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The Tri-Cities Move-Up Specialist

Sell and buy in the same season. One agent. One process. Two closings that line up.

Craig Johnston, REALTOR®. Royal LePage Elite West. Top 1% Team — Greater Vancouver REALTORS®. 47+ years in the Tri-Cities. 9+ years on Burke Mountain. Move-up families served on one repeatable protocol — no improvisation.

Book a 20-min Strategy Call → Free Equity Map →

Quick answer

Who is the Tri-Cities Move-Up Specialist?

Craig Johnston, REALTOR® at Royal LePage Elite West, is The Tri-Cities Move-Up Specialist — the realtor families in Coquitlam, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Burke Mountain, Westwood Plateau, Heritage Mountain, Anmore, and Belcarra hire when they need to sell their current home and buy a larger or better-positioned one in the same season. Top 1% Team Member — Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, 2022–2025 (2025). Top 2% Team Member — Royal LePage nationwide, 2024–2025 (2025). Medallion Club Team Member, 2021–2025. 47+ years in the Tri-Cities. 9+ years on Burke Mountain. The work runs on a five-step protocol — Equity Mapping, Catchment Lock, Parallel Motion, Bridge Strategy, Soft Landing — so a dependent sale-and-buy reads as one orchestrated move, not two separate scrambles.

The category

What a move-up move actually is — in the Tri-Cities specifically.

A move-up is when you sell your current home and buy a larger or better-positioned one in the same season. It sounds simple. It isn’t. A dependent sale-and-buy has two listings, two negotiations, two financings, two sets of closing dates, and a family that has to live somewhere through all of it. Most agents handle the two sides as if they were separate transactions. They aren’t.

In the Tri-Cities specifically, a typical move-up looks like one of these:

The math, the timing, and the family dynamics are different in each one — but the underlying protocol is the same. That is what gets repeated, refined, and improved on every file.

The protocol

Five steps. One orchestrated move.

01

Equity Mapping

Three precise numbers before shopping — today’s net sale value (after commission, taxes, and prep), true available equity after sale, and your real next-home ceiling. Everything else downstream depends on these.

02

Catchment Lock

If kids are in the picture, the SD43 school assignment is decided before the street. Catchment dictates timing, premium, and the buyer pool you negotiate with. Smiling Creek, Heritage Woods, Gleneagle — each adds 4–9% to the home cost.

03

Parallel Motion

List and shop simultaneously, not in series. The 7–14 day simultaneous-close window is the goal, not the exception. Done right, both sides reinforce each other — your sale strengthens your purchase offer, your purchase informs your sale pricing.

04

Bridge Strategy

Plan the 30–90 day overlap before it becomes a crisis. Pre-approved bridge financing, rent-back terms with the buyer of your old home, storage contingency, hotel block if needed. The protocol assumes the bridge exists, every time.

05

Soft Landing

Move-day logistics, utility transfers, and 30-day post-close touchpoint. The difference between “transaction complete” and “family moved.” The home gets keys. The family gets a settled house.

The deep protocol breakdown — every step, every deliverable, every date — lives on the dedicated Move-Up Protocol page.

Three families. Three moves.

What it looks like when the protocol runs.

Sold + Bought · April 2026

The Turnbulls — seven offers, one move.

The challenge: Established Coquitlam family. House had been sitting through Christmas with no offers. Goal: net top price, no subject-to-sale, and aligned closing with the next home.

The outcome: Held firm on the price after the holidays. Re-listed in January. Sold in 3 days to buyers who had been nurtured behind the scenes since October — at the family’s target price. Seven offers. Aligned closing with the purchase.

“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.”

Sold · August 2024

Heather Fox — six days, multiple over-asking offers.

The challenge: Tri-Cities property. One initial offer at asking. Most agents would have signed it. The family wanted more.

The outcome: Re-engaged every other agent who had viewed the property. Multiple competing offers materialized within 48 hours — all over asking. Sold in six days at well above the original ask.

“Craig sold my property in just 6 days, which is an incredible feat. He quickly reconnected with all the other realtors — multiple offers, all over asking.”

Sold · November 2025

The Howitsons — six days, daily contact.

The challenge: Sellers who had been burned by a previous agent who went silent for weeks. They needed transparency more than they needed marketing.

The outcome: Daily communication, sometimes multiple times a day. Sold in six days with multiple offers. Closed cleanly with no surprises.

“Craig was there with us everyday. Our home sold in only 6 days with multiple offers.”

Read the full Tri-Cities case studies hub — every named transaction, the math, the result.

The decision

Sell first or buy first? It depends on the market — and on your equity.

