Thoughts on Houston floods and the effects on area real estate

[Account Closed]

I have been watching the news coming out of Houston non stop and it is truly heart breaking to hear some of the stories. Obviously my thoughts and prayers go out to all the Houstonians suffering through this. 

I am starting to think about the effects this will have on the Houston RE market and also the surrounding cities. As an investor I think about all of the houses that were not covered by flood insurance. What does someone do in that situation? Do you think that there will be a huge amount of "flood distressed" properties in the coming months? I wonder about the Austin, San Antonio and DFW markets. Will people leave houses behind and move to other cities?

Can any of the community here on BP who may have been investing during Katrina or other natural disasters give us a history lesson on what has happened in the past?

[Joe Davis]

I tend to disagree with the theory that people will leave en-masse. Houston is the 4th largest city in the US for a reason...jobs...and jobs are not going to go anywhere until alternative fuels have been found! If people leave, their jobs will need replacing - that was not the case in Katrina. The Houston market has been incredibly strong and diverse - and has flooded before with no dire residual effects - I predict the same, Houston will rebuild and continue its growth. The short-term effects will be seen by a plethora of homes coming on the market for far less than we have ever seen and on the opposite end of the spectrum with higher/dryer homes escalating in prices - I hate to sound insensitive, but clever investors will have a lot of opportunities.