Elevation, elevation, elevation

 

If you buy a house in 2007 and beyond, make sure to consider its elevation. If you have seen Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth (if you haven't, make sure you do, for your good and that of your children), you know that if current trends continue unchecked, we will continue to see the effects of global warming extend beyond the catastrophic natural disasters we have seen in recent years to an increase in sea level that will leave much of the largest cities on Earth covered by water. So for your new home, don't buy Malibu. If you want beachfront, rather than seafloor, buy high. And if you have the resources to invest in several properties, elevated real estate in cities at sea level are likely to provide a really good return on investment.

 

Alex Backer, Dec. 31, 2006