Understanding the risk of natural disasters on your mortgage portfolio

When natural disaster strikes, information, and accurate insight into properties and homeowners impacted within the mortgage portfolio is essential, Veros Disaster Data Solution can help you accurately manage the damage a natural disaster has had on your investment portfolio.

An unprecedented fire season is currently wreaking havoc across the Western US, with nearly 100 significant wildfires tearing across multiple states.

Entire towns and neighborhoods have been destroyed since the season began. In Oregon, which has declared a state of emergency, more than 1 million acres have been burned, and at least 10% of the state’s population is in evacuation zones. The blazes have already decimated two towns. Oregon Governor Kate Brown has called the fires a “once-in-a-generation event.”

California has never had a wildfire year like 2020, and unfortunately, the heart of the fire season has just begun. More than 2 million acres have burned in the state to date, which is the most ever in a single year for the state. Since August 15, when California’s fire activity elevated, 24 fatalities and over 4,200 structures were destroyed.

Hurricane season 2020 has equally brought devastation to coastal regions in the US. With one of the busiest seasons underway, the Gulf Coast is looking down the barrel of another violent storm as category 2 Hurricane Sally threatens to bring heavy rain, destructive winds, and a dangerous storm surge from Louisiana to Florida. Officials have warned that residents in the storm’s path could expect to see a storm surge as high as six to nine feet.

The hurricane comes less than three weeks after Hurricane Laura carved a wide destruction path that left more than a third of Louisiana a disaster zone.

In these apocalyptic times where entire towns are being ravaged by fire, and coastal cities are drowning under destructive storm surges, it’s essential to know what that means for your investments. However, once the disaster strikes, it can become a difficult task to fully understand the impact the natural event may have on your mortgage portfolio, especially considering physical access to the properties may not be a viable option.

When a region is declared a disaster area, the Veros Disaster Data Solution allows lenders, servicers, appraisal management companies, and other mortgage transaction participants to determine if a U.S.-based residential property is likely to have been directly affected.