Realtor Hero

Elderly
clients of mine came to see me last year. They were living on a large rural property,
quite isolated from everything—neighbors, services, shopping, jobs, friends,
family, you name it. That was OK when they were younger, but not so much now,
especially since the husband was suffering terribly from a combination of illnesses.
They asked me to sell their property, and to help them find a visitable home
nearer to the city center as well as to hospitals and other services. 

To maximize
value for them, I led a team of lawyers/planners/surveyors that successfully severed
their lands into two parcels—one 10-acre piece with their home on it, and one
60-acre piece of vacant land. The former was sold to a nice couple in their 30s,
and the latter was sold to a developer… We probably doubled the value they were
ultimately able to obtain from their holdings via this strategy since a developer places little or no value on a house and a young couple doesn’t have the wherewithal or interest in holding onto development land or immersing themselves in byzantine procedures that pass these days for the approvals process in most jurisdictions to make lands usable for purposes

other

than growing weeds.

But
then the story gets interesting. How many bungalows do you think we looked at
to find one that was suitable for elders? 22, and really none of them were. The
one my clients finally decided to purchase (out of sheer desperation) required
significant renovations to: a) create a 0-step entry and b) a bathroom
accessible to someone using a walker.

This
brought to my attention how badly served elders are in our society, and how,
with just a little more aforethought, we could build new homes that serve all age groups better, including seniors.

And
homes with roll-in showers, 0-step entries and accessible bathrooms with grab
bars don’t have to be stigmatized by ugly design either or, for that matter,
excessive costs. I mean a 0-step entry works not only for seniors but a woman
(or man) with a baby carriage too.

There,
that’s my story. 

Cheers, Bruce

Bruce M
Firestone, B Eng (Civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD

Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc Broker and Ottawa Senators
founder

613.422.6757 x 250

bruce.firestone@century21.ca

www.brucemfirestone.com

@ProfBruce

“Making each day count”