Courtenay Mortgage Broker

Can a Courtenay mortgage be handled remotely?

Yes. A mortgage broker licence in BC is provincial (mine is #MB609900), not city by city.

The process was never built around meeting in person — the application is online, documents go by email or a secure upload link, and most paperwork can be e-signed remotely. The few documents that need a witness get signed with a local lawyer or notary near you, no trip required.

Plenty of clients finish the whole process without meeting in person. Courtenay works the same way.

Courtenay, specifically

Courtenay's 2021 Census population was 28,420; by the Comox Valley Regional District's figures that is 10.8% more than in 2016 and the most of the valley's three municipalities (Comox 14,806, Cumberland 4,447). In 1988 Mike Trask and his daughter Heather found an elasmosaur fossil along the Puntledge River on Vancouver Island, the first of its kind found west of the Canadian Rockies and about 80 million years old; after a provincial public vote in 2018 the elasmosaur became B.C.'s fossil emblem, and it is on display at the Courtenay and District Museum and Paleontology Centre.

My mortgage and real estate licences both cover all of BC, so for a home in Courtenay you can come to me for the mortgage and for buying or selling. Mortgage documents go digital, and most signing happens remotely.

Courtenay specifics: 16 residential zones merged into one, up to four units a lot, five permit areas, and seven in ten households owning

On June 12, 2024, Council adopted Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 3135, creating a residential small-scale multi-unit housing zone (R-SSMUH) that replaced 16 residential zones. It rezoned 5,649 properties to allow up to four units per lot and assigned alternative zoning to 15 properties not suitable for it. The zone allows single-residential dwellings, duplexes, townhouses, a secondary suite within or attached to the main building, and a detached accessory dwelling unit.

Courtenay has five kinds of development permit areas: commercial, industrial, large-scale residential and mixed-use; small-scale multi-unit residential; farm protection; environmental protection; and hazard protection for steep slopes. Adding units under the new zone may call for a development permit, so check with the City before building.

The City's August 2024 Housing Needs Report finds about 71% of local households own their dwelling and 29% rent, and estimates, using the Province's method, that Courtenay may need an additional 8,350 homes by 2041, about 2,472 of them by 2026. It also calls Courtenay the non-market housing centre of the Comox Valley, supplying most of the region's housing units, programs and services.

A typical Courtenay single-family home carries a 2026 assessment of $752,000, 3% more than last year (BC Assessment). The City of Courtenay is on the speculation and vacancy tax list, the foreign buyers' additional transfer tax does not apply here, and short-term rentals must follow the principal residence requirement.

Common questions