Today I want to talk about women real estate investors, and why I think they are so good as real estate investors. For most women, being a nurturer is a trait that comes into being the day they are born. This trait manifests itself in many different ways in little girls. Some are “mommies” from the time they are old enough to pick up a doll. Others take on that role with their pets. And there are others still that play school and try to mold all of their “students” as a preschooler. No matter what form this nurturing takes, I have rarely known a little girl that didn’t possess this trait.
Nurturers just seem to have a natural way of working through problems, coming up with solutions and finding compromises that work for everyone. I believe that this is why women have an undeniable edge when it comes to some facets of real estate investing.
Boys and Girls; Oh So Different!
Growing up there were 4 children in my family. I had one sister and two brothers. When my brothers disagreed or were faced with a problem, they rarely tried to negotiate a peaceful solution. It just wasn’t in their nature. They were much more likely have a big disagreement, duke it out in the front yard, and then go right back to playing. Whoever won the fight was right.
Now my sister and I on the other hand, we would talk any situation to death when we disagreed. We were determined to have our way using words. We were so determined in fact to be the winner in any discussion that we rarely if ever gave in. Anyone that has girls knows what an utterly exasperating trait this is.
So how does this work to give women real estate investors an edge?
In addition to being born nurturers, I believe that most women are natural:
Peacemakers. We want everyone to be happy, and this leads us to look for solutions that work for everyone. We are just good at compromising.
Negotiators. It seems like we negotiate everything from day one. Girls always want to negotiate with their parents, their teachers, their siblings and just about anyone else when they don’t immediately get their way. We are used to negotiating. The challenge for us is to take this vast “experience” and actually turn it into a skill that will serve us well in business.
Relationship people. We are good a developing relationships and earning trust. People like doing business with us. Developing a reputation for delivering a quality product or service is essential to building and maintaining these valuable relationships.
I’m not trying to take anything away from all of you very competent male real estate investors out there when it comes to motivated sellers and solving problems. There is no denying that you are good at it. I just think it is a skill that is more learned than inherited for men. Women real estate investors are just different than their male counterparts in some very basic ways,
Men and women have always had different ways of accomplishing the same goals. This will always be true. It is those differences that make us unique and allow is to provide different perspectives to those folks that we serve.