get your offer accepted, or if you want to sell I can help you do so smoothly and efficiently. Don't sell with out a good plan in place, as selling is soooo much easier then buying right now. My esteemed colleagues and reporters have covered the changing real estate landscape  very well, so I'll stick to my obsession with earth based real estate.

This fabulous article, via Richmond Blog from the wonderful Outside Lands folks, sums up how water shaped the development of the western side of the city. Of course water and topography also shaped the development of the rest of the city and Marin, and historical development across the globe.

Topography has a powerful influence on microclimates, on earthquake risk, tsunami risk, underground creek issues, even how well your plumbing works. Location is the one thing you cannot change when you buy property, and it is easy to forget that the earth is still underneath all this built environment we live in.

So, as you gird your loins to enter the fray, pull focus a little on that property you are so excited about. Will the climate suit you when the dust of the escrow settles? Is it in a landslide or flood zone? Will you be able to grow the things you want to grow, or will you have to spend extra on earthquake or flood insurance? Flood insurance rates are rising fast, but that's for another post.

Bold Italic - Microclimates

If you already own property here, and are staying put but curious, or renting and curious, the San Francisco Library has tips for researching buildings, and Nature in the City put together a wonderful nature map of the city. If you are in the market, though things are moving fast and furiously these days, do be sure review the Natural Hazard Disclosures, to be sure you know about long term environmental realities you may not notice underneath the fresh paint and newly refinished floors.

SF Rec and Park, Nature in the City

Happy Spring!

Liquefaction

While on Zephyr tour recently, en route to a new pocket listing in the Arterra, (which a building guy proudly told us was the first LEED certified building in the city) the question of whether we were in the liquefaction zone came up. I looked around and guessed that yes, it was likely, and it got me to wondering how on earth we keep building buildings in the liquefaction zone.

USGS

As discussed here, liquefaction refers to areas of young geologic deposits, and/or fill, in low lying areas, where "soft muds are subject to the phenomenon of saturated soils losing their stiffness and strength during shaking. Young deposits will liquefy, or turn into a sandy liquid due to the strong shaking a big earthquake will produce."

Alex Clark wrote a pretty great post with maps for the Front Steps while back that gives a good sense of liquefaction locations.

The Real Dirt on Liquefaction, has a table: Techniques for Liquefaction Hazard Mitigation on page 20, if you are curious, and of course, the guide below. My curiosity about modern earthquake engineering is not fully slaked, so there will be more on this subject...