Equity Mapping.
Three precise numbers before any shopping. Net sale value, true available equity, real next-home ceiling.
Selling your current home and buying the next one in the same season is the highest-stakes transaction most families ever attempt. Most agents treat it as two separate deals. The Move-Up Protocol is the five-step framework that runs them as one orchestrated move — Equity Mapping, Catchment Lock, Parallel Motion, Bridge Strategy, Soft Landing — so the sale and the buy line up, the family negotiates from strength on both sides, and nobody sleeps on a couch.
5.0 across 35+ Google reviews Top 1% Team — GVR 47+ years in the Tri-CitiesThe mechanics matter, but move-up families who stay calm share four mental habits that keep the process from running them.
Shift 1
Decide your non-negotiables — budget ceiling, must-have space, deal-breakers — before you tour. That way no single beautiful home is allowed to hijack the whole plan.
Shift 2
The family with financing and equity confirmed negotiates from strength. The one improvising at the table quietly gives that strength away.
Shift 3
The order you take the sell, buy, finance and close decisions in matters far more than how quickly you move through them.
Shift 4
Plan for the version where something slips — a financing backup, a possession cushion — so a hiccup stays a hiccup instead of becoming a crisis.
None of this requires you to be an expert in the market — it requires a clear head and the right order of operations. That is exactly the part a specialist carries for you: holding the sequence, watching the downside, and keeping the emotional pressure of a big move from turning into a rushed decision. Get those four habits right and the move-up stops feeling like a leap of faith and starts feeling like a plan you are simply executing, one confirmed step at a time.
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Quick answer
What is the Coquitlam Move-Up Protocol?
The five-step process Craig runs every move-up file through. Equity Mapping (three precise numbers before any shopping). Catchment Lock (SD43 school first, then the streets). Parallel Motion (list and shop simultaneously, not in series). Bridge Strategy (pre-approved bridge financing and a 30–90 day overlap plan). Soft Landing (move-day logistics and a 30-day post-close touchpoint). Most agents treat a move-up as two deals. The Protocol treats it as one orchestrated move — families negotiate from strength on both sides, never desperate on either.
Competitors have letters after their name. The Move-Up Protocol is a written process. Here's why the process matters: letters are earned once; a process is delivered every time. You can't explain letters to your family. You can explain a five-step process. The naming exists so you can hold me accountable to each step on your specific file — not so I sound clever in marketing copy.
Five steps. Each with a specific deliverable. Detail on each follows below.
Three precise numbers before any shopping. Net sale value, true available equity, real next-home ceiling.
Pick the SD43 school first. Then the streets. Wrong-catchment buyers pay 8–14% more at resale.
List and shop simultaneously. Target 7–14 day simultaneous close. Never desperate on either side.
30–90 day overlap plan, pre-approved bridge financing, rent-back terms, storage contingency.
Move-day logistics, school transition, 30-day post-close touchpoint, neighbourhood handoff.
Before we look at a single listing, we establish three numbers with precision:
What most families think it costs: thirty minutes with a calculator. What it actually costs: two meetings, a mortgage-broker coordination call, a full comp pull on the last 90 days of sold data in your neighbourhood, about six hours of my time. What they get: a single sheet with three numbers. Those three numbers govern every decision from here. They settle the most common family argument in a move-up — "Can we afford the $2M house or do we have to settle for $1.7M?" — because the sheet answers it definitively.
Most move-up families shop the house first and hope the school works. That's backwards and it produces either a reluctant private-school tuition bill or a painful mid-year school switch. We flip the order.
Before any house hunting starts, we nail the SD43 elementary catchment you're committed to, the secondary school that feeds it, and your family's non-negotiables on cross-boundary — Lougheed, Coquitlam-proper vs. Burke Mountain vs. Westwood Plateau, whether Anmore is open if the price right-sizes.
Why this matters more in Coquitlam than anywhere else: SD43 catchment lines are among the most consequential in Metro Vancouver for resale value. A detached home in one catchment sells for 8–14% less than an identical home three blocks over in a different one. Move-up families who don't know this buy the cheaper block, then fight with the resale buyer five years later who does know.
Here's where I diverge from the one-transaction agent by the widest margin. Most agents say: "List first. Once it's under contract, we'll start looking." That's the two-deal pattern. It creates every problem downstream.
The counterintuitive outcome: parallel-motion families negotiate from a stronger position on both sides. Never desperate on either. A family who has already sold but hasn't bought is a desperate buyer. A family who has bought but hasn't sold is a desperate seller. Parallel Motion is neither.
Even with Parallel Motion, sometimes the windows don't perfectly line up. A great buy surfaces two weeks before the sell closes. A sell closes three weeks before the buy is ready. This is the most predictable failure point in a move-up, and the one-transaction agent treats it as "the mortgage broker's problem."
It's not. It's an orchestration problem, and we plan for it in Step 1.
Why families cry at the bridge stage in a one-transaction deal: they find out in week 2 of the gap that their bridge loan was declined, their rent-back extension was denied, and their stuff is in a storage facility they chose in panic. Every piece of that was preventable 60 days earlier.
The one-transaction agent's involvement ends at funding. Mine continues through move day plus thirty days.
Why this matters beyond the deal: nine of my last ten referrals came from Soft Landing, not from the transaction itself. People forget what you sold them for. They don't forget that you showed up at week four with a list of the three best painters in their new neighbourhood.
5.0 stars across 35+ verified Google reviews. Three below from Tri-Cities move-up families who ran the Protocol.
“Craig is a true professional and I would highly recommend him to anyone looking to buy or sell their home. His approach is clear, data-driven and resulted in multiple offers for our sale.”Robert Shin
“Craig Johnston recently sold my townhouse in West Vancouver in less than 6 days for over asking price!!!!! Craig is one of the most prolific and highly motivated realtors I have seen in the Realty business, and I have extensive experience buying and selling properties of all sorts.”Riverplate Equities
“We had a fantastic experience working with Craig on the purchase of our first home in Coquitlam. He was incredibly friendly and responsive, always quick to answer our messages and questions. Throughout the process, he took the time to walk us through each step so my partner and I always knew exactly what was going on and what to expect next. Craig also gave us honest, helpful opinions on properties we were considering, which really helped guide us toward a place we love. On top of that, he connected us with a great broker and lawyer, making the whole process feel seamless. We're so happy in our new home and couldn't have done it without him. Highly recommend Craig to anyone buying a home!”Rohit & Georgie
If this is how you want your next move run, the first step is a 20-minute Move-Up Fit Call. You tell me your current address, your target catchment, and your timeline. I tell you if the math works right now. If it doesn't, I tell you to wait.
5.0 across 35+ Google reviews Top 1% Team — Greater Vancouver REALTORS® 47+ years in the Tri-CitiesOr call direct: 604-202-6092
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