Sell first — when this is right

  • Market is balanced or buyer-leaning (August 2026 Coquitlam composite HPI -6.4% YoY — this is the current condition)
  • You don’t want to carry two mortgages
  • You want negotiating power as a cash buyer
  • Your equity number drives your next-home ceiling
  • School-year timing flexibility on the buy side

Buy first — when this is right

  • Market is fast and rising
  • You can carry both with bridge financing pre-approved
  • A non-negotiable school catchment is on the line
  • The right next home appears (rare inventory like an Anmore acreage)
  • Move timing is the constraint, not the price

For most Tri-Cities move-up families in 2026, sell-first is the right call — the data agrees. The full breakdown lives on Sell First or Buy First in Coquitlam.

The math

Move-up math, in plain numbers.

Most families come to the first call with a rough idea of their equity and their next-home ceiling. Almost none have run the actual numbers, which look something like this on a representative Coquitlam townhome → Burke Mountain detached move:

Townhome sale price$1,100,000
Less: real estate commission & taxes($35,000)
Less: legal, conveyancing, prep, moving($8,000)
Less: mortgage payout($620,000)
Net equity to next home$437,000
Next home target (detached)$1,700,000
New mortgage needed$1,263,000
Plus: BC Property Transfer Tax~$32,000
Plus: legal, inspection, move-in~$8,000

Illustrative example — figures are rounded and are not current market prices. Real numbers vary by property, mortgage rate, timing, and the market at the time. Equity Mapping in the first Strategy Call produces your specific version of this table.

Run your own numbers with the Affordability Calculator and the Mortgage Calculator, or request a free Equity Map for the precise version on your address.

Where we work

Tri-Cities specialty — eight neighbourhoods, one specialist.

Burke Mountain
Move-up family detached & townhome
 Westwood Plateau
Executive · large lots · Gleneagle/Pinetree catchment
 Heritage Mountain
Port Moody hillside · view premium
 Port Moody
Inlet · brewery district · SkyTrain
 Anmore
1-acre minimum · the luxury bridge
 Belcarra
Indian Arm waterfront village
 Port Coquitlam
Affordability tier & first move-up
 Coquitlam (city-wide)
Every neighbourhood, deep coverage

Frequently asked

What people ask before we work together.

What is a Tri-Cities move-up move?

A move-up is when you sell your current home and buy a larger or better-positioned one in the same season — often dependent on each other, with closings that have to line up. In the Tri-Cities, that’s typically a Coquitlam townhome moving to a Burke Mountain detached, or a Heritage Mountain home moving to Westwood Plateau executive.

Should I sell first or buy first?

In a balanced or buyer-leaning market, sell first — you’ll know your equity and bargain stronger as a cash buyer. In a fast seller’s market, buy first if you can carry both. The 2026 Tri-Cities market currently favours sell-first for most move-up families.

Can the same agent handle both sides?

Yes — and it’s the only way to keep the dates, the financing, and the communication aligned. Running two agents on a dependent move is the single most common reason these transactions slip.

What’s the Move-Up Protocol?

A five-step process: Equity Mapping, Catchment Lock, Parallel Motion, Bridge Strategy, and Soft Landing. Each step has a specific deliverable and a specific date. The full breakdown is on the Move-Up Protocol page.

How long does a Tri-Cities move-up typically take?

From the first Strategy Call to keys-in-hand: typically 60–120 days for a sell-first move, 90–180 days for a buy-first move with a sale-contingency. The longer the family timeline, the more leverage on both sides.

What does the first conversation look like?

A free 20-minute Strategy Call. You tell me your timeline, your numbers, and what you’re trying to accomplish. I tell you whether move-up math works for your situation and what the next step looks like. If I’m not the right fit, I’ll say so. No pitch, no obligation.

The full move-up system

Everything a Tri-Cities move-up takes — in one place.

Start wherever your question is. Each guide goes deep on one part of the move, and they all connect back to the plan we build together.

Start & strategy

Know your numbers

Timing & readiness

Tools & areas

Ready when you are

Two ways to start. Both take less than a week to pay off.

Twenty minutes on a Strategy Call gets you a clear read on your options. A free Equity Map gets you the number on your current home. Either one is the right first move.

Book a 20-min Strategy Call → Free Equity Map →

Or call direct: 604-202-6092

Best REALTOR® by area

A specialist for your specific Tri-Cities city or neighbourhood.

Top Coquitlam REALTOR® Top Burke Mountain REALTOR® Top Westwood Plateau REALTOR® Top Heritage Mountain REALTOR® Top Port Moody REALTOR® Top Port Coquitlam REALTOR® Top Anmore REALTOR® Top Belcarra REALTOR®
Or compare all Tri-Cities specialists →

Tri-Cities monthly

What’s actually happening in the Tri-Cities, monthly.

Real GVR numbers and a plain-English explanation of what they mean for your move. One email per month.

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