From a small northwestern observatory…

Took a “day trip” to Marina del Ray, California, yesterday to speak at HB Litigation Conference’s Construction Defects conference. It was very well attended, with a great cross-section of attorneys and experts on this complex topic. I was the only valuation expert on the panel, and spoke about the variety of challenged converting physical defects to market value determinations.

One of the really interesting issues arising now is in the area of “green buildings”. Insurers, contractors, and the attorneys who feed and care for them, are apoplectic over the vision of courtroom battles a few years from now over what was SUPPOSED to be a “green building” that turned out to be “not-so-green”. The industry has entered into a new realm. While there are plenty of prescriptive standards (LEED, Energystar, etc.) these standards do not take on the same level of codification of building codes, nor is there the same level of inspection and certification associated with building permits. Hence, a property PROPOSED as “green” may not actually turn out to be “green”, or at least the same shade of “green” that the investors were promised. When that happens, litigation ensues.