Disaster also brings opportunity… for a new beginning

A client of mine asks, “Hi Bruce, what are your thoughts on real estate and the economy over the next 12-24 months?”

Here’s what I answered:

No one really knows what will happen, but in my view, there will be many opportunities for people with cash. I suspect several trillion dollars of real estate in the US and Canada will trade at a significant discount to FMV (fair market value) circa 2019.

Here is a list of sectors that will be hardest hit, in my opinion… from least impacted (0) to most affected (10):

Least impacted:

Residential real estate—single family homes, townhomes, low rise (2)

Most affected:

Highrise residential (4)

Industrial (4)

Office space (6)

Retail space (8)

Recreational (8)

Travel and tourism (9)

Having said this, there will be opportunities—to, for example, convert hotels to medium and longterm rental of microsuites or repurpose office buildings and malls for mixed use where people will be able to live in affordable, live-work-play, create-make-learn-grow, entertain-shop, exercise-grow-socialize, diversified-visitable, neo-urbanist, walkable, animated places that are both economically and environmentally sustainable.

This will do more to reduce congestion and revive “dead” office and retail districts than anything else I can think of… it’s place-making, where not every trip is a car trip.

I also believe there is an opportunity to radically rearrange society… to experiment with:

• GMI (guaranteed minimum incomes),
• new energy production technologies,
• more work-from-home,
• better affordable housing solutions,
• better working conditions,
• a 4-day workweek including one “Earth Day” a week when EVERYTHING (except emergency services) is closed to give our planet and its wildlife a break from feverishly busy humanity)
• new ways of delivering different yet improved distance-learning education including emphasis on technology, entertainment, health, fitness and wellbeing, entrepreneurship, artpreneurship and the gig economy where everyone could have their own PB4L (personal business for life),
• more cooperation/cohesion between government and the private sector to advance a social, environmental and economic agenda,
• more flexible zoning bylaws and ordinances resulting in more robust, more resilient towns and cities with much greater tolerance of experimentation in urban form, design and uses (how about, for a start, allowing tiny home towns, you know, embracing the less house, more life vibe, ie, lower mortgage payments, more disposable income, and less need to work ourselves to death),
• building more intentional communities and neighbourhoods–themed, diverse, collegial, self-sufficient… ones that are affordable and embrace both the FEHAJ (for every home a job) movement and the FEJAH (for every job a home) one,
• doubling down on grow local, produce local, lend local, developing local currencies, emphasizing self sufficiency in energy, waster, textiles, meds, services (think finance, loans, insurance, investment…), even in manufactured goods (eg, 3D printed cell phones),
• making three quarters of the Earth’s oceans and two thirds of the planet’s surface no-go zones for any humans and that includes not only ships and vehicles but even hikers, birdwatchers, and ecotourists…

Where is ecological diversity and wildlife flourishing most today? In the DMZ (demilitarized zone) between the two Koreas and the exclusion zone around Chernobyl. How come? Because there are (almost) no humans there, that’s why.

Who said, “Want a less stressful life? Then don’t live within your means, live below them.”

Me.

Now I find out that North Korean sympathizer, Spaniard Alejandro Cao de Benós said it better, “The rich person is not the one who has more money, but the one who needs less.”

Think all this is impossible?

Well, Barcelona’s vision is to become completely self-sufficient by 2050. So, why not us?

Prof Bruce

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD
Real Estate Investment and Business coach
ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker
Ottawa Senators founder
613-762-8884
bruce.firestone@century21.ca
brucemfirestone.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce
https://brucemfirestone.com/blog/
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https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfBruce/
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https://bruce-firestone.c21.ca/

BOOK YOUR FREE CLARITY CALL WITH PROF BRUCE NOW, https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

• MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE
• FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE
• FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB, FEJAH, FOR EVERY JOB A HOME
• MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT
• HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

Image source: By Antony van den Wyngaerde – https://www.urbanity.es/foro/edificios-en-general/13102-documentacion-grafica-ciudades-y-edificios-espanoles-20.htmls, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15693394