Real estate quakes and aftershocks

This week my office had a little shakeup. We received the news that we would be merging with another office. Based on the aftershocks from those outside of the office, and even from some within who are relatively new to real estate, you would have thought that the end of the world was imminent. I live in California. To people unfamiliar, the thought of living in California conjures images of daily surfing excursions, lattes shared with the cast of "Friends," and earthquakes. They are mostly right. We have earthquakes. And I did see Larry King buying his son a bagel one morning at the deli, but that is a story for another time. According to the California Geological Survey, there are earthquakes in California every day. Of these, they say, "Each year, 100 to 150 earthquakes occur in the state that are big enough to be felt, but few of these cause any damage." And when we experience one of the I-felt-it kind, it is big news. We had one of those recently. ...