If you're selling your home and moving up to your forever home in the same season, you don't need the agent with the most sold signs on Austin Road. You need the one with a repeatable process for running both transactions in parallel — one who treats your move as a single orchestrated event, not two sequential commission cheques.
Written for Coquitlam, Burke Mountain, Westwood Plateau, Heritage Mountain, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra move-up sellers and upsizing families — the people running a sell-and-buy in the same season.
5.0 across 36+ Google reviews Top 1% Team — GVR, 2023–2025 47+ years in the Tri-CitiesEach of the eight Tri-Cities areas has its own buyer pool, pricing logic, school catchment, and listing rhythm. Click through to the specialist page for your specific city or neighbourhood — honest local guidance, comp-backed pricing, and the Move-Up Protocol if your move involves selling and buying at once.
The Tri-Cities has no single “best” local REALTOR® — top agents win on different dimensions across the eight distinct submarkets (Coquitlam, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Burke Mountain, Westwood Plateau, Heritage Mountain, Anmore, Belcarra). For move-up families running a sell-and-buy across two of these markets in the same season, the right local choice is the one who works all eight as one connected practice. Craig Johnston (BCFSA #V99960, Royal LePage Elite West) is the Burke Mountain–resident specialist behind the Move-Up Protocol — Top 1% Team — Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, 2023–2025, Medallion Club Team, 2021–2025, 36+ verified Google reviews.
Three reviews specifically about pricing strategy, communication discipline, and move-up coordination — the things that separate listing agents from move-up specialists.
“Craig was patient throughout the entire process. He never pushed us to buy something we weren't sure about, and when we decided to wait six months and save more, he just said ‘good call’ and stayed in touch. When we did finally buy, the math was so much cleaner.”Susie & Hans
“He is a professional who is guided by integrity, honesty, and punctuality. When faced with challenges, Craig has shown his dedication to proactively navigate the issue on hand towards our goal.”Jaeyoung Joo
“Craig was an absolute pleasure to work with. He is extremely friendly, highly knowledgeable, and constantly monitors trends and data so we could make informed decisions. The more time we spent interacting with other agents during our home-buying process, the more pleased we were with choosing Craig.”Ashley K.
You don't need to be a real estate expert to interview one. You need to know what good answers feel like and what bad answers sound like.
For a deeper dive into the specific traps that quietly cost sellers money — pricing too high, listing in the wrong week, weak photography, no offer-deadline strategy — read the seller mistakes guide. Most of the real damage in a Coquitlam sale happens before the listing goes live.
Every move-up sequence I run starts with a 45-minute conversation at your kitchen table — not a listing presentation. We map your timeline, your real budget after closing costs, your school-and-commute constraints, and the bridge-financing fallback. The listing photos come later, after the plan is set.
Every dependent transaction I run goes through this sequence. The advantage of a repeatable process isn't that it's clever — it's that nothing slips. The bridge plan exists before the listing is photographed. The Soft Landing call is on the calendar before the keys change hands.
Net sale value, true available equity, real next-home ceiling. The numbers that actually drive every following decision.
Sell first or buy first — written, dated, with bridge financing pre-modeled if relevant.
Inspection, repairs short-list, staging brief, photography, MLS copy review. Everything before the launch week.
While the listing is live, the buy-side hunt is already running. Subjects-friendly offers ready when the right home appears.
Possession, key handover, utility transfers, contractor coordination. 30-day, 90-day, and one-year follow-up.
The Tri-Cities is three cities plus two luxury villages — eight distinct submarkets, eight different pricing rhythms. Here's the combined picture — knowing these numbers is table stakes for any agent you interview.
GVR MLS® Home Price Index, Coquitlam-wide. Port Moody $1,903,500, Port Coquitlam $1,240,600.
Coquitlam-wide townhome benchmark. Burke Mountain townhouses benchmark at $1,040,600; PoCo lower.
Coquitlam-wide condo benchmark. Burquitlam discounts on TOD supply pressure; Port Moody view-condo trades higher.
Coquitlam detached, September 2026 GVR.
Sellers pricing close to where buyers will actually pay.
Coquitlam active listings across all property types (GVR® Stats Centre, September 2026); detached alone is 470, and Port Moody adds 148 and Port Coquitlam 170 active detached listings (GVR REALTOR® Reports).
