Moving to Comox...

Posted by: Adam-West

Go to cooks, riders pizza, and Cumberland brewing in Cumberland.

Go to Cumberland basically.

If you wanna go to some north island beaches hit me up.

Yes I'll go ride in Cumberland for sure and if we bring our kayaks we'll go for a paddle on Comox Lake. I just realized the last time I was in Cumberland was already more than 8 years ago.

I don't think we'll be going north very far on this trip but we'll keep it in mind! Only been as far as Sayward.

Posted by: thaaad

What's the job / rental market like out there?

Job: bring your own.

Rental markets seems difficult. My partner has been looking online a bit and it looks like there are some new/recent constructions with decent looking rental units but not cheap and they have waiting lists.

Everyone I have talked to that moved to the Comox Valley in the last year or so has reported the same thing. It seemed challenging to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together at first. However, with some persistence they made it happen. It really comes down to getting to the point you feel really confident you want to live here. Then it'll be worth the effort to find a place to live that meets your needs.

Posted by: [email protected]

Job: bring your own.

Rental markets seems difficult. My partner has been looking online a bit and it looks like there are some new/recent constructions with decent looking rental units but not cheap and they have waiting lists.

Well my wife runs her own interior design company and most of her work is online with the occasional site visit once or twice per month which would be manageable. We have a good deal in Coquitlam at just under 2k for our place. It's not nice by any stretch but it works for us for now since we'll never own a place.

Just looking to get out of the city and try to find some peace and fucking quiet...

Posted by: thaaad

Well my wife runs her own interior design company and most of her work is online with the occasional site visit once or twice per month which would be manageable. We have a good deal in Coquitlam at just under 2k for our place. It's not nice by any stretch but it works for us for now since we'll never own a place.

Just looking to get out of the city and try to find some peace and fucking quiet...

$2000/month is around the going rate for a half-duplex or two bedroom condo in the Comox Valley right now, it's crazy. 

Deals can be found, but there are essentially zero vacancies.

also, brace yourself for a level of traffic and degree of getting around the CV that you wouldn't anticipate for a community of its size. and summer get's way worse. i lived a decade in Comox proper and that was enough.

Posted by: impressedbyyourwokeness

also, brace yourself for a level of traffic and degree of getting around the CV that you wouldn't anticipate for a community of its size. and summer get's way worse. i lived a decade in Comox proper and that was enough.

Totally. We plan our trips pretty carefully and only cross the river a few times a week. Good days and bad days though, seems a lot of it is dependent on whether some impatient fuck blocks up the intersection.

When we bought our home, where we both worked and our preferred grocery store etc were definitely a factor. It's no Colwood Crawl, but it's annoying sitting in traffic at the end of the work day, especially considering how an hour later, it's a ghost town.

We experienced the traffic between Courtenay and Comox last September. Not too worried about it as we've designed our life so that we don't really depend on a car and if we need to drive, we can mostly avoid doing it at the same time as everyone else. Housing in an area with good walkability is a requirement for us. Courtenay and Comox are pretty small and mostly flat so most day to day stuff that's not walkable should be doable on a bike. My partner thinks she'll want a e-bike for getting around if we end up moving there.

Lately we've been driving a bit more due to a health/mobility issue of my partner so depending on how that develops, we may be driving a bit more than we would otherwise when we'll be there in April.

We've lived in Comox since last Aug and so far I've had one vehicle trip where I didn't feel like sitting in traffic to cross the bridge. I was headed to Cumby to ride and decided that was stupid given the traffic so I went home and rode the local trails from the house. Other than that I haven't had many issues getting across the bridge. As traffic goes it's seems pretty minimal. I'm coming from Victoria and before that Calgary.

I plan on getting back to riding to the trails in Cumby now that the weather is better and the snow/ice is gone. More exercise and zero traffic concerns.

Fortunately if we did move out my wife would continue to work from home most likely so I would be the only commuter, and I would hope to commute by bike most or all of the year.

Does it feel like a sleepy little town like Victoria does? Does it feel quiet?

