My Ottawa Realtor Shani Guerin, Re/max Hallmark - Guiding & Supporting You

04/13/2026

Must try!❤️

02/23/2026

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A quiet rule change in Europe could transform how the entire fashion industry treats waste, value, and responsibility.

From July 2026, the European Union will prohibit the destruction of unsold clothes and shoes, pushing major fashion brands to rethink overproduction and disposal practices.

Instead of discarding perfectly usable items, companies will need to explore recycling, reuse, donation, and smarter production planning—marking a decisive shift toward sustainability in one of the world’s most resource-intensive industries.

Sometimes progress begins not with invention, but with a simple boundary that says waste is no longer acceptable in the future we are trying to build.

02/18/2026

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A Different Approach: How Seattle Is Replacing Encampments with Stability and Dignity

Rather than simply clearing tent encampments, Seattle has been investing in solutions designed to restore safety, stability, and hope. Across the city, Tiny House Villages now offer residents secure 8×12-foot homes with locking doors—small spaces, but ones that provide something many people haven’t experienced in years: privacy, safety, and a true sense of ownership.

Each village typically includes between 30 and 100 individual tiny homes, supported by shared kitchens, bathrooms, laundry facilities, and thoughtfully planned community spaces. These environments are designed to foster connection rather than isolation. Residents keep their own keys, participate in decision-making, and work together to maintain the village, helping rebuild confidence and a sense of belonging.

Equally important are the on-site support services. Job placement programs, counseling, mental health care, and structured pathways toward permanent housing allow people to move forward at a realistic and sustainable pace. The focus isn’t just temporary shelter—it’s long-term stability.

The model is also notable for its efficiency. Operating a tiny house village averages about $2,200 per resident per year, significantly lower than the roughly $40,000 annual cost of a traditional shelter bed. More importantly, many residents transition into stable, long-term housing within months.

This approach has already influenced cities such as Los Angeles and Denver, showing that meaningful progress on homelessness doesn’t always require massive budgets. Often, it begins with respect, autonomy, community—and the simple but powerful dignity of having a door that locks and a place to call your own.

02/13/2026

🤣✌️❤️

02/09/2026

Wow! ❤️

At first glance, it feels pulled from a storybook. Is it a bunker, a hobbit-style retreat, or a secret luxury hideaway carved into the earth?
The answer is all three—reimagined through smart design.

Using three 20-foot shipping containers, the builder welded them into a single reinforced structure and embedded it directly into a mountainside, creating a fully earth-sheltered home that nearly disappears into the landscape. Instead of exposing the steel, the containers were bermed with soil and protected by a separate heavy-duty timber roof system. This earth-berming approach turns the surrounding ground into natural insulation, keeping the home cool in summer, warm in winter, and dramatically lowering energy demands year-round.

02/07/2026

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01/13/2026

Do you own your home in Ottawa? If so, do you pay your City taxes directly OR do you have them paid through your mortgage lending institution?

Did you know that if you do NOT file your Vacancy Unit Tax Declaration before the summer, you'll get charged it automatically? The City will actually charge you the fee IF you do NOT respond.

It's much easier to file it online than to have to try to get those funds back later! A colleague of mine found out. His mortgage covers his City taxes so he didn't even know that this was required. He'd not gone online to file for himself as he'd not yet registered for those City notices annually. And, as all his taxes are paid through his lender, he never thought of it.

When he found out that he had been charged these fees by the lender (when paying the City for 'past due charges'), he then realized that had he filed online saying that he lives in his own house, then he'd not have had to pay at all! Instead, it took meetings, calls, stress & bother... all because he'd not gone onto the site below to inform the City as required.

Check it folks... & please do share to other homeowners so they don't find themselves in this same predicament!

Declarations can be made from January to the Interim Tax due date (the third Thursday in March). This year the deadline for submitting your declaration is March 19, 2026.

12/15/2025

! MLS

935 Cookshire (Trim Rd) $379,900! Please share as perhaps you know the future owner?? ;)

11/18/2025

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