Why Macdonald Realty?

Our Philosophy

We’re on a mission. To be British Columbia’s most respected service brand in the real estate industry.  How? By fostering a learning culture, in true partnership with our agents, so they can excel and provide the best possible service to our Macdonald Realty clients.

Since 1990, Macdonald Realty has expanded to more than 20 offices across British Columbia. We’re Western Canada’s largest integrated real estate firm. We offer residential, commercial, property management, and new development project marketing services. We’re proud of the journey our company has taken over the last 80 years — and thrilled you’re considering joining us.

CEO Lynn Hsu purchased Macdonald Realty in 1990. No small feat, what motivated her to make such a purchase was a desire for change. To make a difference in an industry which at times is viewed with a less-than-stellar reputation. Her goal? To build a brokerage firmly rooted in strong ethics and professionalism — a firm that could also deliver a new standard of client service.  

We’re extremely proud that Lynn has been recognized as one of British Columbia’s 50 most powerful women by BC Business magazine, and one of North America’s top 20 women leaders in residential real estate by “the definitive ranking of the leaders and executives in the residential real estate brokerage industry” — The Swanepoel Power 200. We don’t take these distinctions lightly, but they serve as another testament that we’re charting the right course.  The company continues to look to the future under the leadership of Jonathan Cooper, President of Macdonald Realty.

Jonathan was with Macdonald Real Estate Group from 2006 to 2016, during which time he served in a number of roles, eventually rising to become the Vice President of Operations. In early 2017, he joined the Holborn Group, a real estate development and property investment firm, as Chief Operating Officer, a role which he held for six years. In his capacity as COO, he had various areas of responsibility, including development projects, sales and marketing, legal, and asset management. In 2023, he rejoined Macdonald Real Estate Group as President. In this role, he is responsible for all facets of the day-to-day operations of the firm, including residential and commercial brokerage, property management, and project marketing.

Jonathan's commentary and op-eds on the real estate business have appeared across various media platforms, including Inman News, REM, Bloomberg BNN, and The Vancouver Sun. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in History from the University of Toronto, and a Masters Degree in Real Estate from Georgetown University. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Madrona School Society, and lives in Vancouver.

Investing in our agents success

At Macdonald Realty, we see investing in our agents as a must. In our professional lives, as in in our personal lives, we never stop learning. We believe in advancing the learning and development goals of our agents so we can help them achieve their business goals. 

We see your success as our success and make every effort to help you build a rewarding, long-term career based on sound business practices. To help our agents grow their businesses, we’ve developed Connected Learning, a learning and development program proprietary to Macdonald Realty.

The program covers a wide range of subject matter. Knowing the ins and outs of all facets of the business, gaining new knowledge and refining and enhancing what you already know is crucial to growing and evolving your business. We offer opportunities to learn in many ways, from colleagues who are experts in a certain areas of the business, to accountability groups, Zoom sessions and the Learning Hub — a modern online learning environment.   

Culture of Partnership

Macdonald Realty is more than just a real estate company. We’re a real estate family. You’ll notice this the minute you walk into any of our offices. 

At Macdonald Realty, we’re invested in your success. That’s reflected in how we’ve designed our business structure — a structure that’s unique in the industry. Unlike many brokerages that rely on selling franchised offices to independent owners, 90 per cent of our offices are privately operated. This allows us to maintain a strong and consistent brand standard across offices, deliver support programs to all our agents and provide superior exposure and access for our Macdonald Realty clients. When you work with us, you’re also supported by a non-competing managing broker who is truly dedicated to you and your success — a reason many of our agents have been with us for decades.

What we offer:

• Access to all our privately-operated offices across British Columbia

• Four specialty divisions (residential, commercial, property management, and new development project marketing services) to meet all your client needs. As Western Canada’s biggest fully-integrated real estate firm, we know from experience that having four distinct but integrated divisions can help you create additional revenue streams for your business.

• A global network spanning six continents and 70 countries, enabling you to refer clients to a quality professional in thousands of other markets — earning the gratitude of your clients as well as referral fees

• A committed support team that includes conveyancing, marketing, an IT help desk, reception services, mortgage providers and an experienced senior management leadership team

• Marketing know-how and tools to assist you, including our in-house creative team, luxury home marketing program, Macdonald Online Marketing Centre for brochures and social media, kvCORE agent websites and email database CRM tool, as well as an exclusive agent resource website

• Incorporate items in Marketing & Programs fee

We work here, we live here, home is BC.

With 20 offices and 75 years of experience we know each community’s unique identit because we not only work here, we live here. We’re passionate about real estate. We do things with a long-term view. We’ve been there so we know how to make things happen for our clients and we’ll give you the training and tools to do the same.

At Macdonald Realty we are #realproud that home is BC.  Can you picture yourself as a part of our team? Let’s talk about it.