01 OC Mag 01-24

to.
De Haan agreed that the concept
of Kanaal Huis fits Orange City residents
remarkably.
“We have a lot of people that classify
as snowbirds. and they go to Arizona,
Florida,” she said. “They can
basically just lock the door, and you
know your home is going to be safe,
and it’s going to be taken care of.”
Besides fear of the unknown, De
Haan and Guthmiller said the hardest
part about catching the vision
of Kanaal Huis will be leaving one’s
home.
“It’s not that I’m outside that demographic
either myself. I’m 55-plus,
and I’ve been living in my house for
30 years. So, I understand that. But at
the same time, I know that we don’t
need, use, want, all the stuff that we
have,” Guthmiller said. “My situation,
we raised a family of three boys, we
have five bedrooms in our house; we
don’t need a house with five bedrooms
anymore. We don’t need the stuff
that’s in the five bedrooms anymore.”
One of the biggest things Guthmiller
said he learned from studying
other 55-plus condos was that people
surprise themselves with their own
desire to downsize. After studying
the Woodbridge community in Sioux
Center, a 55-plus home also built
by Kanaal Huis’ constructors Vision
Builders, Guthmiller said time and
time again condo owners would sell
more possessions than even they expected
wanting to.
“When there was some concern
by an individual moving from a
house to Woodbridge, in that case,
but the same would apply to Kanaal
Huis, they would often secure storage
units,” he said. “They needed a
place for all their stuff. And they said
almost all of the time, by the time the
people moved into Woodbridge, they
found out they no longer needed their
storage unit. They downsized, they
simplified, and they were able to just
close the door and go to Florida for a
month without worrying about anything.”
The priority of Kanaal Huis is to
provide the option of a new way of
life for the citizens of Orange City who
have loved their community for years.
Part of the equation though includes
benefits for new families.
“With seniors, or 55-plus folks
moving out of houses, there are nice
houses. There are sometimes really
nice houses. They’re houses that often
have been used to raise a family,”
Guthmiller said. “Those houses are
very much in need in our community
for young families today. And with a
person moving out, they free up inventory
in our community, and they
better themselves by moving into an
environment that’s simplified.”
With both personal and community
benefits overflowing, Guthmiller said
he is excited to watch Kanaal Huis
and The Canals “blossom out there.”
However, the Mouws see one benefit
as preeminent.
“One of the main attractions for
us is we are now able to bypass the
waiting line to assisted living if that
is in our future,” Bruce said. “Cathy
has a somewhat compromised health
situation and knowing that our needs
will be met is assuring. We did have
to scale down, because we lived in a
four-bedroom, three-bath home. But
we’re finding out the old adage ‘less
is more’ is true, and the minimalist
approach to life ‘it’s better to do than
to have’ is also worth trusting.”
The Mouws said they look forward
to others taking the leap they did and
having neighbors and a community
develop around them.
32 OC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2024