we havent ruled out nanaimo, but its too bigger place to check out over just a couple of days, but overall from this site, i have had more negatives than positives. as for property, i hear what you say about comox, but compared to uk and kelowna, if we are smart we could be mortgage free in comox

I carn't really comment on Courtney or Comox, only ever driven through Courtney acouple of times......but i was quite impressed with the town area. It had more of a City feel to it as we drove through then Nanaimo has. Thing is with Nanaimo its very spread out, with lots of hills/woodland areas and you do really have to come off the main drag to really appreciate it. Maybe as your so unsure you should think maybe of renting first, at least then you can get stuck into really getting a feel for the areas.

We moved to the Comox Valley in May and love the place. It certainly isn't perfect but the good far outweigh the bad. We're about 10 minutes outside of Courtenay at Merville, sandwiched between the sea and the mountains.
If you need any local info, we are pleased to help.

As RICH has said it's a city with 110,000 people, it has ample amenities for just about everything and Vancouver can be reached in 4 hours or so if you need to.
It's all relative i guess as you say "far away from everything" but what is Vancouver near if you lived there? Othe big cities are a long way away.

Some come here and love it (read Rich 007 posts) some hate it (read Amydavids) so it all comes down to what you want out of the whole immigration experience.

Courtenay is a great little town and does not have major drug issues or anything like that. My main complaint about it, if you can call this a main complaint, is that you can get snarled up in traffic because it only has two main bridges, for at least 10 mins.

I think that is the problem. Until you're clear about want you and your family want and need, how are a bunch of avatars on BE suppose to help?

I mean that is a supportive way, btw!

OK, I have just come back from 3 days in Courtenay and the first thing that really struck me was the mild climate for winter, it was nearly always grey and raining. Very similar to the UK.

The people were extremely friendly, houses very affordable, no traffic jams (what do you expect with a combined population of 60k) and overall I liked the place.

Hope that helps.

What he said ^^^ (and note I love it despite its problems, not because I am deluded and think there are no problems, just rose tinted shades and soft fluffy pink bunnies).

If you want to name the company edsask, or PM me, I'll find out what I can about it, I may already have heard some vibes (likely - this is still a small business community and the smell of muck or roses spreads far and wide).

R.