Posted by: thaaad

Fortunately if we did move out my wife would continue to work from home most likely so I would be the only commuter, and I would hope to commute by bike most or all of the year.

Does it feel like a sleepy little town like Victoria does? Does it feel quiet?

It's sleepy alright. There's a farm in the middle of town FFS :D

Posted by: thaaad

Does it feel like a sleepy little town like Victoria does? Does it feel quiet?

Victoria feels like NYC compared to Comox. We lived on a busy street in Victoria for 10 years. After moving into our house in Comox my GF and I kept hearing these weird noises and spent time tracking them down. Turns out they were normal house noises [appliances, HVAC, wind outside, etc..] we just were not used to hearing stuff like that over the street noise.

I think this is my first post in NBR in 10 years...lol.

I lived in Vic for 20ish years and made the move up to Cumberland in late 2020...and I love it up here. I love being able to just pop out onto the trails from my house...something that I could not do easily in Victoria...Vik was riding to the trails once in a while but I could never make that sustainable for me at the time. In the winter when we have to pack up the car and drive to a less snowy/frozen trail system it reminds me how lucky I am to live so close to the trails. If we get bored of the local trails, we go to Mt. Wash, Forbidden, CC, Hammerfest, CR or some of the smaller lesser known systems in the area...definitely more to ride here than in Vic...but I do miss my weekend trips to the Tzou or Maple....and now with gas prices what they are I doubt that will happen much this summer.

House prices on the island are friggin crazy, we bought a townhouse for what I felt was was too much money...but another unit just like ours (but not as well appointed) just sold for 200k above what we bought for...just nuts. I work in Campbell River, so the drive every day is not great...but the amazing thing is that it takes the same amount of time to get 55k as it did to go 20 on my commute in Vic...and it's all fast highway driving!

I love the easy access to the lakes, rivers, backroads up here. I picked up a gravel bike and am planning at doing some more backroad exploring up here...I have not done much above CR...that's exciting!

With that said, when we retire we are looking at the kootenays...just to get more sun and the unlimited access to the outdoors that the area offers.

Living the Comox Valley life...... for a week :)

Rode around Courtenay and to Comox yesterday afternoon to spin the legs a bit after the travel day. Was a bit cold but sun peeked through the clouds and snow-capped mountains provided a nice backdrop.

This area could be a cycling heaven but the potential is almost entirely untapped and there is the usual low-effort car-centric urban planning. Even after 14 years in North America, as a Dutchman it still puzzles me. Like, that road from Courtenay to Comox, along the water, how the hell is there no separate multi-use cycling/walking path?!? Anyway, the shoulder is pretty wide and cars don't drive very fast there.

Still, overall getting a good vibe. There are a bunch of puzzle pieces that need to fall into place but I can see a move happening in the next few years. Perhaps I should finally get my citizenship so I'll be able to vote for a local pro-cycling mayor/council or maybe I should run myself and turn the place into a cycling paradise, lol.

Welcome to the valley! I find it's pretty easy to get around the area. Between dedicated bike lanes, wide low traffic roads and busier roads with shoulders I haven't had any issues getting anywhere I wanted to go on a bike. That said I've been riding bikes in Canada [sub-optimal bike infrastructure] my whole life so plotting good routes and riding safely in these sorts of conditions is second nature.

That said it could be improved 100%. Especially for folks who are not confident cyclists and aren't able to plan/execute less than ideal routes to their destination. A CCC coordinated cycling plan would be great so each community as well as the local FNs could work towards a common goal. For all I know such a beast exists and there are plans in the works to make improvements. It's clear there is a focus on cycling in that I see a lot of cycling infrastructure and signage, but it just doesn't connect up throughout the whole valley in a really obvious and efficient way. I haven't gotten involved in local cycling advocacy yet, but I've started to meet people who are so I'll have a better understanding by the end of 2022.

Speaking of Comox specifically I see a lot of folks getting around on bikes. Drivers are pretty considerate. Almost to the point of overdoing it. I've had to pull way over and wave cars by even though there was room for them to safely pass me as I was riding.