All of this delves deep into the psyche of the male/female/home relationship. Forgive me for inflicting my own sexist bias, but I find women are generally far more attuned to the layout, décor, workability and sensibilities of a home. Men may get the structural functionality, i.e., the heat, the pipes, the insulation, but overall I do think women are far better positioned to sell and negotiate a home. They simply understand the underlying emotions better, and find me any agent male/female agent who would argue against the premise that a home, overall, is an emotional sale.
I have spent several years now talking to Realtors, male and female. I have bought and sold homes myself and watched dozens and dozens of agents market, dress, and cajole homes into a contract of sale. The majority of Realtors are women, working the weekends, walking the neighborhoods, holding the hands of over-optimistic sellers and self-important buyers. I don’t understand why the statistics show women make less money than men for their services do. I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with how larger real estate agencies divvy up the profits. Of course, that wouldn’t surprise me, given that that’s par for the course in most professions, including my own.
I’d be interested to know what you Realtors out there think, male and female. Send me your comments to realtycheck@cnbc.com, and we’ll post as many as we can.
Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com