Greater Vancouver, all property types · September 2026 GVR Stats Centre
Source: Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR) MLS® HPI & monthly statistics, Coquitlam filter, September 2026 release. Last refreshed October 7, 2026.
The Tri-Cities is not one market — it's Coquitlam (Burke Mountain, Westwood Plateau, Eagle Ridge, Town Centre, Maillardville, Ranch Park), Port Moody (Heritage Mountain, Klahanie, Glenayre, Moody Centre, Ioco), Port Coquitlam (Citadel, Mary Hill, Riverwood, Oxford Heights, Downtown PoCo), Anmore, and Belcarra. Each has its own price band, buyer pool, and demand driver. I work all of them and can tell you not just "what's your home worth" but "which submarket is your next home really in."
Downsizing detached → townhome → condo, or upsizing the other direction, is where most commissions get split across two agents. I coordinate both sides — timing, financing bridges, concurrent subjects — with one file, one communication line, one set of dates.
I live on Burke Mountain (Coquitlam). I walk these streets across the Tri-Cities every week. I know which buildings just got new roofs, which strata just voted on a special assessment, which schools are catchment-changing next September. That current-state knowledge is what separates negotiating from stalling.
Craig has lived on Burke Mountain for nine years and has been a licensed REALTOR® with Royal LePage Elite West, focused almost exclusively on the Tri-Cities. Every move-up file he takes runs through the same five-step Move-Up Protocol — Equity Map, sequence decision, pre-listing prep, parallel search, Soft Landing — because the dependent sell-and-buy transactions are where most agents quietly fall apart, and a documented process is the only way to keep them aligned end-to-end.
His positioning is deliberate: not the agent with the most signs on the road, but the one most families call when their move involves a class change (detached ↔ townhome ↔ condo), a school-catchment constraint, or a bridge-financing window that can’t slip. If your move is outside his fit, he’ll tell you that on the first call and connect you with the right agent.
There is no single "best" realtor in Coquitlam — top agents win on different dimensions: total volume, single-neighbourhood depth, luxury specialty, team resources, or hyper-local catchment expertise.
My positioning: I work Coquitlam as one connected market — Burke Mountain, Westwood Plateau, Heritage Mountain, Anmore/Belcarra, and the condo/townhome submarkets. If your transaction spans submarkets or property types (most move-up files do), you get one agent for the whole arc instead of a handoff between specialists.
Always interview two or three before signing.
Six things: hyper-local market knowledge (different pricing logic for Burke Mountain vs Westwood Plateau vs Heritage Mountain), a strategic pricing process built on real comps not algorithm estimates, presentation and marketing depth, communication you can actually rely on, negotiation that protects your equity, and — critically for move-up buyers — a written plan that connects your sale to your next purchase.
Yes. Hyper-local knowledge changes pricing strategy, buyer targeting, and how the home is positioned. Small differences in school catchment, street, lot orientation, layout class, and resale-history pattern materially shift demand.
A Coquitlam-wide agent will understand the broad strokes; a hyper-local one will know which buyers are touring this weekend and what they're actually willing to pay.
Read more: Burke Mountain Homes · Westwood Plateau Real Estate · Heritage Mountain Homes.
Yes — move-up transactions are my primary specialty. Every move-up file runs through the same five-step Move-Up Protocol: Equity Map, sequence decision (sell first or buy first), pre-listing prep, parallel search, and Soft Landing the first 30 days after close.
If you're not sure whether to sell first or buy first, that decision deserves its own conversation: Sell First or Buy First in Coquitlam →
As of September 2026, Coquitlam-wide:
Detached HPI benchmark: $1.58M. Townhome benchmark: $0.98M. Condo benchmark: $640,100. Avg days on market (detached): 50 days. Percentage of original price: not published in the September release.
Prices vary significantly by submarket — the Burke Mountain detached benchmark is $1,867,100 (September 2026 GVR® REALTOR® Report), while GVR’s Central Coquitlam detached benchmark is $1,614,800 (small sample), and older homes can trade below either figure. Source: Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR) MLS® HPI and monthly stats package, September 2026 release.
Coquitlam: widest selection, four SkyTrain stations, largest inventory across all price bands.
Port Moody: smaller, arts-and-brewery identity, higher price-per-square-foot, better core walkability, shorter commute to downtown via the Inlet.
