You know how Federally all the bankrupsy laws are changing, so you can't soon really get out of debt or walk away from what you owe.
Soon Califonria and nationally bankrupsy law will be more like Texas.
Meaning, if there is major home damage, big loans and little or no insurance... Lots of people are going to be stuck with a $600,000 loan on a house they can't live in, with a debt they can't dump either by a bankruptsy.
It's going to be some strange times.
KCAL 9 spent a lot of time on the shakers last night. Alan Mendelson the money guy was talking about the phones were ringing off the hook for earthquake insurance yesterday. They were quoting rates like $1500 a year with a 15% deductible.
In another story, there were several people that had recently moved to CA that said they wanted no part of it and wanted to leave.
...and that wasn't even a big quake yesterday (Yucaipa)
Even without The B1, the current real estate market is going to create some long-term financial stresses. The ten-year interest-only-option loans are letting many people get into houses they cannot otherwise afford. That's a financial time-bomb and a gamble that the market will produce a net positive ten years from now. Most likely, it will, but throw in a mag 7.9 in San Jose and suddenly the picture gets very grim. The onslaught of insurance claims will easily be triple that of the claims resulting from Loma Prieta; perhaps quadruple or more if the epicenter is in a metro area. This will place a tremendous financial strain on insurers, potentially closing the market to new policies for several years. That stated, the worry of big loans with little to no insurance is unfounded, IMO; I'm unaware of any lenders that do not include a mandate for insurance coverage as part of the loan agreement -- and they DO check to make sure you're premiums are paid up, too.
On the upside, your Home Depot stock would boom and it would be a great time to be a GC or a sub working in residential construction.