Guides · For you
New to BC real estate
Moving to the Lower Mainland, or buying from outside Canada — the federal foreign-buyer ban, BC's additional tax, financing as a non-resident, and choosing a community.
Start here
The one to read first
The roadmap for this whole path — read it before the rest.
BC Foreign Buyer — Complete Pillar
Federal Foreign Buyer Ban (sunsets Jan 1, 2027) × Provincial 20% PTT (does NOT sunset).
Read the guideThe full set
Every new to bc real estate guide
Each one is sourced to a primary document and re-verified every quarter.
Areas Within 15 Minutes of Fort Langley
Seven surrounding neighbourhoods (Glen Valley, Walnut Grove, Willoughby, Langley City, Murrayville, Brookswood, Aldergrove) and which one suits which buyer — drive times, price ranges, and what each is known for.
Bedford Landing, Fort Langley
The master-planned community north of Mavis Avenue along the Bedford Channel — what to know about pricing, walkability to the village, and how it differs from the heritage village stock.
Cambie Secondary (Richmond) — IB Diploma Catchment Buyer Guide
SD 38 secondary at 4151 Jacombs Road.
Campbell Valley Regional Park
Nine named trails, the best equestrian infrastructure in the regional system, and an abandoned stock car oval the park bought out from under and let race on for fifteen years.
Derby Reach Regional Park
Fort Langley’s own riverfront: four named trails, the only drive-in campground in the Township, the riding routes, the 1827 fort site, and what to check before buying acreage on Allard Crescent.
Earl Marriott Secondary (South Surrey) — Catchment Buyer Guide
SD 36 secondary at 15945 16 Avenue.
Eric Hamber Secondary (Vancouver) — Catchment Buyer Guide
VSB / SD 39 secondary at 5025 Willow Street.
Federal Foreign Buyer Ban
Plain-English guide to Canada's Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act — exceptions, geographic scope, and how it differs from BC's 20% Foreign Buyer Tax.
Fort Langley Cranberry Festival
Visitor wayfinding for the Fort Langley village's biggest single-day event — typically Thanksgiving Saturday in October.
Fort Langley Heritage Village
The village heritage core at Glover Road and Mavis Avenue — Township façade guidelines, the National Historic Site overlay, the Coulter Berry case, and what character-home buyers need to know about renovation rules.
Fraser Heights Schools — A Home Buyer's Catchment Guide
In Surrey the catchment school is set by a home’s address — so for a family relocating to Fraser Heights, catchment is a real input into which home to buy.
Getting Around Langley — Transit, Driving, Parking, SkyTrain
Whether you need a car, what the bus actually costs at any distance, and which Langley the address is in.
Handsworth Secondary (North Vancouver) — Catchment Buyer Guide
SD 44 secondary at 1044 Edgewood Road.
International Newcomer Guide — Buying in Vancouver (UK / AU / HK / SG / IN)
The four gates a non-Canadian buyer clears, in order: the federal ban, then the additional 20% property transfer tax at completion. After that come two annual vacancy taxes, one provincial and one municipal, at 3% each.
Langley Fine Arts School (LFAS)
K-12 program-of-choice fine arts school in Fort Langley with district-wide draw — what application-based admission means for buyers, and what proximity to LFAS looks like in real estate terms.
Lord Byng Secondary (Vancouver) — Catchment Buyer Guide
VSB / SD 39 secondary at 3939 W 16th Avenue.
Moving from Calgary / Alberta to Vancouver — Buyer Research Guide
Alberta is one of only three Canadian provinces with no provincial land transfer tax (with SK and NL), so the BC PTT lands as a brand-new closing-statement line — quantified at roughly $22,000 on a $1.2M Lower Mainland purchase vs low-hundreds Alberta land-titles fees.
Moving from Seattle / Portland / US Pacific Northwest to Vancouver — Buyer Research Guide
What a Seattle or Portland buyer actually pays. Ordinary transfer tax, plus an additional 20% at completion for a foreign buyer. Then two annual vacancy taxes at 3% each, all of it in Canadian dollars against US funds, with the federal ban deciding eligibility first.
Moving from Toronto / GTA to Vancouver — Buyer Research Guide
GTA-to-BC tax stack comparison side-by-side (Ontario LTT + Toronto MLTT vs BC PTT, NRST 25% vs FBT 20%, FTHB rebates, SVT).
Moving to Fort Langley
Pillar relocation guide — village fabric, schools, commute (Vancouver, Surrey, Langley City, YVR, Albion), housing-market layering, daily life, and the trade-offs that matter when comparing Fort Langley to other Lower Mainland communities.
Pacific Academy, Surrey — A Home Buyer's Field Guide
Pacific Academy is a regional private school — families apply from across the region — which makes it a relocation and demand factor for North Surrey and Fraser Heights housing.
Pinetree Secondary (Coquitlam) — IB Diploma Catchment Buyer Guide
SD 43 secondary at 3000 Pinewood Avenue.
R.E. Mountain Secondary (Langley) — IB Diploma Catchment Buyer Guide
SD 35 secondary at 7633 202A Street.
Schools Near Fort Langley (SD #35 + SD #42)
Every public secondary within 15 minutes of Fort Langley village — Walnut Grove, R.E. Mountain (IB), D.W. Poppy, Brookswood, Aldergrove, Langley, Garibaldi (IB), plus the K-12 program-of-choice schools (LFAS, Langley Fundamental).
The Vancouver Special — Cultural & Architectural Pillar
The 1965-1985 BC architectural archetype: ~10,000 built in East Van + South Van.
Thunderbird Show Park
The man who brought McDonald’s to Canada built a world-class show jumping venue in a Langley hayfield in 1973. What tbird is, who owns it now, and what the acreage around it is like.
West Vancouver Secondary — IB Diploma Catchment Buyer Guide
Caulfeild sits in the Rockridge Secondary catchment (with Caulfeild).
Yorkson, Willoughby (Langley)
The northern Willoughby sub-area — Polygon and Mosaic project list, Yorkson Community Park (27.6 acres), Yorkson Creek Middle / R.E. Mountain Pre-IB feeder pattern, and what differentiates Yorkson from Routley, Latimer, and Carvolth.