Port Coquitlam: detached benchmark $1,240,600 vs Coquitlam’s $1,584,400, composite $835,500 vs $971,700 (September 2026), more detached home for the money, fewer transit options, more suburban feel.
The decision is selection vs lifestyle vs value. None is "better" universally — it depends on which trade-off matters most to your move.
Lenders qualify you at the stress-test rate (your contract rate + 2%, minimum 5.25%), not the rate you pay. With 5-year fixed rates from about 4.3% in October 2026 and 25-year amortization, no other debts:
$1M home with 20% down = approximately $175K household income required.
$1.5M home = ~$260K.
$2M home = ~$345K plus a meaningful down payment.
Carrying cost on a $1.5M detached in Coquitlam at today’s rates runs about $7,000–$7,400/month including property tax and insurance. Stress-test your number with the Coquitlam affordability calculator.
Depends on financial position and life stage, not lifestyle preference.
Condo: low entry (~$640,100), low maintenance, highest liquidity.
Townhome: middle (~$0.98M), good family fit, balance of space and cost.
Detached: highest entry (~$1.58M Coquitlam HPI benchmark; Burke Mountain trends higher), lowest strata friction, best historical appreciation.
Align with your 5-year plan. If your job or family situation might change in two years, the liquidity of a condo matters more than the appreciation of a detached. If you're settling for 10+ years with kids, the math typically favours detached.
Strong 5–7 year positioning. SkyTrain service on the Millennium Line, transit-oriented rezoning, SD43 schools, and pricing generally below Vancouver West comparables.
Risks to monitor: condo oversupply in Burquitlam through 2026–2028, and softening at the upper-luxury tier. For move-up families upsizing into detached, the timing is generally constructive.
Deeper read: Is now a good time to buy in Coquitlam? →
Match the agent to the move, not the brand. The Tri-Cities spans acreage in Anmore, waterfront in Belcarra, new construction on Burke Mountain, executive resale on Westwood Plateau and transit-oriented condos in Port Moody and Coquitlam Town Centre.
Almost nobody is genuinely strongest across all of them. Ask a shortlisted agent which of those they would refer out — the honest answer tells you more than the pitch does.
Handling the cross-city move. A large share of Tri-Cities transactions are people moving between the three cities — Port Coquitlam to Burke Mountain, Coquitlam to Port Moody — which means selling in one market and buying in another simultaneously.
A top agent prices both sides of that trade at once, and tells you which one to execute first.
Topical depth on the moves and submarkets that matter most. Open them in tabs as you go.
The five-step process every move-up family runs through. Read end-to-end before you list.
StrategyThe single biggest sequencing decision in a move-up. Compared properly with bridge math.
StrategyThe bigger move-up plan so your sale and next purchase work together properly.
NeighbourhoodsThe neighbourhoods families look at most when planning their next Coquitlam move.
NeighbourhoodNewer single-family, estate builds, SD43 catchment demand — and where I live.
NeighbourhoodExecutive family homes, golf-course frontages, Pinetree or Heritage Woods Secondary catchment by address.
NeighbourhoodQuiet Port Moody hillside, mature landscaping, strong resale stability.
AboutBio, credentials, methodology, and how the practice is built.
Tool24-hour Equity Map: net sale value, true equity, real next-home ceiling. Step 1 of every move-up.
A 20-minute strategy call gets you a clear read on your options and an honest answer on whether your move suits my practice. The home evaluation gets you the numbers. Either one is free, and neither commits you to anything.
5.0 across 36+ Google reviews Top 1% Team — Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, 2023–2025 47+ years in the Tri-CitiesOr call direct: 604-202-6092
Continue reading
The cornerstone Move-Up Specialist page covers what a move-up move is, the protocol, named case studies, the math, and the FAQ — all in one place.
Read the Move-Up Specialist page →Tri-Cities monthly
September 2026 Coquitlam detached HPI is $1,584,400, −6.6% YoY. What that actually means for your next move — without the salesy fluff. One email per month.
No spam, no listings flood. Genuine monthly update from a 47+ year Tri-Cities resident.
About the numbers on this page: market statistics come from Greater Vancouver REALTORS® data. Price premiums, discounts and ranges are estimates based on recent local sales and Craig’s experience. They’re a guide for planning, not a guarantee — every home and every sale is different.
