It's a nervous morning here in the Big Easy with all eyes on Gustav, however, something is different! I turned on our local morning show to learn that the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas are already beginning to evacuation and preparedness plans into motion. Unlike the days leading up Katrina, I've stopped grumbling and gloating about how many storms I've been through, and I too have evacuation plans at the ready for my home and business.
The biggest is backup backup backup! I don't subscribe to the online backup programs, probably the smartest and easiest thing to do, so today I'll be scanning and saving a lot of important file stuff that I never got around to. Then I'll be backing up my laptop onto disks and thumb drives just to be safe (we should all be doing this anyway...I, for one, have not).
My broker has a plan in place so that we can all report in and give our whereabouts and I'll be submitting my plan and information for that. I'm contacting all my current clients, not to be alarmist, but to let them know what's up (you'd be surprised how many folks wanted to see property as Katrina approached). Also, I want to check on my youngest and oldest clients and those not very familiar with all of this to make sure they'll be safe.
In the event of actual exacuation, we have been asked to remove keys from lockboxes of listings, remove signs and put them inside the houses so that they don't become dangerous missles in the wind, and finally take business cards, real estate license, anything that may help you get back into limited access areas after the storm.
Finally, I'm going to take a unique and irreplaceable picture out of my office, taken on a bright, sunny Mardi Gras morning years ago that makes me laugh every time I see it. I hope Gustav misses us, but if it doesn't I'll be in New York state looking at that picture and waiting to return to a sunny day just like that one.
I'm glad we're operating in "just in case" mode. That phrase qualifies a lot of what I say post-Katrina. I'm certainly more cautious than I used to be. I'm optimistic that we won't need to enact all of this, but I'm also very happy that there are plans in place this time artound. Keep safe everyone!
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