Squamish Mortgage Broker

Can a Squamish 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. Squamish works the same way.

Squamish, specifically

Squamish counted 23,819 residents in the 2021 Census, against 19,512 in 2016, a 22.1% increase. The District's flood management guide notes extensive development in the floodplains of the Squamish, Mamquam, Stawamus and Cheakamus rivers, on several alluvial fans including the Cheekeye Fan, and along the low-lying margins of Howe Sound, so the first thing to check on any lot here is whether it sits in a flood or debris-flow hazard area.

My mortgage and real estate licences both cover all of BC, so for a home in Squamish you can come to me for the mortgage and for buying or selling. Mortgage documents go digital, and we can work out a plan by phone and video.

Squamish specifics: R-2 to R-5 for flood-hazard lots, the save harmless covenant on title, the Cheekeye Fan debris-flow barrier, and short-term rentals only where you live

Zoning: Bill 44 required the District to amend its zoning before June 2024. It adopted a new R-1 zone in June 2024 and the R-2, R-3, R-4 and R-5 zones on February 18, 2025, rezoning the former RS-1, RS-1A, RS-2, RS-2A, RS-3 and RMH-2 properties into these zones or AGRI-4. R-1 applies to most residential properties outside flood hazard areas and allows up to 5 dwelling units on a lot: a fourplex can add one secondary suite, multi-unit flex unit or accessory dwelling unit, a triplex two, and parking requirements were reduced. Properties in flood hazard and conditional densification areas get R-2 to R-5, which allow similar forms with added siting, design and density requirements; R-2 caps a lot at two dwelling units and R-3 at three, with suites counting toward the total.

Flood rules: the District's Floodplain Bylaw sets Flood Construction Levels that habitable areas must be raised above, and major electrical and mechanical equipment must sit above them as well. Its flood management guide states that a 'save harmless' restrictive covenant will be registered on title before any land development application is approved, and the District completed an Integrated Flood Hazard Management Plan in 2017.

Debris flows: the District names the Cheekye Fan and the Stawamus River as known debris-flow hazards, and section 25 of the OCP divides the Cheekye Fan into six hazard zones. The proposed Cheekeye River Development would build a large debris-flow mitigation structure south of Cat Lake to protect existing and proposed homes on the fan, with maintenance proposed to be shared between a Local Area Service tax on the new development and general taxation. On June 3, 2025, Council reviewed Bylaw No. 3141, 2025, which would raise the development's total permitted units from 1,215 to 1,395.

Short-term rentals and taxes: a Squamish short-term rental business licence can only be issued to a person for the property where they reside, for stays under 90 days, and short-term rentals are not permitted in secondary suites or coach houses. The principal-residence licence is $400 a year, one extra parking space is needed for every two short-term rental bedrooms (up to three), and fines can reach $3,000 per day per offence. The District of Squamish is on the speculation and vacancy tax list and the provincial principal residence requirement applies; as part of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District it is outside the foreign buyers' additional transfer tax. The typical single-family home is assessed at $1,515,000 for 2026, 2% above last year's $1,483,000.

Common questions