Glen Elementary, K through grade three. Glen Park, Division 1 soccer captain. Watching IROC-Z Camaros race at the old Westwood Motorsports Park as an eleven-year-old — and Richard Dean Anderson, the actor who played MacGyver, race his white Honda Civic at the same track. Snowboarding the 14th and 15th of the Plateau golf course in winter. Today: Burke Mountain resident, a five-minute walk from the Pinecone-Burke boundary. This is what 47 years in the Tri-Cities actually looks like — documented, chapter by chapter, below.
5.0 across 32+ Google reviews Top 1% Team — GVR 47+ years in the Tri-Cities
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Every chapter below is documented. Specific schools, specific parks, specific streets, specific trails, specific bears. No generic claims. No "I love this community" filler. Just the record.
In the old building — the second of three generations of the school. Hockey-card playground in the Wayne Gretzky O-Pee-Chee era. The original Glen Elementary building still stood when I was a student; my friend went there but I was too young.
Glen Park used to be steeply sloped. As Captain I called the coin toss to pick uphill first half — the second-half downhill ran the legs out of the opposition. We won that way. The slope is gone now; the strategy still works.
The back end of Ozada Avenue ran quiet enough for it. Locals know which streets stay busy and which ones quiet down past a certain block — that is not on the map. It is in the family.
Watched IROC-Z Camaros race at Westwood Motorsports Park as an eleven-year-old with my Dad — plus Richard Dean Anderson, the actor who played MacGyver, racing his white Honda Civic in club competition as a hobbyist. Years later: cars on the empty Westwood Plateau between the 9-hole and the 18th hole before the residential build-out put houses on what used to be open road. Snowboarded the 14th and 15th of the Plateau golf course in winter when the fairway snowed in.
When Lafarge Lake locked up in winter, locals skated it. Coquitlam Town Centre Park, mittens, hot chocolate from the bench, dark by 4:30pm. A piece of Tri-Cities winter that only the kids who actually grew up here remember. The lake still does the same thing every cold January.
Two years at Douglas College, graduated from Hotel & Restaurant Management. The campus sits at Coquitlam Centre — the same Lafarge Lake I skated as a kid. The HRM training became the foundation of an Account Executive career with a global hotel brand, and it underpins the way I run REALTOR® client relationships today: structured, specific, follow-through-driven, no surprises at completion.
Moved into Kentwell on Burke Mountain in 2020. Five-minute walk to the Pinecone-Burke Provincial Park boundary at the back of the development. Saturday hikes to Minnekhada and the High Knoll Trail. Black bears across David Avenue most weeks during bear season. The lock-the-garbage rhythm is a real Burke Mountain learned habit.
Seven chapters. Five decades. Named schools, named parks, named streets, named buildings. The number of Tri-Cities REALTORS® whose families can document this kind of generational residency in writing? Almost none. That is the moat.
Forty-seven years of breathed-in Tri-Cities air does not just give a longer list of restaurants. It changes how you read a price, how you read a street, and how you read a market cycle. Three places that shows up — concretely.
Typical gap between two streets that look identical to MLS but read very differently to a local. Grade, sun, school catchment, traffic pattern — layered against memory.
SD43 catchments redraw on a rolling basis. A 47-year resident watches the pattern. A new agent reads the current map and stops there.
I have lived through five Tri-Cities corrections. The current one does not look unusual. That perspective changes what I recommend on timing.
Pricing-gap range based on Craig's personal valuation work across Coquitlam, May 2026 · Tri-Cities GVR® benchmark detached HPI: $1,654,000 (-5.7% YoY) · Last refreshed June 2, 2026.
5.0 stars across 32+ verified Google reviews. Three below from Tri-Cities families, on pricing, communication, and follow-through.
