24
existing supply. Besides low rents being the lure, there has been an influx of high technology
companies. This concentration has now become a lure. When these new companies come
here they find the space prewired and ready to go.
ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION
1. Should the Internet be taxed? Cnnfn reported 12/26/2000 that "State governments took a
key step Friday to set common rules on sales taxes, a move that they hope will enable them
eventually to capture sales taxes on internet transactions and other remote sales.
Representatives from state governments voted 26-0 to approve draft legislation that would
become a model for individual state laws."
2. For the first time in history the United States is the premier economic and military
superpower and it starts the new millennium in this unique position. Here are a number of key
issues that it should focus in on: economic growth, environment, biotechnology, peace, poverty
to name a few.
3. Formulate a policy to radically decrease dependence on petroleum and aggressively
promote alternative energy sources.
4. Continue to pay down the national debt.
5. Statistical and artificial intelligence appraisals - Some of the financial institutions are
attempting to use "statistical" appraisals which can be a useful tool in limited situations.
However, it can also produce inaccurate and misleading results when inappropriately applied.
More importantly, this technique relies on past historical information. Looking, for example,
at what happened in the market after the 1987 stock market crash and the recession of 1990
it is glaringly apparent the inherent weaknesses of this technique. Unfortunately, its
inappropriate use will probably cause significant problems before its appropriate use is more
defined.
Much talked about is the use of artificial intelligence in the appraisal process. For a deep
understanding about the difficulties in employing this technique in such a diverse field as real
estate appraisal see " Artificial Intelligence Conceptual Problems and Technical
Considerations for the Implementation of Artificial Intelligence Systems in the Real Estate,
Financial and Land Information Services Industries by Howard Jackson, published in 1985.
Artificial intelligence systems by nature are "goal" oriented rather than a typical computer
program which is "procedure" oriented. Artificial intelligence systems have the ability to learn
in theory. But this requires programming. The big question is simply how can we program a
computer to learn to correctly and consistently appraise any property when we ourselves don't
completely understand the nature of the mind. The real estate market itself is imperfect.
In the rush to speed up the loan process, FreddyMac announced on October 26, 2000 a new
collateral assessment feature. Lenders and brokers can pay a $200 delivery fee to
