After five years of RV living, Columbia Valley residents Dave Hall and his wife Irene are preparing to move into their new modular home on 13th Street in Invermere. The home, which was pieced together atop its concrete foundation on the Halls’ lot on Tuesday (September 25), was trucked in from Penticton on two flatbed trucks the day before.

“I think it’s a little more economical,” said Dave. “We’d be researching these houses for probably four years or so; we decided to go this route rather than build one stick by stick.”

The Halls have lived in the valley for almost 40 years, and sold their home on 2nd Avenue five years ago. After that, they bought an RV and ever since their summers have been spent living in an RV park in the valley then heading south to warmer weather for the winter. They purchased their lot on 13th Street just over a year ago.

“We looked at senior housing in town here but I just felt the demand is greater than the supply,” Dave said, “and there’s about three here now that are for sale but for the price of what some of them cost, we can buy a lot and put this on it ourselves, and not pay strata fees and not have to deal with a board, and it’s brand new.”

The mobile home manufacturer is Eagle Homes based in Penticton. The homes are made in a large warehouse in a controlled climate, with anywhere from six to 10 being built at a time in various stages.

“We went and looked at the plant last year and we were quite pleased with what we saw,” said Dave.

They were also given the option of designing their home themselves, room by room.

“We drew up our own floor plan and what we wanted in it,” Dave said. “We see it as the next thing to senior housing.”

With their new home in place, the Halls plan to continue spending summers in Invermere and going south in the winter months.

“Hopefully we can have our cake and eat it too,” said Dave, flashing a grin.