VALUE-FIRST HOME TEAM
Derek Vanderkooy PREC* & David Maitre PREC*
Our Value-First approach to real estate transactions recognizes they are complex undertakings that involve uncertainty, timing pressure, and irreversible financial outcomes. Our fundamental role is to reduce avoidable risk by structuring how decisions are made throughout the entire process. We focus on decision quality, not urgency. Every choice you make deserves thoughtful consideration, proper context, and clear understanding of implications. This disciplined approach protects your interests and ensures that pressure never replaces prudence in critical moments, embodying our commitment to your long-term value.
Our Core Responsibility
Throughout every transaction, we are responsible for three essential elements that protect your interests and ensure sound decision-making. These responsibilities guide every interaction and form the foundation of our professional practice.
Clarity
Separating confirmed facts from assumptions and pressure. We distinguish between what is known and what is speculated, ensuring you always understand the actual situation.
Risk Identification
Surfacing material risks early, before they compound. We identify potential issues when they are manageable, not when they become crises.
Decision Structure
Ensuring decisions are made deliberately, with defined review points. Every major choice follows a clear process that protects your interests.
We do not manufacture urgency or push outcomes. Our commitment is to process integrity, not transaction velocity.
Our Decision Framework
Every major decision in your transaction follows the same structured sequence. This consistency ensures nothing is overlooked and every choice is made with complete understanding. The framework creates predictability in an otherwise uncertain process.
01
Facts
What is confirmed. What is not. We establish the known baseline before proceeding.
02
Constraints
What is fixed. What is flexible. We identify the boundaries within which decisions must be made.
03
Risk Assessment
Timing risk, market risk, contractual risk, financing risk, and completion risk are evaluated systematically.
04
Decision Window
Is this time sensitive or time flexible. We determine whether speed protects or threatens your position.
05
Choice
You decide with a clear understanding of tradeoffs. The final decision is always yours, made with complete clarity.
Built-In Protection
Transactions are not treated as a continuous rush. We pause at defined points to review structure and risk.
Strategic Review Points
These intentional pauses are protective measures that prevent momentum from overriding prudence. Each review point serves a specific purpose in safeguarding your interests.
  • Initial pricing and positioning analysis
  • Offer structure review before submission
  • Counter offer response evaluation
  • Subject removal readiness assessment
  • Final pre-completion review
Timing Discipline
Speed is useful when it protects your position. Slowing down is useful when it preserves optionality. These are not opposing forces; they are tools applied strategically based on circumstances.
When We Slow Down
We deliberately slow the process when information is incomplete or decisions are irreversible. Rushing forward with insufficient facts creates avoidable risk. Taking time to gather complete information protects your position and prevents costly mistakes that cannot be undone.
When We Move Quickly
We accelerate when delay increases risk and facts are sufficient. In competitive situations with complete information, speed protects your interests. Quick action based on solid understanding demonstrates strength and secures advantage without introducing unnecessary risk.
How Risk Is Communicated
We prioritize clarity over reassurance. This is a fundamental principle that distinguishes our practice. Clients deserve to understand actual risks, not manufactured comfort that serves momentum over truth.
Early Identification
Risks are identified early where possible, giving you time to respond thoughtfully rather than reactively.
Plain Explanation
Risks are explained plainly, without jargon or minimization, ensuring complete understanding.
Proper Documentation
Material risks are documented when appropriate, creating a clear record for future reference.

Our Commitment: We do not minimize risk to maintain momentum. We do not speculate beyond available information. We do not provide false reassurance when uncertainty exists.
Communication Standards
High impact decisions are summarized in writing. This practice is not bureaucratic; it is protective. Written summaries reduce misunderstanding and ensure shared clarity around critical elements of your transaction. When stakes are high, verbal communication alone is insufficient.
What Changed
Clear documentation of new information, circumstances, or requirements that affect your position.
Why It Changed
The underlying reasons and factors that created the change, providing context for decision-making.
What Happens Next
Clear next steps, timelines, and required actions to maintain progress and protect your interests.
What This Approach Is Not
Understanding what we do not do is as important as understanding what we do. Our approach is deliberately designed around principles that protect client interests over transaction momentum.
Not Aggressive
We do not use pressure tactics or create artificial urgency to drive outcomes.
Not Performative
We do not prioritize appearance or enthusiasm over substance and accuracy.
Not Pressure-Based
We do not rely on urgency or emotional momentum to move transactions forward.
Not Speed-Obsessed
We do not assume faster is better. Speed serves strategy, not the reverse.
This disciplined approach may feel different from conventional real estate practice. That difference is intentional and protective.
Determining Fit
This approach tends to suit clients who value clarity, structure, and fewer surprises. It is designed for those who prefer thoughtful decision-making over reactive responses, and who understand that good process produces better outcomes than manufactured urgency.
It may not be a fit for those seeking constant urgency, affirmation over accuracy, or transactional velocity as the primary measure of service quality. There is no judgment in this; different approaches serve different needs and preferences.
Our responsibility is not to push outcomes. It is to design a process where good decisions are more likely and avoidable mistakes are less likely.
If this way of working aligns with how you want to make decisions—deliberately, with clear understanding of tradeoffs, and with protection against avoidable risk; we are likely a good fit. The foundation of our practice is ensuring that you make informed choices rather than pressured reactions.
Derek Vanderkooy PREC*
Phone: 604-379-0616
David Maitre PREC*
Phone: 604-340-9809
Email: info@valuefirstcanada.com