Judy Kenzie is excited to be moving to Mission.
But unlike a typical new resident, she didn't fall in love with a house here — she's bringing one with her from Victoria.
The nearly 3,000-sq.ft. Pan Abode house was barged up the Fraser River to Mission's harbour Thursday morning and loaded on to a large truck for the over night haul. The 85' x 36' truck and trailer with the house was expected to make its way through Mission streets to Richards Avenue shortly after midnight on Dec. 19 with a police escort. The journey would usually take about 15 minutes, but because of the special conditions, the truck is slated to arrive at Kenzie's new property around 5 a.m.
Kenzie is an advocate for food and "green" lifestyles that keeps waste our of landfills.
It's "the greener choice" to retain an existing building than demolish it, said Kenzie, who is moving to Mission to "get back to the earth."
"Vancouver is demolishing homes at an alarming rate, yet it is almost impossible, and extremely expensive to move one," said Kenzie.
The house, which was originally located on San Juan Island, ended up in Victoria and was going to be taken apart or torn down, explained Kenzie, who looked at the building with her son before putting an offer on it.
"Other houses that I have looked at for moving have been in pretty good shape, often with lots of great updates. This one is no exception," said Kenzie.
In theory, moving a house is cheaper than building one from scratch, but until everything is in place, Kenzie isn't sure she'll come out ahead.
So far she's paid $138,000 for the house and move to date and another $23,000 for permits, engineering work, and plans for her new property.
A foundation will be built once the house is in place, and service lines will need to be put in.
"There is some cabinetry work I will be adding to and a few fixes here and there," Kenzie explained. "The downstairs we will be building from scratch."
Kenzie and her family will move out of their current home in Vancouver next month and hopes the house in Mission will be ready for them by then.