Seattle has a 1/3 chance of getting hit by a major earthquake in the next 50 years which will destroy most of the western Washington. I know that it sounds like it might not happen in your lifetime because of our psychology, but in the Birds Eye view of universe, it will happen and we are almost overdue for it. Real estate will go completely down and Seattle ( and the neighborhoods ) will take years to recover and there’s no guarantee that your house price will increase. Let’s say I buy a house worth 1 million and I paid $100K of it and then the earthquake destroys my house ( and the city ), is there any way for me not to succumb to losses ? Earthquake insurance only goes so far. I’ll be happy if I at least get the money I put in the house, if not profit but realistically what happens ? Lastly, why aren’t more people concerned about this before embarking on 1.5 million mortgages ? #seattle #housing #mortgage #microsoft #amazon #insurance
Fed printer to the rescue. Actual cost will be exported to other countries and future generations assuming US dollar will continue to be the international trade currency.
Earthquake insurance
Which city do you think you are safe from a natural disaster? Nothing on west coast, north south or east. You are left with places like Minnesota
I understand where your thought process is coming from but Seattle is literally sitting on a fault line and the earthquake happening is not a matter of if but when
And you think san francisco and la are any better?
Take earth quake insurance. But most ppl don’t. Also most constructions can sustain earthquake. It’s the code. Simulations show the actual disaster wud be due to the following tsunami. Another point is to stay east of I5. The effect must be significantly less the farther from the coast.
1. Someone bought a house today at 1M 2. It appreciates 5% a year 3. In 40 years that house is now worth 7M 4. Earthquake hits 5. Real estate crashes 50% If your house got destroyed, then most likely your old house is the least of your concerns as making sure you and your family are alive and able to get water and food is more important. If your house isnt destroyed then you still have good equity left on your house.
It’s still a very optimistic assumption given that the entire area turns into a zombie land and why would people still buy houses there
Also earthquake might hit a week from now given the probabilities
FEMA will bail out every single person in Washington, Oregon will have some troubles with water but it won’t be a major issue. Alaska will get fucked but there’s like five people up there. Anchorage will be fine. Earthquake insurance won’t pay because it’ll be the water that messes up people’s homes. Get flood insurance, if you want get the earthquake too just to make sure your foundation is fixed. Do be more worried about the collapse of society for a few months, in Washington in particular. Guns, ammo, cleaning supplies for the guns, etc. Alcohol will trade more than Gold. Take it easy.
Not true. FEMA denied car $ when a major flood catastrophe damaged my car.
Yeah, a flood isn’t a once in a century earthquake. Katrina got covered at 100% cost share. This earthquake will be worse.
It is interesting that every comment so far assumes the person / the family is going to be alive and that real estate price will be the center of conversation.
This is not the question though. Question was specific to real estate objectively
For folks underestimating: https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/a-deadly-earthquake-absolutely-positively-will-ravage-seattle-at-some-point-heres-how-to-survive-it/
Yes. Agreed. Still the question is about real estate,even if the article is about to how to survive.... I am curious about why the questions are not about how to save my family or myself during an earth quake, but about the real estate impact Not judging or implying anything OP. But getting more curious about our genera pattern of priorities are leading us towards.
It’s a good philosophical question and you can make a separate post about it. This post is just for real estate.
Get earthquake insurance
Let’s be real, the US govt will bail anyone out in such a mass catastrophe
What happens to the money that you’ve already put in the house though ?
Do you understand what bailout means? Of course, I don’t think it’ll be 100% payback. But, the chances of getting a lot of money back if it happens is much higher than the earthquake happening anyway.