Serving property owners, developers, buyers and sellers, realtors, businesses, and timber and resource managers since 1995.               

DEALING WITH RISK

Should I buy? Should I build? Help me Decide!

Pointing out the "specific risks" may help a property owner make better decisions

            Understanding and evaluating the risks of living on slope or high-bluff waterfront property in the Puget Sound region seems to be a difficult thing for many people to deal with. Too often, people worry unreasonably about their home "sliding away" or they stubbornly dismiss the thought as if: "It just won't happen to me".

            In fact, property owners who choose to live in these settings assume a basic level of risk for ground movement that is higher than those folks who live on level land. Recognizing and accepting this concept of elevated initial risk should be a first step for anyone who wants to live on that piece of property with a "breathtaking view".

            Beyond this level of risk, the probability of a ground movement occurring increases proportionately with the number of potentially-hazardous conditions that exist on the property. The presence of uncontrolled water runoff, unstable ground materials, the absence of vegetation or an artificially-oversteepened slope face all serve to increase the basic risk, to some degree. These increased risks may be acceptable if they affect only undeveloped portions of the property. In such cases, minor erosion, occasional sloughing of ground materials or localized slides may be an irritation and require some level of maintenance to minimize losses, but little more. Where these conditions produce risks that directly threaten the safety of structures or the lives of people, the risks usually become unacceptable!

            Understanding the specific risks involved may also help individuals deal with their concerns more objectively and aid them in making more educated decisions regarding a property. Additionally, by understanding the nature of the conditions that pose these risks, property owners often learn useful techniques and practices that enable them to mitigate these hazards to their own satisfaction.

            Understanding one's own risk adversity may also help individuals make better decisions for themselves that involve potential hazards. For some, the idea of living anywhere near a potentially-unstable slope is completely unacceptable. Their level of risk adversity would be considered high, while others with a moderate level of risk adversity might consider a small amount of slope instability and sliding to be acceptable. We know of one person whose bluff-top home is perilously close to an active slide area, however he is protected, financially, by slide insurance and spends the winter months - when slide activity is the greatest - in another state. His level of risk adversity would be considered very low.

            Because of these differences in risk adversity, we rarely tell clients whether or not we think they should purchase or build on a particular property. This does not mean that we don't clearly point out the hazards that we identify, but we believe that informing and educating our clients should be our responsibility, while making the final decisions on buying or building should be theirs.