Category Archives for "Ideas"

How can people from all sectors get involved in the city of Ottawa’s new official plan (OP)? Here are three ways: 1. answer a few poll questions (yet to be created) 2. attend a zoom townhall meeting on the subject (yet to be scheduled) 3. do a 1-on-1 zoom meetup with Firestone to talk about […]

If you want to crater your property value, the fastest way to do that is probably to allow deferred maintenance to build up. Yesterday, I visited a place that had quite a few positives for my clients including: Decent land size, interesting home and outbuildings and the right location for these folks (they have family […]

Coach houses (sometimes referred to ask “Granny Flats” or ADUs, accessory dwelling units) have been legal in Ottawa Canada since November 2016 and this trend (adding an ADU to your existing lot/home) is spreading across North America. Why? Well, for one, cities are worried about providing more affordable housing and more rental units. Secondly, parents […]

If you read my title carefully, there’s a contradiction in it: An ROI from your front yard? Really? Most front yards are neglected wastes of space. Folks might think that grassy buffer zones (aka front yards) are somehow “green,” meaning environmentally important. Other than being the color green, grassed front yards are anything but. You […]

Keynote speech for: NOMA, Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association SMALL TOWNS, GREAT FUTURE? “Hi Bruce. I just got home and wanted to reach out to thank you for your riveting and informative presentation today. It was so well done. I had one city manager come up and ask me if it was possible to get a […]

Want to create an above-average performing real estate investment portfolio and/or a PB4L (personal business for life) that will take care of you and your family for 3 generations? Want to learn how to finance, buy, lease/rent, animate, and manage real estate properly? Want to know the secret to driving up the value of your […]

[Here’s a post I created in April 2010 finding holes in then president Barrack Obama’s newly announced space policy.] President Obama’s recent speech about US intentions in space was uncharacteristically weak and unfocused, indeed, poorly expressed. His over-arching goal about humans in Mars orbit by the ‘mid 2030s’ was hardly an inspiring call to the […]

Yesterday, I was visiting a client of mine in Gatineau and she told me about this tiny neighborhood café called Edgar. I am guessing that the place is no bigger than 16 feet of frontage and maybe 40 feet deep so only about 640 sf. The food is amazing, coffee great, and it’s a BIG […]

[A version of this article first appeared in Ottawa Business Journal, https://www.obj.ca/bruce-firestone] When most people think about business models and modeling, they think it only applies to tech startups but turns out, they’re just as important in any industry including real estate. If I ask someone about real estate models, she or he will probably […]

[A version of this article first appeared in Ottawa Business Journal, https://www.obj.ca/article/op-ed-meet-steve-willis-city-halls-most-important-person] [Part 1, https://brucemfirestone.com/steve-willis-attempt-to-makeover-ottawa-part-1-of/] Interestingly,Mr. Willis recognizes that a one size fits all planning and infrastructure approach makes no sense. He promises that in the next OP (official plan) review (slated to be completed in 2021 or 2022), a more nuanced, fine-grained approach whereby […]

[A version of this article first appeared in Ottawa Business Journal, https://www.obj.ca/article/op-ed-meet-steve-willis-city-halls-most-important-person] [Read part 2 here, https://brucemfirestone.com/steve-willis-attempt-to-makeover-ottawa-part-2-of/] I meet with Steve Willis in his suite of offices at Ottawa city hall after everyone else’s workday seems to be over, except his. He’s the new general manager of planning, infrastructure & economic development, a crucial 700-person […]

(This article first appeared in OBJ,  https://obj.ca/article/opinion-coach-houses-open-door-better-urban-planning-ottawa.) As OBJ readers may already know, the city of Ottawa recently changed its bylaws to permit construction of coach houses on many existing residential lots. This is part of a worldwide effort to densify and intensify existing urban areas to make them more interesting, more diverse, and more […]