by Broderick Perkins
(10/25/2011) - Real estate women go after the big bucks. Real estate men carry a larger load.
In the greatest debate since rent-vs-buy, real estate listing and market data web site Trulia.com decided to take a look at the men-vs-women world of real estate sales.
Who does it better? Who lasts longer? Who wins when it comes to selling homes?
In this battle of the sexes, women come out on top.
The No. 4 most visited real estate web site on the Experian Hitwise hit list, Trulia compared men and women real estate agents on its web site to determine which gender outnumbered the other in the industry, who listed more homes for sale and who had more expensive homes.
The pink states vs. blue states battle came down to this:
Workforce dominance
In every state in the nation, there are more women than men in the business of buying and selling homes. At the lower end, there are about 48 percent more female than male agents in South Dakota and Nebraska than men. On the higher end, there are 64 percent more women than men in residential real estate.
Real estate, apparently is a babe parade. Chalk one up for women.
Listing volume
Men agents list (though not necessarily sell) more homes than women in the majority of states, listing loads are about equal in 14 states, and women list more than men in only seven states.
In North Dakota, male agents had, on average, 129 percent more listings than female agents; 87 percent more in South Dakota; 72 percent more in Rhode Island; 31 percent more in Nevada and 29 percent more in Arkansas.
Women carried more listings by smaller differences in fewer states. In Wyoming, Nebraska and Mississippi women had at least 25 percent more listings than men; 15 to 24 percent more in Louisiana and 5 to 14 percent more in Texas, Kentucky and Delaware. High-five for real estate bros.
List price
The average price of listings are higher for women in the vast majority of states; the average price was equal in about 11 states, men had higher listing prices in only four states.
Trulia was careful to point out that pricing a home considers a host of factors -- square footage, number of bed and bath rooms, crime, school districts -- that could be skewed by gender.
Men could be more likely to take on listings is less safe neighborhoods where prices are likely less expensive. This could also explain why men carry, on average, more listings.
"It could mean that women take on inherently more expensive homes/neighborhoods than men and vice-versa," the report says.
In any event, in the highest tier, homes for sale by women agents in West Virginia were, on average, 63 percent (about $40,000 more) more expensive than those for sale by men; 53 percent in Louisiana; 52 percent in Connecticut; 41 percent in Illinois; and 40 percent in Nevada.
And perhaps men can handle harsh winters better than women.
Only in Alaska did men have listings for sale that, on average, were more expensive than those sold by women agents, a whopping 72 percent more expensive. Men also had more expensive listings in New Mexico, Idaho and Montana, but they were only 5 to 14 percent more expensive.
Women win…but can they do a respectable end zone dance?
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