There’s a difference between house and home. The former is just a structure, a construct of wood and concrete, insulation and siding, shingles, nails and glue, something picked over by inspectors and showcased by realtors. It’s an early stop on the often expensive, always exciting and potentially defining continuum of personal success that typically fulfills itself through property ownership.
A home, meanwhile, is still a house, still has those fundamental characteristics. But it’s a house in full. Embellished by décor, charged with life and aglow with the resulting experience, a well managed and responsibly purchased home is a reflection of its inhabitants, a vehicle for their commune and sanctum for their happiness.
Jill and Dave Daniels are making their way down that spectrum. They’ve been in their home at the foot of Garibaldi Highlands for a year, but have owned it on paper for only a couple weeks. Together, with their 17-year-old son and their dog Kona, they made their way to Squamish from Ontario, renting at first and then wading into an explosive housing market, striking up a personal bond with their realtor and zeroing in on their $300,000 piece of the family dream. They’re not sure if they’ll stay, what with David’s career path lush with transfer opportunities, but, just the same, they make up a portion of Squamish’s shifting demographics, a good chunk of which are owed to the housing boom of the past several years.
