Are earthquakes a major factor for home buyers?
A: When buying a home in the Bay Area, earthquakes are a reality and something to keep in mind. However, with a shortage of inventory and increasing demand, earthquakes are not typically the first concern of buyers or sellers.
Buyers in Marin are more concerned with being in a flood zone than they are with being in an earthquake zone. Since Fannie Mae-backed loans do not require earthquake insurance, most homeowners do not have it.
A couple of key things to keep in mind are when was the house built and what type of soil/material is under the house? These are important because most homes built before 1979 don’t have seismic measures engineered into them, as required since. It’s a good idea to have those checked as part of your inspection process.
Since the 1989 earthquake, most houses that were rebuilt in highrisk areas have included seismic engineering to help mitigate the damage when (not if ) the next big earthquake hits, but those engineering considerations vary so, again, it’s important to check them extensively if considering purchasing a home in those areas.
A report from the U.S. Geological Survey noted a 72 percent probability of a 6.0-plus earthquake striking the Bay Area before 2043. Bedrock is your friend.
Meghan Duffy, McGuire Real Estate, (415) 652-0677, mduffy@mcguire.com.
A: Buyers in San Francisco definitely pay attention to earthquake risk when looking for a home.
I do find that buyers avoid the Marina, in particular, because they assume all properties there are in the area that is prone to liquefaction. While much of the Marina is indeed on liquefaction and property values there reflect that fact, there are areas to the east closer to Russian Hill that are not, and they tend to get overlooked.
In contrast, there are large parts of North Beach, the Mission, Embarcadero and South Beach that are on liquefaction, a fact that buyers either are not aware of or don’t pay as much attention to, particularly if the construction is new. Buyers feel comfortable with the idea that the high-rises have been built with liquefaction in mind.
Home buyers, rather than condominium buyers, do pay particular attention to whether a property has been seismically upgraded.
However, I note that they usually focus on fairly basic upgrades, such as anchor bolting, shear walls and replacing brick foundations, rather than on more sophisticated upgrades such as moment frames, grade beams and mat foundations.
Nina Hatvany, Pacific Union Real Estate, (415) 345-3022, nina@ninahatvany.com.
A: We are occasionally asked about the earthquake risk here in Marin County — but not too often.
The Bay Area has quite a few fault zones, and even if you are not located right on top of a fault, some buyers may consider getting earthquake insurance anyway, at least for their peace of mind.
As real estate agents, we cannot say that it makes sense financially. That is something the buyer will want to go over with their insurance agent and do a thorough cost/benefit analysis on the replacement value of their potential home — comparing it to how much the insurance covers.
We also remind our buyers considering a condo/townhome purchase that even if the community already has a master policy for earthquake insurance, as a homeowner in the complex, they will need to get additional earthquake insurance to cover replacement cost of fixtures within the unit — including cabinets, faucets, mirrors, flooring, etc. Kathleen Daly, Coldwell Banker,
(415) 925-3205, kdaly@cbnorcal.com; Lisa Lange, Coldwell Banker,
(415) 464-3318, lisalange@coldwellbanker.com