Tara Jean Stevens, of the Kiah and Tara Jean morning radio duo at Vancouver’s Jack FM, says maybe she should have bought a house in Squamish before announcing on her show that she was moving here.
“We are kind of in the early stages of figuring out if we are going to go townhome or house,” she said when she talked to The Squamish Chief last month. “But I thought, I probably should have bought before I mentioned this publicly, but then my husband said, ‘You did it now, so off we go.’”
After her announcement, Vancouver print and TV media reported about the planned move, highlighting how Stevens’ case represented a flight of families from the high housing prices of the Lower Mainland.
It seems many of those fleeing the city are indeed heading for Squamish. So far this year, about 37 per cent of the sales at Squamish’s Royal LePage Black Tusk Realty have been to buyers from the Lower Mainland, according to Lisa Bjornson, managing broker for Black Tusk. That’s significantly higher than in 2015, when about 28 per cent of sales were to Lower Mainland addresses, and in 2014, when the figure was about 14 per cent, she said.
Stevens, 37, currently rents a home in Steveston with her spouse Derek, 42, and two young children.
Squamish reminds the couple of Prince Rupert, their hometown, said Stevens, describing it as “a small oceanside town that feels like home to us.”
Moving here may also allow her husband, who currently works part-time, to stay home to care for their children, she said.
Stevens added she has done research on Squamish and is aware of the many developments slated for the district. She likes what she has heard.
“I am kind of just crossing my fingers that if we get into the market, we can benefit from the growth of the city over the next few decades,” she said, adding the couple already has friends here.
However, when Stevens came up for a weekend in early June to look for a home she was shocked at the reality of Squamish prices. She took to the air to vent her frustration.
“We were super disappointed with the price point for value and that I felt my… our Squamish dreams had been shattered,” she told The Squamish Chief in an email.
“We are going to do another tour of townhomes. That’s how it stands. It’s up in the air now and a bit sour compared to before when it was thought to be definite and a total exciting win for our family.”
If Stevens’ family makes the move she will continue on air at Jack FM and become one of about 25 per cent of Squamish residents who commute to work in the city, according to figures from the March 2015 Employment Lands Strategy.
The Sea to Sky Highway is not new to Stevens. She used to work at Squamish’s Mountain FM about 17 years ago, before the highway was upgraded, she said. “It was way worse back then and I loved that drive.”
Another local morning radio personality is switching from working in Squamish to Vancouver, but keeping her home in Squamish.
Formerly with Mountain FM, Devyn Perryman recently moved jobs to sister stations Jack FM and Kiss Radio in the city, but she will stay in the district. Her boyfriend also works in the city, she said.
The pair moved to Squamish from Toronto a little over a year ago for her job at the radio station.
“With this arrangement, we get to have our cake and eat it too,” she said. “We love the accessibility to everything the natural setting in Squamish has to offer – hiking, biking – but are also both from Toronto, so do enjoy what a city offers as well. Working in Vancouver and living and playing in Squamish gives us the best of both worlds.
