Portland Real Estate in Rapture

"The rapture is coming!"  "The rapture is coming!"  I can see the town crier running through the streets, in the dark of the night, under the light of the gas lamps.  In our modern world bad news still spreads fast as wild fire.  The fear of loosing everything.  It is amazing how fear sells news.  It is in these moments you too think   "What if you lost every thing?"  What if the city of Portland had a massive earth quake and all of the buildings over one story collapsed. What if a tsunami came in and washed everything away that was 40ft above sea level?  What would your insurance cover?  Would your insurance even cover your mortgage?  Would you rebuild?  Would you just walk away and move to a new city?  What would your plan be?  Should you have a plan?  


If there was a large scale disaster in Portland what would it look like the week later?
First the concern would be for your own safety.  There would be a huge run on basic commodities like food and running water and shelter.  Resources would be supplied by the government and side communities to help Portland.  Then there would be a gradual rebuilding. This would be a very long process.... Like years.  All of the existing contractors would be booked out for months.  During the first month after the event there will be a major flux of tenants leaving the area, hence there would be no rental income. Landlords would not be able to keep there apartments rented. Landlords would start abandoning properties. The banks would start having properties in default and foreclosing. A year out rock bottom prices on abandon properties would start appearing.

I hope this never happens to Portland. But if it does what would you do?  Would you be able to wait out the rapture?   Could you take advantage of such an opportunity?  Would you abandon ship or would you wait it out to cash in for huge returns? 

How can you protect yourself from this type of situation?  Do you have properties that have cash flow?  Do you have reserves in the bank to cover losses?  Can you float your properties expenses for six months? A year?  Not that we expect the rapture to come but how financially stable is your business?  What can you do to improve it?  The strength of you business will determine your future and longevity.  I hope the rapture never comes but it is always good to be prepared.

By James Ernst -  SMLA board member, Manager for Sherwood Properties for 10 years. Real estate broker Sullivan Multi.