“We received seven offers, and Craig held firm on our priorities: no subject to sale and achieving our price. We took the home off the market over Christmas, but behind the scenes Craig continued working. When we re-listed in January, it sold in just three days to buyers he had been nurturing — at the price we wanted.”Jim Turnbull
“Craig sold my property in just 6 days. After receiving one offer, he quickly reconnected with all the other realtors who had viewed the property, and before I knew it, we had multiple offers — all over asking price.”Heather Fox
“Craig worked with my wife and me for over 3 years to find the perfect home. He was endlessly patient with us through the process. Eventually, we found our perfect home and he moved fast to execute on our behalf.”David Catterall
Real situations, real timelines, real numbers. Names omitted where requested. Full case studies link to the dedicated write-ups.
A Coquitlam townhome family stepping into a Burke detached home. We sequenced the listing and the offer to close concurrently, avoided bridge financing, and held the buyer position firm on inspection. Listing sold for over asking in seven days; replacement home secured at $11,000 under list.
Read the move-up case study →Anchored on Smiling Creek catchment and trail access. Two pre-trip Zoom strategy calls, one on-the-ground weekend, four shortlisted homes, written offer accepted at first attempt. Decision made in 11 days from first call.
See more relocation stories →A long-stay Burke family downsizing after twenty years. Hold-strong strategy on offer night. Seven competing offers, none subject to the sale of a buyer's existing home, final price meaningfully above list, possession on the seller's preferred timeline.
See all recent solds →Quick answer
Why does a 47-year residency matter when hiring a REALTOR®?
It changes the comparison set on every valuation. A newer agent pulls comps within a half-kilometre radius. A 47-year Tri-Cities resident knows which two streets that look similar on a map are actually valued $50,000–$150,000 apart because of grade, sun, traffic pattern, or a school catchment that quietly shifted — layered against five lived cycles of market memory. That is the residency layer the MLS does not capture. Craig Johnston, REALTOR® V99960, has lived in the Tri-Cities for 47+ years, on Burke Mountain for 9+ years, and is a Top 1% Team Member — Greater Vancouver REALTORS®.
Two reasons. First — pricing nuance. Streets read differently at three blocks of distance. A 47-year resident knows which streets stay quiet, which catchments hold value across cycles, and which pockets only locals call by their nicknames. Second — calm under pressure. A REALTOR® who grew up watching the Tri-Cities change is not panicked by a normal market correction. That calm is hard to fake.
He runs every transaction with a structured, no-surprise process built on a Hotel & Restaurant Management foundation from Douglas College and a global hotel brand Account Executive career before real estate. Every Strategy Call ends with a written one-page plan in 24 hours. Every client gets the same level of follow-through, whether the price is $500K or $5M.
Specialist by geography (Coquitlam, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam — primary markets), generalist by buyer stage (first-time, move-up, downsize, luxury). The MACNABs Team brings the bench. Craig brings the 47-year local read.
Yes — with limits. Most transactions are Tri-Cities. Recent transactions have included West Vancouver, Bowen Island, downtown Vancouver, Langley, and as far as Vernon. The rule: if you are a current or past client moving anywhere in Metro Vancouver, Craig handles it. Cold leads outside the Tri-Cities get a referral to the right specialist.
It changes the comparison set. A newer agent pulls comps from MLS® within a half-kilometre radius. A 47-year resident knows which streets are actually comparable — and which two streets that look similar on a map are valued $100K apart because of grade, sun, or a school catchment that quietly shifted in 2018. The Equity Map captures that layer; the MLS® does not.
Yes. Every chapter on this page names a school, a park, a track, a college, a street, or a development — all verifiable. Glen Elementary (SD43). Glen Park (City of Coquitlam). Westwood Motorsports Park (closed 1990). Douglas College Hotel & Restaurant Management. Kentwell by Polygon on Burke Mountain. The record exists.
Twenty minutes is enough for me to read your situation, share the local-resident view of your target area, and put a written one-page plan in your inbox within 24 hours. Or start with an Equity Map if you are selling first.
5.0 across 32+ Google reviews Top 1% Team — Greater Vancouver REALTORS® 47+ years in the Tri-Cities
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