Profiles of Excellence: Cam Sherk Notary Public

Cam Sherk’s Notary Public business is a family affair.

His dad is a long-established notary public on the North Shore and his wife of four years, Maria Jose (MJ) Gandolfo, is a notary public too, working alongside Sherk in his downtown Squamish office.

The familial connection seems only fitting for a business that is often family-focused, as notary publics guide clients through life’s major milestones from buying a first condo to planning a will.

“Our job is really making something that is quite stressful for a lot of people—buying a home, making a will, deciding on power of attorney—and trying to make it as easy as possible,” says Cam.

The key, he adds, is spending time with clients and giving them as much information as possible.

“The more knowledge you can give them, the more time you can spend with them, the more comfortable they’re going to be,” he adds.

Since he set up his practice in Squamish nine years ago, Cam has had a front-row seat to the town’s transformation. He arrived just after the 2010 Olympic Games when Squamish was a town that had yet to be truly discovered by people outside the Sea to Sky corridor.

That all changed rapidly in the ensuing years.

He has seen long-term residents “cash out” as their homes reach record sale prices; he has seen new families move to Squamish from the city in search of an enviable lifestyle and small-town affordability; he has seen new developments change the face of the town.

“There’s been so many changes and the pace of development around here has been just crazy,” says Cam. “We’ve kept up with all of it which is the good news.”

He timed his move to Squamish perfectly, hitting the sweet spot by getting established just as the real estate market began to take off.

“Squamish was a reasonable bet,” he says of his decision to move and start a business in town. “It was a place where it was possible to get going.”

And, it reminded him of Lynn Valley where he grew up, offering a slower pace of life compared to the city with opportunities for a small business to gain a foothold in the community.

Just as Squamish has evolved, so too has Cam.

After establishing the real estate side of his business, he has expanded to include his wife MJ, who has a passion for estate planning.

“It really is an important thing,” he says of estate planning. “If you own property, you need to say what will happen to it if you were to pass away.”

The same is true of naming a guardian for children as well as naming a power of attorney, should you be unable to make your own decisions.

Cam knows these are big, weighty decisions to consider and this is perhaps one of the reasons why people delay their planning. Consider, for example, who is going to manage your assets if you are no longer able to do so? Who will make your medical decisions? Do you want advanced directives should you no longer be able to make decisions due to illness or incapacity?

“It can have such a big effect on how things play out down the road,” he says.

Though Squamish is a young community, it’s also a town geared to recreational pursuits, with people engaged in higher risk activities, like mountain biking and rock climbing. Knowing that you’ve planned for the future can offer so much peace of mind, he adds.

Learn more about the services offered by Cam Sherk Notary by visiting the website at www.kensherknotary.com.