Are Women Really The Best Estate Agents?

Are Women Really The Best Estate Agents?

Have you ever asked someone to describe what they think a typical estate agent looks like? Most people will picture a shiny blue suit that's slightly too small and a pair of brown pointy shoes that are a bit too big - and it will always be a man.

Becoming an estate agent is a hard career choice as it's a profession usually ranked alongside politicians and bankers at the bottom end of public popularity surveys. When you're female it makes for an even bigger challenge, because in most estate agent offices the only woman you'll encounter will be out front on the reception desk!

Stereotypes

Of course, it's all too easy to fall into lazy old stereotypes. In reality more than 40% of the property sector workforce in the UK are women while in the USA the majority of 'real estate' agents are female.

Although there are some old dinosaurs still out there, most estate agencies have had to move with the times, whether they liked it or not.

The old days of putting a board up and a picture in a branch window to sell a property are long gone. Online portals and social media are just two of the many ways in which estate agents have had to adapt to new ways of doing things.

Room at the top

The real issue here is that the UK property industry is undoubtedly still male-dominated at higher levels - only 13% of estate agencies are owned by women and even worse a recent study suggests that women in the property sector are paid a third less than their male counterparts.

Perhaps the worst and most pervasive aspect of the property market gender divide is that there is something of a macho culture surrounding estate agents. This isn't helped by talk of 'deals' and 'markets', which often conjures up a city boy trading-floor image that can be quite off putting to many people.

A feel for the job

At LL Estates we see homes where others see buildings and we understand that for the people we deal with every day we're involved in life-changing events for them. We are passionate about your property journey.

For instance, we always take into account how buyers feel about going on a viewing, or how sellers might react to the idea of strangers walking around their homes and then ultimately judging them.

Another area that we think women have an advantage when it comes to being successful estate agents is empathy. Some people find it hard to put themselves in another person's shoes, but for us that is something we think is essential in order to do our job well.

Questions and answers

Are we only thinking about this simply because we are a female-led firm? Perhaps, although because we always put our clients first we also believe that's it's essential to look at everything we say and do from their non-industry perspective.

Does this make us better at our job than the majority of men?

We couldn't possibly comment, so get in touch, talk to us and then you can find the answer for yourself!