01 Nov
I don’t know if it is any different for women and men as I have never been a man, but I thought it was worth some investigation to see how professional women felt about the current Real Estate market as compared to their male counterparts. What I found out was pretty amazing.
Women in either lending or Real Estate sales that I spoke with are in general more concerned about the future than they are the present. Women that I spoke with talked more about what will happen if the market takes another down turn twice as much as men. Men were more concerned about the immediate time frame and how to generate more business (money) today. Is this because women are better planners or because men are more goal oriented? I cannot say for sure but I thought the differences were interesting so I pried a little deeper and what I determined may be an my opinion only, but I wanted to share it with you.
Women are more dominant in Real Estate sales with some estimates at 64% of all agents being women. Men on the other hand represent nearly 90% of all loan originators.
The average man in Real Estate sales has as much as 129% more listings than the average woman.
Both men and women indicate in roughly equal percentages that Real Estate was not their first career.
With the information above and other information that is too tedious to add to this blog so I have included some links that you may find interesting. Regardless I have come to the following conclusions.
Men are more aggressive in business than women, this is made obvious by the number of listings being so disproportionately weighted toward men.
Women are more often caregivers by nature and therefore the lending industry which is somewhat removed from the process of buying a home is less interesting to women as it is to men. The women I asked indicated that finding someone the perfect house is a prime motivator while men referred to higher commissions as their prime motivator. I believe this illustrates very clearly most real estate women’s desire to create a positive experience for the client while not focusing on income to the same degree as men.This aggressive nature leads men to think more in the here and now. Women are more concerned about the future and represented a stronger desire to treat each listing with greater care and were not focused on volume but quality of service.
What does this tell me about the future of the real estate market? Sadly most indicators seem to point to the reduction of women in the Real Estate workforce if the market continues to drag or worse if we see another slide downwards. The more aggressive males will continue to dominate the mortgage industry as fewer people in general move into mortgage finance and the number of listings will be fought over as they dwindle, which again benefits the males in that industry. Without the market making some kind of correction soon I believe we are going to see more women than men feeling the brunt of the economy and pursuing other lines of work that men traditionally don’t.
http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/old-features/outnumbered/1029061.article
http://www.deadlinenews.com/2011/10/24/who-dominates-real-estate-men-or-women/
2 Comments
Vince
These are some rather shocking statistics. The normal thought would lean towards women being significantly higher producers in the real estate field than men being that the field consist predominantly of women. As a man, though not an agent, I have to say the observational differences the article makes between the approach to the profession between the to sexes is spot on. I am very solution oriented for the here and now where my wife thinks more of the option / results a particular challenge will bring. By the time she has thought things through logically and come up with a well planned, time honored solution, I’ve already instituted a plan subjecting us to its consequences. It’s a wonder I’m still married.
Truthy McTroothy
I’ve worked with male realtors and female realtors. For the most part, the females try to up-sale you based on potential and not what the true value of a property is based on condition, location, etc.
The men that I have worked with have been way more honest. Either because they understand costs better or they are naturally more inclined to tell the truth.
Now, I’m not saying that all male realtors are great, some are just as bad as the women (or used car sales people). And, some women (a very small minority) know what they are doing and aren’t just trying to make a sell; they actually advice their clients.
In the end, I don’t want a realtor that tries to sell me on a property. I want a realtor that advices me and helps me make the right choice. If I feel you aren’t on my team (like most female realtors that I’ve worked with) but instead on team “let’s make a sale.” I’m done.
So, my advice to women. Understand your client, be honest, get educated about building costs and repairs, and stop seeking the easy sale. If you got into real-estate sales to make easy sales when the economy was booming, this may not be your field now that people aren’t as motivated to overpay for everything.
Plus, you need to be honest with your sellers. If the house is a piece of crap, it won’t sell. They need to adjust their expectations, and you need to help them do that (but for that, you need to know what things cost and what they’ll sell for in that specific area).
Part of a realtor’s job is helping buyers and sellers navigate the real estate seas; it’s not just making a sale. It’s something more female realtors should do.
’nuff said.