Pay Dirt: Climate Change and House Buying

[minoanmiss]

Dear Pay Dirt,

I recently came into a delightful, low six-figure windfall. I’ve spent my entire adult life (I’m 38) renting in ultra-high-cost cities. I finally have a chance to make a down payment on a house, which I barely felt comfortable dreaming about before. The problem? My brother is a climate change-oriented scientist, and when he heard of my plan to use the money for a house, his reaction was an emphatic “DON’T DO IT!”

I live in a city that, like many parts of the world, is already being affected by climate change and will certainly continue to worsen. My brother believes my city will be unlivable and my house worthless in just a few years. Meanwhile, I anticipate needing to live in this city for another five to 10 years due to my career, and I don’t want to be a renter any longer! I’m so tired of the underlying instability and the gross feeling of paying off someone else’s mortgage (I rent a house). How much should I really consider climate change in terms of investing in real estate, specifically in an area that will definitely be affected down the line?

—Global Warning

Dear Global Warning,

My initial response when reading your brother’s reaction to your purchasing a home was to advise you to take it with a grain of salt. But that’s what many have been doing to scientists for years. If your brother is a climate change scientist, he probably knows what he’s talking about. I would consider what he is saying and weigh it seriously.

About 13 years ago, there was a television program that aired on ABC called Earth 2100. It was released in 2009 and dove into what life could hypothetically look like if climate change wasn’t taken seriously. I’m sad that some of the scenarios depicted in the program have already come true. The film predicted that Las Vegas would run dry by 2030. It’s 2022, and Lake Mead (which supplies much of Las Vegas’ water supply) is the lowest it’s ever been. It’s so low that random dead bodies potentially linked to organized crime are now rising to the surface. Las Vegas is currently asking its residents to limit their water use, but it remains to be seen if the city’s efforts will be successful. The film also depicted a worldwide pandemic that sounds very similar to COVID-19. This fictional pandemic damaged the world’s trade. I could go on, but that’s neither here nor there. Scientists have known about these threats all along. Whether we have chosen to listen is a different story.

My answer is to hear what your brother has to say. If the city hasn’t addressed this issue, and there is reason to believe they are in a climate change crisis, it might not be a wise move to purchase the property you originally intended to. If your city is committed to making improvements, and you feel confident in these changes, then I would encourage you to go ahead. I hope this makes sense.