If you said heating and air conditioning, or climate control, you answered correctly, and your answer is confirmed by multiple research studies. The use of modern air conditioning in office buildings and homes came into general use in the 1950s. It made it possible for people to live and work comfortably in sweltering environments such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and much of the American Southwest. And it made the summer humidity of the Midwest, South and Northeast tolerable. As great an invention as air conditioning was, most HVAC systems still are far from perfect. Outside environmental factors, and simple things such as the orientation of the building to the stronger summer sun, can overtax a poorly designed system.

There’s no question that green commercial building is grabbing its share of headlines these days. Major corporations such as Toyota, Goldman Sachs, and BP have built and moved into environmentally responsible buildings, citing energy savings, healthier indoor environments, and smaller carbon footprints. Is green really better? Should you give green buildings a higher rating when considering competing lease or purchase proposals?

This past August, the U.S.-based Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the European-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) jointly prepared a new standard for lease accounting. It’s not clear when the changes will be mandated, but it is assumed the effective date will fall somewhere between 2012 and 2013.

What is it? Simply stated, the new lease accounting standard will place all lease obligations on company balance sheets as a liability.  Basically, these changes will make companies less valuable on paper.  This is significant if you are a publicly traded company; and possibly more so if you are valuing your privately held company for sale, applying for credit or luring talent through the worth of your company.

Are all office buildings or industrial spaces so similar that they can be compared on rental price alone? When making buying decisions for personal or business reasons, we all, of course, consider price, but price is just one of many factors. The building’s performance, durability, functionality and other aspects are all factors we take into consideration when making a major purchase. For the past several years of the economic downturn, commercial rents in the Treasure Valley have fallen or remained flat. With all of the focus on rental costs, it seems that other important factors are being excluded in the decision making process.

In the world of commercial real estate, those of us who are involved in the leasing or selling of commercial space refer to ourselves as “agents”. Does taking the role of an “agent” create a fiduciary relationship between us and those principals? In other words, when does a person owe another a fiduciary duty? While many have tried to define the circumstances or relationships that warrant the imposition of fiduciary duties, few have completely captured the countless applications of true fiduciary duty. So I decided to do a bit of research on the topic. I came across a reference to the fiduciary relationship as “one of the most elusive concepts in Anglo-American law,” and another as “a concept in search of a principle.” While entertaining commentary, it still leaves a gap in answering the question.