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The problem

You've outgrown the place. Kids arriving or growing, a condo or townhome that used to be plenty. And the question that keeps you up isn't "where." It's "how do we do this without ending up with two homes, or none?"

Get the sequence wrong and it's real money and real stress. Buy first without a financing plan and the payout penalty on your current mortgage can eat the moving budget. Price the sale on hope and the home sits for months while the one you wanted sells to someone else. Line the dates up wrong and you're paying for two homes, or living out of storage with kids and a job. That's not a weekend mistake. It's the next few years.

There's a better way: Sequence first, then money, then dates, then the street. This guide walks you through all four, in the order you'll actually face them.

The gap, not the headline

Condo to townhome, townhome to house. Here's the scale of the step.

When you sell and buy in the same market, what matters isn't the headline number. It's the gap between the home you're leaving and the one you're moving to, and the sequence you use to cross it. That gap is why "sell first or buy first" is the first conversation, not the last.

Greater Vancouver REALTORS® MLS® HPI benchmark prices, September 2026. The Westside is the Vancouver West board area. The guide also shows what the monthly payment looks like on each at today's rates, and the costs families forget.

9.5months of supply. A buyer's market.

−18.6%apartment sales on the year. The segment most upsizers sell into.

+4.2%detached sales on the year. The segment most upsizers buy into.

Source: Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, September 2026.

Lining Up the Dates: the four dates on one line

Inside the guide

Seventeen pages. Every question a move-up family actually asks.

Sell first or buy first, laid out plainly, with the risk of each and my honest call on which one makes sense right now. Condos are the soft segment and detached is holding (Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, September 2026).
The money of the move-up: September benchmarks for Greater Vancouver, the Westside and Richmond, what the monthly payment looks like at today's rates, and the costs families forget: payout penalty, porting, property transfer tax, two sets of legal fees.
Lining up the dates: completion versus possession, the four dates on one line, where the deposit comes from, and the three tools when they don't line up.
Same money, different soul: Dunbar or Kerrisdale, Arbutus or Kerrisdale, Point Grey, Seafair or Steveston, and whether to stay in Kits.
The eight mistakes move-up families make, including the one I made myself.
What good looks like: three clients in their own words, and the step-by-step from six months out to keys in hand.
The printable move-up checklist. Keep it on the fridge.

Why it's worth more than free: Google will give you a buy-first-or-sell-first article with made-up numbers. This has the real ones, for the streets you're actually choosing between, from someone who coordinates both sides of this move for a living.

Who's behind this

I'm one of you. I've made this move myself.

I'm Sam Juergens, a full-time REALTOR® and Associate Broker, licensed since 2013, and a Vancouverite for nearly 40 years. Born in Germany, moved every couple of years as a kid, until my family settled here in 1989 and finally planted roots. That feeling is why I do this.

And when our first child was on the way, my wife and I did the move-up ourselves, got one big thing wrong, and learned the lesson every couple should hear before they sign anything. It's in the guide.

Why I'm qualified

As a former Managing Broker I ran Oakwyn University, training other agents in contracts, compliance and risk. I know where move-up deals break, because I taught agents how to stop them breaking.

Associate Broker · Licensed Property Manager · Seafair, Richmond

The first conversation. Your family, your timing, your finances. We settle sell first or buy first for your situation, and you make the lender call. You get a written recap.

Both sides on one plan. Your current home prepped, priced to the evidence and marketed; the search curated; every date on one line.

Written to protect you. Offers with the subjects set correctly and the dates built around your sale, and every document explained until it makes sense.

Why work with Sam

Both sides of your move, one person coordinating them.

Sell first or buy first, laid out plainly for your situation, with the risks of each named. Then you decide.
A financing reality-check early: an introduction to a mortgage professional for the bridge, porting and payout questions, before any offer is written.
Dates lined up: completion and possession sequenced across both deals so you're never carrying two homes, or none.
Your current home prepared for maximum return: room-by-room advice on what to do and what not to spend on, pricing grounded in current research, professional photography, a 2D floor plan, a printed brochure and a sign where the strata permits it.
Me at every showing, including the fifteen-minute "just looking" ones.
Honest neighbourhood comparisons from more than ten years selling across Metro Vancouver.
Curated listings, back-to-back showings on short notice, and market research on the spot when the right home appears.
Offers written to protect you, and the contract, listing and title search in your inbox the next morning with a clear order of steps.
Still here after the keys. The renovation question, the neighbour question, the next move.

Why me

Most agents handle one side of a move-up and hope the other side works out. I handle both, on one plan, so nothing falls between them. And as a former Managing Broker who taught other agents contracts and risk, I read every document with a regulator's eye and explain it like an expert friend. For a family carrying two transactions at once, that's the protection that matters most.

The transformation

From lying awake over "can we float it?" to a sale and a purchase on one calendar, the money understood, the dates lined up, and the keys to the new place in hand before you give up the old one.

