The Internet revolution stands to bring big bucks to corporate and commercial real estate firms, while picking the pockets of brokers. So says “futurist” David Pearce-Snyder, who adds that corporate and commercial are among the business sectors best-poised to cash in on the virtual world.

Pearce-Snyder correctly points out that growth in retail e-commerce will be supplanted by business-to-business and e-business uses of the Internet. And he somewhat wildly predicts a “totally wireless workplace” will be in force within two decades.

The reason corporate real estate management and transactional models adapt well to the Internet, Pearce-Snyder says, is the current move toward the delivery of information services that combine facility management, including electronic concierge services for tenants and end-users.

Here’s the scary part for intermediaries like brokers. Pearce-Snyder predicts losses of an average of 11 percent in commissions in coming years, resulting from an increased level of value-added, non-commission services now available online.

Snyder also pointed to the growing number of online service provider alliances offering everything from property listings to facility procurement. In the next few years, these online supply networks may be regarded by governments in an antitrust context but new opportunities for “middlemen” such as e commerce companies will provide a way around the expected restraint of trade claims.

In other news, it may be September, but it’s never too early to start thinking about taxes. Real estate taxes are a burdensome and large expense for most businesses.

While taxpayers can’t change their actual tax rates, there are ways to save money by lowering a property’s tax assessment, according to Russ Hayden, a senior property tax consultant with Marvin F. Poer and Company.

Hayden says that many companies are winning reduced assessments based on the concept of tangible value. Because it is “intangible,” this concept is not a simple one to explain or utilize. In fact, documents such as licenses, franchise names or copyrights typically are the only hard evidence of intangible value, he said.

Here are some examples:

Published: September 20, 2000

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