Men and women might all have a common desire for a roof over their heads, but they approach house hunting with different considerations, motives, perspectives, and rationales.
Understanding how gender differences might influence the decision to purchase or rent a house can be crucial for players in the housing industry.
It could also be quite useful for those couples whose relationships hang in the balance due to major misunderstandings regarding what should be important and why particularly when it comes to choosing the house of their dreams.
You don’t want to be creating an emotive house-viewing experience for a man when he wants to know why it makes sense to buy or rent a property, for instance.
Similarly, you might reduce a woman’s interest in investing in a property if you just focus on hard, dry facts as opposed to helping her visualize the house—complete with its look and feel, with her family or friends in it.
Whether it’s in terms of security or amenities such as bathrooms and closets, men and women don’t always approach house hunting the same way. Not even when they’ve settled on one of the best Kenyan towns to live, work, and call home.
We delve right into the what and why of the differences men and women can expect between themselves when they are choosing between the houses they could potentially live in. We’ll explore:
- What motivates each gender when house hunting
- The aspects that each gender considers important
- What do they seek, and what they are willing to compromise
- Which house specs are important to whom
- How to agree on the most important features
Let’s dive in.
1. Motive Plays a Role
While there’s a range of underlying motivations that influence people’s house shopping behavior, two major motives prevail:
- Utilitarian
This is the conscious pursuit of an intended consequence. Men will generally approach house hunting with the understanding that it’s something that needs to get done.
This means that they’ll want to know why they should invest in a certain house—why it makes sense for them to go for it instead of another. Essentially, men are both mission and task-oriented buyers for whom a house’s demonstrable value is a must.
- Hedonic
This motive is characterized by intrinsic and emotional responses or the pleasantness of the emotions that a house evokes. Women usually enjoy the house-hunting process, which is why they’ll place a lot of emphasis on how a certain house makes them feel.
Perhaps this is why women tend to enjoy the hunt more than men, and their feelings of homeownership are more pronounced, according to a Consumer Outlook Survey. Women, therefore, focus more on the journey, so that they will readily adjust their initial goals if it results in an outcome they find to be more satisfying.
2. Security and Proximity to Family, Job, and School
Women value accessibility to friends and family, supermarkets, gyms, and parks. For women, safe streets, good schools, and proximity to their loved ones are preferable even if it means having to travel farther for work or entertainment.
Because women like to stay and feel safe, they also consider security issues important enough to be a dealbreaker even if everything else about a house is perfect. This is because women’s day-to-day activities revolve around the place or house she settles on.
Men, on the other hand, consider a short job commute to be more valuable when considering where to look for a place to live. Security is also not as important as the need to relax when staying indoors. Men would rather rest or sleep on their days off whereas women are more likely to socialize and catch up with their friends.
Additionally, a little danger or excitement doesn’t deter men, especially if it means they’ll be close to good restaurants or a thriving nightlife.
One constant among both genders is that they consider the proximity of good schools in the area to be of primary importance. This one factor ranks highly across multiple societies among home seekers with children of school-going age.
3. Enjoyment and Compromise
When it comes to the enjoyment of the house hunting and home buying process. The Consumer Outlook Survey by Prudential Real Estate found that women appear to enjoy it a little bit more than men.
Part of the thrill of house hunting for women includes exploring the kind of neighbors they’ll likely have. Women are more satisfied with a house when they encounter friendly neighbors to socialize with. Especially, when these neighbors happen to fall into similar demographics as themselves.
Men, on the other hand, aren’t picky about how old or young their neighbors are compared to themselves. Men don’t even mind those quiet and polite neighbors who keep to themselves as long as they aren’t too fond of disturbing their peace.
Curiously, it’s men who are more willing to compromise on what they want from a property and make significant sacrifices that suit their partner’s needs. A UK study found that men are three times more likely to splurge or go over the property budget on what they consider to be the perfect home.
4. House Specs
Men are very interested in finding out what they are getting into from a maintenance standpoint when buying or building a house. Serious electrical, structural, or plumbing issues are a no-no for men, but this doesn’t mean that women are more likely to be persuaded to invest in a house with such issues.
Instead, it means that women are less likely to get into too much of the technical details surrounding a home’s condition. For the ladies, a clean bill of health from a home inspector or some other appropriate official will do.
Other house specs that help either men or women decide on how well a house fits their expectations include the kitchen and personal space.
In the case of the kitchen, women tend to like spacious and breezy kitchens that not only have a carefully considered floorplan. But also offer plenty of workspaces for them to use. As for men, it’s the gadgets in the kitchen—or any other room for that matter—that appeal to them.
When it comes to personal space, women love having spacious bedrooms. This may have something to do with the fact that they consider the bedroom as more than a place where they lay their head. The bedroom is, in fact, more like a private sanctuary for them where they can have some rest and recreation at any time of day.
It’s hardly a surprise, then, that if women could also afford a walk-in closet and luxurious bathing tubs, they would go for them. Not so for guys. Men would rather have a big relaxation space where they can make some noise. So, they like a house whose garage could be converted into a hangout space or a house that generally holds a lot of potential for a man cave or den.
Indeed, differences abound even when it comes to color schemes and choices. Women tend to gravitate towards houses with white walls, large windows, and lots of light, while men prefer moderately-sized windows and darker hues.
Agreeing on the Most Important Features
If it wasn’t clear before, it should now be forthright that men and women have different considerations when it comes to deciding what is important in a property. For this reason, couples should sit and agree on the core elements of what they’re looking for in a home.
Being on the same page can be a great way to ease the pressure off the house hunting experience, avoid wasting time, and most importantly, eliminate pointless arguments.
You’ll have a much better experience when you can agree on the budget, location, and level of work you’re prepared to put into any house well before the hunt. And when you do get a great deal on a house, make sure you contract reliable relocation service providers to make your move both seamless and painless.
