Craig Johnston · REALTOR® · The Macnabs
★ Top 2% Nationwide Team
★ 44+ Years Tri-Cities
★ Burke Mountain Resident
★ Move-up Specialist
For buyers, sellers, and move-up planners in Coquitlam, Port Moody, and Port Coquitlam — guides, calculators, and case studies.
Book a Strategy Call →Craig Johnston · REALTOR® · The Macnabs · 604-202-6092
Every guide, checklist, calculator, case study and neighbourhood breakdown I publish — organized into eight topic clusters so you can find what you need in under 30 seconds. Updated continuously as the 2026 Coquitlam market moves.
— Craig Johnston · The Macnabs · Burke Mountain, Coquitlam BC
The market you are buying or selling into
Source: Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR) stats package, April 2026. Coquitlam MLS® data. Updated monthly. Numbers are medians for the Coquitlam geographic area; individual neighbourhoods vary. Verify current data before making buy/sell decisions.
A five-step process built around clarity, strategy, and no-surprise execution — whether you're buying your first home or selling a property you've owned for twenty years.
We start with a real conversation about your goals, timeline, and numbers. I'll pull current comps, assess your buying power or home's true market value, and tell you exactly what the data says — not what you want to hear.
I build a written strategy around your priorities: target neighbourhoods, pricing strategy, timeline, financing structure, and the trade-offs at each decision point. Every recommendation comes with a reason.
For sellers: pre-list prep, staging direction, pro photography, and a pricing framework that draws interest without leaving money on the table. For buyers: offer structure, subject clauses, and the due-diligence checklist for every property that matters.
This is where experience pays for itself. I negotiate price, terms, subjects, deposit, completion dates, and the small details that don't show up in listings but decide whether a deal closes well or falls apart.
From subject removal through completion and possession, I coordinate with lawyers, lenders, inspectors, and trades so nothing drops. After closing, I stay in your corner for everything from tax-assessment appeals to the next move.
Short, direct answers (40–60 words) to the questions I get asked the most. Deeper explanations live in the cluster pages below.
Median detached trades $1.85M–$2.15M depending on submarket. Townhomes run $1.08M–$1.20M. Condos near SkyTrain average $685K–$820K. Burke Mountain and Westwood Plateau lead detached premiums; Burquitlam leads condo activity. Prices firmed through Q1 2026 after a softer back half of 2025.
For families with a 5+ year horizon and a realistic pre-approval, yes. SkyTrain connectivity, SD43's secondary-school record, and contained supply support long-run values. The short-term question is whether your specific catchment has inventory right now — answerable in one 30-minute consult.
The move-up guide covers condo or townhome owners trading into a larger home. Upsizing is the same motion but focused on family-size detached. Downsizing covers empty-nesters trading down from detached to townhome or condo. All three deal with the same sequencing math — sell first, buy first, or bridge.
Start with the cluster that matches where you are — first-time, move-up, seller, downsizer, investor. Each cluster's pillar page is the end-to-end guide; supporting pages go deep on individual decisions. Save the free downloads section for checklists you can take offline.
If this is your first purchase, start here. The pillar guide covers the full 12-month runway; the supporting pages go deep on down-payment programs, the stress test, strata-specific risks, and what to actually look for on a Saturday showing.
The full end-to-end: costs, mortgage math, strata red flags, 12-month runway.
Free 22-page PDF — down-payment map, strata checklist, all-in cost worksheet.
Week-by-week timeline from pre-approval to possession day.
Every line item: PTT, legal, adjustments, GST on new builds.
How much home can you actually carry — GDS/TDS with 2026 stress test.
Walk-through of what banks actually check and why pre-approvals differ.
Strata-specific risks — poly-B, depreciation report, CRF, special levies.
What townhome buyers miss about rental caps, parking and shared roofs.
Real 10-year comparison including opportunity cost on the down payment.
How one FTB couple bought a Burquitlam townhome over 6 months.
The move-up from condo or townhome to detached (or detached to larger detached) is the most mismanaged transaction in BC real estate. These pages cover the sequencing math, the tax window, and how to avoid owning two homes at once.
Free 24-page PDF — equity math, tax sequencing, neighbourhood fit test.
Sell-first vs. buy-first vs. bridge — decision tree for your scenario.
When selling first is the right answer — and how to not be homeless.
Framework for picking the right sequence given 2026 market conditions.
PTT escalation clauses that bite move-up buyers at $2M and $3M.
Exact equity math for townhome-to-detached and condo-to-townhome jumps.
Worked examples at $1.5M, $1.8M and $2.2M trade-up tiers.
Burke vs. Westwood Plateau vs. Heritage — upsizing submarket comparison.
Condo-to-townhome-to-detached in 4 years without owning two homes.
Prep, price, position. These pages cover the pre-list ROI work that earns its money back in the first week of showings, plus the three pricing postures that work in the current market — and the one that doesn't.
