Parent Teacher Interviews

The other week was parent teacher interviews for my 3 boys. As I’m sure all parents out there can relate, they can be stressful, especially if there are some points of improvements that your kids need to work on.

For my wife Stephanie and I, we were a little nervous this time around because our youngest just started kindergarten and you never know what type of feedback you will receive at the first meeting. Luckily for us, the teachers really like him and he is getting along well in class. Just a little more focus on better problem solving and getting used to the routine, but aside from that he is progressing along fine.

The interviews for the older two boys still always makes us nervous but we’d been down this road before. After 3 and 4 years of school, we already knew what they excelled in and what their challenges were. We received their report cards a few days prior to the interviews, and it was good to see that the teachers’ evaluations were the same as our perceptions as well. Their observations showed me they had taken the time to really get to know and understand our boys, and how they learn. They saw their strengths and weaknesses and were confident in how we could world together to further build up our boys’ skills.

You Can do it Right, or You Can do it Easy, but Not Both

I thought about all my hard working teacher friends out there and I’m sure it would be much easier to tell every parent that their kid is doing “great” and gloss over any weaker areas. It would save teachers from having those difficult conversations with parents that can risk defensive reactions or disagreement. And in the end, the parents might not even find out till the next year, if ever, that there was something amiss. Or at least, it wouldn’t be that teacher’s problem anymore.

But that would be taking the easy way out, and in the long run, it isn’t in a child’s best interest to ignore away the issues. A good teacher wants to see their students improve and grow, and takes pride in being part of the process.

I think that same line of thought should apply to real estate as well, but sadly in most cases it doesn’t. When it comes to selling your home, most realtors are not focused on a client’s long term success, but instead, on the short term opportunity.

Let’s Compare the School Process with the Real Estate Process

School: you first receive your child’s report card so you can see how they are progressing. Second, you have an interview to go over the marks, identify improvement areas, and clarify any points. Finally, a plan is made with both the teacher and the parents with action items to help the child become the best student they can be.

Real Estate: First, there’s often “no report card”, or any research done about the home, the neighbourhood or relative value. Often the home owner will tell the agent what they think the home is worth, and the agent agrees to the price so that the owner is happy. Second, there is no truthful conversation about any shortcomings of the home, and how addressing these issues could improve value. Everything about the home is “great”, and the agent will only validate issues that are brought up by the owner so as not to offend. Last, there is no plan to work towards to create the most successful listing. They will tell the owner whatever they think they want to hear, pull out the listing paperwork and push to get it signed. This is how it’s done. 1,2,3 closed!

I’m going to share an inside secret with you, it’s common practice to teach real estate agents that if they leave your home without the listing signed, then they aren’t getting it. So instead of being objective, and offering advice that will get the home owner more money, most agents rely on telling the owners exactly what they want to hear, which is referred to as ‘buying your listing’.

Or put another way, it’s the poor assumption that if they tell you what you need to hear, then they will loose the listing to another agent who will tell you what you want to hear. This is not the way it should be done.

 

Following a Standardized Process Gets Better Results

This is The Village Guru documented approach: Assess, Plan and Implement (API). Our API system has been developed over years of selling homes and is designed to raise the value of homes to their maximum potential. Below is a brief outline of what this involves.

ASSESS:  We meet assess the owners goals, plans, limitations, budget, ability and interest. At this time we also identify all positive selling points and identify any potential challenges.

PLAN:  We work with the owner to plan what is reasonable and feasible to prepare the home together. Our plan outlines options to maximize the home’s salability and save you tens of thousands in lost profit, or the money “left on the table”

IMPLEMENT:  We work with you to carry out the work of preparing and staging your home. This includes professional photography. We also implement our proven marketing plan to bring buyers and top offers to the table.

Is this the easy way? No. Does it take fearlessness to tell the whole truth? Yep. Do I lose some listings for being honest? You bet. But there’s even more people out there who want to work with professionals – whether it’s teachers, realtors or ANY profession – who have the knowledge, skills and integrity to get the best results; who use a system that identifies opportunities, monitors progress and achieves results.

These are the home sellers who win at real estate. The more informed you are and the better plan we have, the greater the value we glean out of your home. So if you have a child who’s had a really good teacher, and you were appreciative that your child was able to learn and grow from their time with that teacher, this is the kind of experience I strive to provide to each and every one of my clients.