Next earthquake for CA is predicted to be a doozy, per this Sept 2017 LA Timess article, with a map showing an earthquake starting in the Salton Sea, just south of Indio, and breaking to the north >California could be hit by an 8.2 mega-earthquake, and it would be catastrophic >A magnitude 8.2 earthquake would rupture the San Andreas fault from the Salton Sea — close to the Mexican border — all the way to Monterey County. The fault would rupture through counties including Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino. >An 8.2 earthquake would be far worse here because the San Andreas fault runs right through areas such as the Coachella Valley — home to Palm Springs — and the San Bernardino Valley, along with the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles. The fault is about 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-mexico-earthquake-20170908-htmlstory.html So you could be in a great position to see a "whole lotta shakin' going on". If you are buying an older house, it might not stand up to it. A new house may survive but be badly damaged. We don't get much seismic activity on the east coast, so our tolerance to risk of something that will likely never occur is high. Your tolerance for something that is pretty likely to occur and some would say is overdue (big earthquake every hundred years or so) may be different.