No pressure, ever. I advise, and the decision is always yours.

Where the next chapter lives

Same money, different soul. The streets move-up families choose between.

The communities in this guide: Dunbar · Kerrisdale · Arbutus · Point Grey · Kitsilano · Seafair and Steveston, Richmond. Looking elsewhere in Metro Vancouver? I've sold across the region and I'll compare those too.

Westside figures are Greater Vancouver REALTORS® benchmarks, August 2026. Richmond figures are median sale prices, Zealty, September 2026. Different measures, so read the Richmond ones as "around."

Dunbar if you want the trees to win.

Dunbar

Forest-edge living

Detached benchmark $2,965,600, the only Westside detached benchmark that rose on the year. Pacific Spirit Park at the end of the block, Dunbar Street's village, Lord Kitchener and Queen Elizabeth elementary, Lord Byng Secondary, the R4 RapidBus to UBC and the Canada Line.

The honest trade-off: the trees win, the shops are fewer.

Kerrisdale

The brick-paved village

Detached $2,931,100, townhome $1,550,300. West 41st, Elm Park, the community centre pool and the arena, Kerrisdale and Maple Grove elementary, Magee and Point Grey Secondary, the R4 and the #16 downtown.

The honest trade-off: you pay for walkability on a smaller lot.

A big-lot family home in the quiet middle, with a train coming.

Arbutus

The quiet middle

Detached $3,094,900, now above Kerrisdale's. Big lots, the car-free Arbutus Greenway as the kids' bike route, Carnarvon and Trafalgar elementary, Prince of Wales Secondary, Arbutus Station on the Broadway Subway scheduled for late 2027.

The honest trade-off: "priced out of Kerrisdale, try Arbutus" no longer holds.

Point Grey

The beach-and-forest childhood

Detached $2,615,900. Jericho, Locarno and Spanish Banks below the house, Pacific Spirit behind it, Queen Mary and Jules Quesnel, Lord Byng Secondary.

The honest trade-off: no SkyTrain, and none funded. The Jericho Lands will reshape it over 25 to 30 years.

Kitsilano

Stay and step up

Townhome $1,206,700, detached $2,514,100. The beach after work, West 4th, Kitsilano Pool, French immersion at Henry Hudson and Lord Tennyson, the Broadway Subway's Arbutus Station on its edge.

The honest trade-off: a yard here means looking hard and paying a premium.

Seafair is home for me. Ask, and I'll show you around in person.

Seafair · Steveston, Richmond

South of the river, the same West Dyke

Seafair median around $2,237,900: big lots, cul-de-sacs, Hugh Boyd's fields, Hugh Boyd Secondary. Steveston Village median around $1,664,000: the harbour, Garry Point, the Salmon Festival, McMath Secondary.

The honest trade-off: downtown means a bridge or the tunnel.

Inside the guide

Dunbar or Kerrisdale? Seafair or Steveston? Stay in Kits?

All of it, two at a time, with the numbers. Free, instant download.

Why my local depth matters to you

The map says Dunbar and Kerrisdale are ten minutes apart. It doesn't say one is forest and one is village. I've sold across both sides of the river for more than ten years, so I can tell you how each street lives on a Tuesday and a Saturday, before you fall for a house.

Proof

Families who've moved up with me, in their own words.

"Sam was both our selling and buying realtor… Our sale closed smoothly at a competitive price with Sam taking care of everything for us, we barely have to worry."

Tee I., sold and bought with Sam to move up to a larger house

"When we upgraded to our townhome, we used Sam to sell the apartment… he knew exactly when to list our place, and had it sold in a matter of days when the market was super slow."

Saskia B., first apartment to townhome, and back again to sell it

"He was very patient and provided guidance over the years as our family evolved which ultimately led to our recent dream home purchase."

Melody Z., a client for more than ten years

"This is a confusing market but Sam knows the history and is happy to explore and explain the why's, and get super proactical on the what's and how's."

Gordon C., seller, moving up next

21five-star Google reviews

16 of 28reviews and testimonials describe a move up

2013full time since

Every one of these families carried two transactions at once, or is about to. That's the move this guide is built for, and the one I know best.

Your free guide

Your free guide: Outgrown Your Home? Here's How to Move Up Without Getting Stuck.

Top 3 you'll get

Sell first or buy first, with my honest call for this market.
The money and the dates, on one line, with the costs families forget.
Dunbar or Kerrisdale, Seafair or Steveston, stay in Kits: same money, different soul.

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Quick answers

Is this a sales pitch?

No. It's the guide. If you ever want help with your move, you know where to find me.

Will I get spammed?

No. It's an instant download, and you can unsubscribe from anything, anytime.

We're a year out. Is this for us?

Then you're exactly on time. The first conversation in a well-run move-up happens six to nine months before you list.