So Cal Real Estate News

Living in Earthquake Country

(July 29, 2008)  I experienced my first Southern California earthquake as an infant almost two years of age.  It happened at night, and my parents rushed in to check on me.  I guess we California natives just come wired for these things:  I’m told I was perfectly calm, lying in my crib singing “Rock-a-Bye Baby!”

I’ve experienced dozens of earthquakes here in the Los Angeles basin since then.  To me, they’re kind of fun, as long as nobody gets seriously hurt.

While quite a few of those earthquakes provided a real “E-ticket” ride, only a few of them were very significant.

Perhaps most memorable for me was the 1971 San Fernando Valley quake which I rode out on the top floor of UCLA’s Rieber Hall dorm one morning.  As we swayed back and forth seven stories above the gound I quickly figured out that a bookcase over a dorm bed isn’t a real good idea in earthquake country.

We were living in Lakewood when the Norwalk quake struck nearby.  It wasn’t a big one, but it was close enough to knock a lot of things off of shelves and damage a few chimneys and walls.  It struck in the morning as I was about to go out the door for a jog.  I stood in the middle of our kitchen, pushing cabinet doors shut and trying to keep things from raining onto the floor.  Our elementary-school aged daughter did what she had been taught and stood under a doorway, and then called upon me to do likewise.

That Norwalk quake went on for a fairly long time and knocked out the power, but never got real violent.  Still, it panicked one of our friends, who ran out into the middle of her street half-naked.

Earthquake Preparedness:  No time like the present!

Ironically, I had just printed up about 500 “What to do in an Earthquake” flyers to pass out in my “farm.”  (A “listing farm” is a specific neighborhood a Realtor, known as a “farmer,” cultivates with regular flyers, gifts, and notepads.)

So, as soon as I figured out how to get into the vault-type garage when the electricity to the opener’s off, I went on my jog and passed out the flyers as I went.  Back then it took about a week to get a good flyer printed up, so folks wondered where I got the inside tip about the quake.  The response was so good that for a while I just kept an earthquake flyer ready to pass out after the next one.

Maybe “Mother Nature” provides us these modest tremblors to spur us to do the needed preparation should that legendary “Big One” ever hit close to home.  In any case, now’s a good time to check your earthquake preparedness.  Some steps are real easy, and they might not be the ones you’re thinking of, either:

• Do you have comfortable shoes, a blanket, flashlight, some first aid supplies, and an extra half gallon of two of water in the trunk of each car?  (Some granola bars aren’t a bad idea, but lack of water’s a much bigger threat for most of us than lack of food in an emergency.)
• Got a working flashlight and sturdy slippers by every bed in your house?
• Is anyone in your home sleeping next to a bookcase, heavy wall hanging, etc.?
• Does everyone know how and when to shut off the gas and is a shut-off tool or large wrench wired to your gas meter?
• Is your water heater strapping up to current standards?

Additonal Online Information:

California Dept. of Conservation on “What to Do Before, During, and After an Earthquake,” with additional links.

L.A. Fire Dept. Emergency Preparedness Guide

Los Angeles Building Dept. has an pdf file on steps to strengthen your home structurally .

Please feel free to suggest helpful links you might have found by adding your own comment at the end of this post.

How Big a Risk?

I much prefer living with earthquakes than the floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes that plague other regions of the country.  Not to mention the humidity or the cold.  A little preparation goes a long ways to minimizing the risks.

But if you’re going to worry (which is never a good idea), chloresterol, fat, and bad drivers are far bigger risks than earthquakes.  Actually, worry’s a greater threat than an earthquake!

So shake it off and get on with your life!  Right now it’s about 2 p.m. and a blamy 77 degrees with a pleasant breeze, and the Angels have beaten the Red Sox six games in a row.  Why on earth would I ever want to live any place else?

(4/15/08)  Yesterday’s paper brought an uplifting story that helped put our real estate woes in perspective.

Today’s paper was a little more brutal. “The Next Big Quake: Big One Nearly Certain by 2038,” screamed the Register. The Times was a bit gentler: “Likelier here: the next Big One.”

Fortunately, I try to start each day with a something a little more inspiring. This year I’m reading through Wisdom for Today, a daily devotional by my Pastor, Chuck Smith.

Appropriately enough for April 15th, today’s devotional was taken from the Biblical book of Job.

It’s based on advice the troubled Job received from Eliphaz, a friend who had come to “comfort” Job in his distress. Possibly the oldest book of the Bible, Job could have been written yesterday for today’s California home owners.

Titled “Nothing + Nothing = Nothing,” today’s devotional is taken from Job 15:31, “Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, for futility will be his reward.”

Here’s the first paragraph of “Pastor Chuck’s” thoughts on the passage:

“In his attempt to understand why God had stripped Job of all his possessions, Eliphaz reasoned that Job had foolishly put his trust in those possessions. Though Job had not done so, Eliphaz was right in speaking against the folly of those who are lulled into a deceptive sense of security by their wealth.”

Like maybe thinking Southern California real estate can only go up in value?

Bottom line, even if that were true, you still can’t take it with you!

1,500 years after Job, Jesus put it this way:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

I find that last sentence especially interesting. Jesus’ reason for not focusing on material wealth wasn’t so much that “you can’t take it with you,” as that it will distract our hearts from far more important things. Things that are eternal, like our family, our neighbors, our character and God.

Hopefully the last few year’s “shake up” in Southern California real estate values or the coming “shake up” reported in today’s paper will help us all focus more on things that can’t be shaken.