Free 20-page PDF — pre-list ROI sheet, pricing postures, showing prep.
Week-by-week timeline from decision to possession.
The three pricing postures — anchor high, meet market, set the floor.
Which prep items return their spend on your specific block.
What "fast" actually takes — 21-day vs. 60-day playbooks.
The seven recurring mistakes that cost Coquitlam sellers money.
The showings-to-offer conversion problem, explained.
$2M+ positioning — different buyer pool, different playbook.
Get a walked, not AVM'd valuation range in 48 hours.
When the detached becomes too much house, the math changes. These pages cover detached-to-townhome, detached-to-condo, and the emotional pieces that nobody warns you about — selling the family home, where the grandkids stay, and whether to rent for a year first.
All downsizing content in one place.
The math and the neighbourhoods that work.
Where condo downsizers actually land in Coquitlam.
Why some Burke families downsize within Burke.
The emotional piece — and how to prep a 20-year home for market.
Where single-level and low-maintenance living is clustered.
Ranch Park to Burquitlam condo — the full story.
Real underwriting, honest cap rates, and the BC-specific rules that change the numbers — rent cap, Spec & Vacancy Tax, anti-flipping, CCA recapture. If you want the realtor who actually does the math before you buy, start here.
The SkyTrain submarket with the most investor activity.
When renting actually beats buying on a 10-year view.
One deal, underwritten honestly, year 1 through year 5.
Block-level knowledge beats map-level knowledge. These pages cover what Burke Mountain feels like on a Tuesday night, how Westwood Plateau compares to Heritage Mountain, and which SD43 catchments actually hold value.
Craig's home neighbourhood — 9+ years resident, 44+ years Tri-Cities.
Older stock, higher prices, Dr. Charles Best catchment.
Port Moody side, Heritage Woods Secondary catchment.
The head-to-head comparison most upsize buyers need.
SD43 secondary rankings and what they actually mean for home values.
Homes priced inside the strongest SD43 catchment.
The Port Moody catchment that draws buyers out of Coquitlam.
Burke Mountain's home high school.
For families relocating in from Vancouver, the Okanagan, or out of province.
For buyers who want numbers before narratives. Median price trends, neighbourhood heat-maps, strata fees, property tax rates, and the three calculators I actually use in client meetings.
Median/average by housing type, updated monthly.
Heat-map of 14 Coquitlam submarkets.
5-year, 3-year, 1-year trend lines by type.
Rate comparison and escalation history.
What's typical, what's a red flag, what CRF looks healthy.
Real payment math with 2026 rates.
GDS/TDS with stress test.
10-year comparison with opportunity cost.
Subscribe to the Monday Coquitlam market brief.
Most agents give you a one-pager. These are the actual decision tools I hand clients in the first meeting — now free, via email.
22 pages. Down-payment programs, strata red flags, all-in cost worksheet, 12-month runway.
24 pages. Trade-up math, tax sequencing, sell-first vs. buy-first decision tree, neighbourhood fit test.
20 pages. Pre-list ROI sheet, three pricing postures, showing prep, commission math.
If you're already past the reading phase and want numbers on your specific situation, book a strategy call. No pitch deck. Math first.
Book a strategy call
You want the tools, not the sales pitch. Craig gives them to you first and asks for nothing in return. The deal comes later, if at all.
This is the homework-quality filter. Nobody else in the Tri-Cities publishes this depth.
By the time you book with Craig, you're already 80% of the way there. That's on purpose.
"Every tool on this site is the same thing I'd hand a client in our first meeting. If you want to learn the playbook before you book a call, go ahead — most of my best clients did exactly that."
Whether you're a first-time buyer at $850K or a luxury seller at $4.2M, the sequence is identical. The scale changes. The discipline doesn't.
Your numbers, your timeline, your non-negotiables, your trade-offs — written down before we pick any houses or pick any comps.
Current supply, current absorption, current days-on-market, current buyer pool — per neighbourhood, per property type, not 'Metro Vancouver' averages.
Target neighbourhoods, target price band, target timeline, target offer structure. Written. Agreed.
Whether buying or selling, the offer / listing is engineered — structure, contingencies, comps, pricing logic — not improvised.
Conditions, completion, possession, and the six-month check-in. Most agents stop at keys. Craig doesn't.
No pitch, no pressure. Just your numbers, your options, and the next move that's actually right for you.
Because the buyers and sellers who do their homework become Craig's best clients, referrers, and long-term relationships. The math works.
Yes. Most of the site is the playbook Craig would hand you at a first meeting anyway.
If you're selling → start with the home evaluation. If you're buying → start with the strategy call. If you're unsure → start with the resource hub.
Born in the Tri-Cities. Lived on Burke Mountain for 9+ years. Top 2% Nationwide Team. Craig runs every file — move-up, first-time, seller, investor — through the same repeatable playbook so nothing gets improvised at your expense. Start with the 20-minute fit call or the equity map. No pitch, no pressure, just your numbers and your options.