Real estate investors are waiting to see what a new flood insurance law means for Southwest Florida.

During a luncheon in Fort Myers on Tuesday held by the Real Estate Investment Society, Chris Heidrick spoke to industry members about recent changes to the Biggert Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act.

Heidrick is the owner of Heidrick and Company in Sanibel. He joined a coalition of local lawmakers this year for a successful trip to DC to convince Congress to pass legislation that would stop massive flood insurance rate hikes created by Biggert Waters.

Heidrick said the worst parts of the old law are now gone, but there is still some uncertainty as to what this means for future real estate investments.

“The number one message right now is we need FEMA guidance,” he said. “We have a law and we can read the law and interpret it, but the only interpretation that matters is FEMA’s interpretation. Until we have that specific guidance from FEMA, we can’t know exactly how this law is going to be implemented.”

Heidrick said FEMA should be releasing their guidance in the next several months.

Southwest Florida was going to be among the hardest hit by skyrocketing flood insurance premiums.

Biggert Waters was created to shore up the national flood insurance program, which is billions of dollars in debt.