While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that men and women have different approaches to nearly every situation - as Adam discovered with Eve way back in the mists of time - what's interesting to see is where the differences lie, and how it affects their decisions when buying a home.
In the past, buying a home was mainly the male's prerogative but today it's a very different story. A 2007 Royal LePage survey found that 30% of single women already owned their own home. With the demographics of homebuyers changing, real estate company Coldwell Banker decided to commission a survey in 2009 to discover to what extent men and women differed when it came to buying a home. The results were sometimes fairly surprising!
Some key observations
- Women tended to decide quicker
- Location: women - closer to extended family; men - closer to workplace
- Security: both agreed was a major factor
- Both sides claimed major financial decisions were reached mutually
- Both parties agreed on how to utilize a spare room
1. Quicker Decision Making
Interestingly, 70% of women said they had pretty much made up their minds about buying a home from the day they viewed it, whereas for men, it was only 62%. Furthermore, more men needed to go back for another 2 or 3 visits (32% as opposed to 23% of women) before reaching a final decision. Keep that in mind, ladies, the next time your guy complains about how long you spend looking at…shoes.
2. Location
Men like to be practical, right? Being close to work is practical. Cut down on the morning commute, less time on the road, and so on. Women, on the other hand, prefer being closer to extended family. According to statistics, 55% of women felt this was an important factor when buying a home while only 37% of men agreed. But is this really surprising? Speak up all you women out there who've heard your men say recently, "Let's go visit your sister today!" I thought so - lovin' the silence here…
3. Security
This is one area where both sides agree closely on. Security plays such an important role in today's society that 64% of women said they would forgo their dream home if it didn't meet their security requirements. And guess what? 51% of men agreed.
4. Making the major financial decisions when buying a home
This one revealed a lot about the respondents! While 70% of those surveyed said that major financial decisions were reached mutually, there's actually a little more to this story! When questioned further, 26% of men thought that they, in fact, were the major decision-makers in the relationship while 20% of women felt the same about themselves. It's best to leave this one alone, I think.
5. Utilizing a spare room
This is one area where you would think there would be significant differences but there weren't. Both sides felt that an extra room (12 x 12) should be used for:
- Top choice: 25 % - bedroom
- Second choice: 15% - office/study
- Third choice: 11% - family room/den
So much for the so-called man cave that women always accuse men of wanting! But wait a minute - upon further questioning, it turns out that there's actually some truth to it after all! 8% of respondents chose recreation room as an option for the spare room, and of those 8%, the majority were…drum roll please…men!
Although men and women tend to look for different things when buying a home, there is also much they have in common. And that's where the value of working with a real estate professional comes in. "A good REALTOR® will take both parties' concerns and preferences into account, and find a compromise solution that addresses everyone's wants and needs," says Andrew Brest, VP Marketing of Sundaybell Inc., an online company specializing in matching homebuyers and sellers with their ideal agent. Lee Redwood, Sundaybell's VP Sales agrees. "A part of an agent's job is to sometimes act as a bridge between partners, helping them to understand the other's point of view."
Which can be very important, you'll agree, if you're going to be sharing closet space!
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