Commercial Investment Real Estate November/December 2018 | Page 15

new technologies to improve the accuracy of Federal Emergency
Management Agency mapping, and improving mitigations
options and access to FEMA grant money for commercial and
multifamily structures.
With the NFIP, they’re also trying to update the flood maps so
they can be more accurate and fair to some of the businesses —
businesses that might be randomly mapped in a 100-year flood
plain or one that only floods periodically. They may never flood,
yet they have to pay the excessive insurance cost. That’s just not
fair to those businesses.
The program is extended through the end of November and
then the discussion begins again. Even if it’s short term, we’re
happy to see it extended. We definitely do not want it to collapse.
If it did, that would cause quite a bit of grief for the commercial
real estate community.
CIRE: CCIMs are advocating for net neutrality legislation.
Where does that stand?
Gleason: Net neutrality rules were repealed by the Federal
Communications Commission earlier this year. Net neutrality
is important to small businesses that depend on open internet
access to run their businesses and serve their customers. It’s a
fairness issue. Being able to control where you show up and hav-
ing a fair shake in Google searches is critical. Otherwise, it’s just
a monopoly. Having net neutrality rules removed could make it
very difficult for small real estate firms to compete with larger
firms on the internet.
Now there’s more activity at the state level. As of Oct. 1,
legislators in 30 states have introduced more than 72 bills requir-
ing internet service providers to ensure various net neutrality
principles, and three states — Washington, Oregon, and Ver-
mont — have enacted legislation. Many states are urging Con-
gress to restate and preserve net neutrality.
CIRE: How have the November elections affected
advocacy in Congress?
Gleason: We’re in transition. As you can see, there are a lot of
short-term pushes heading into the election. People are asking
“What happens if Democrats take over the Senate? What will
that mean for some of our initiatives? Or will things stay status
quo?” The truth is, we don’t know. As CCIMs, we are used to
dealing with risk, and sometimes not knowing is more dangerous
than knowing. We’ve been noticing a bit of a stall here in sales.
People are saying, “Let’s just wait.”
Sarah Hoban is a freelance writer in the Chicago metro area.
VA L U A T I O N & A D V I S O R Y S E R V I C E S
At Integra, over 600 real estate valuation experts serve 60 markets
IT’S WHAT WE
KNOW.
IT’S HOW FAST
WE MOVE.
from independent local offices throughout the United States, and
the Caribbean. Led by MAI-designated Senior Managing Directors
with more than 25 years of experience on average in each local
market, these offices cover all property types, including specialty
purpose properties such as Hotels, Healthcare & Senior Housing,
plus Litigation Support. So when top companies need world-class
accurate commercial valuation services and information fast, they
remember just three letters. IRR.
T H E VA L U A T I O N E X P E R T S .
IRR.com
CCIM.COM
November | December 2018
13