Selling Homes Is About More Than The House

Two of Tauranga’s leading real estate agents are calling on more women to join the industry, saying traits considered as weaknesses can be an agent’s greatest strength - as the latest figures from The Real Estate Authority show more men than women currently hold an active real estate licence in New Zealand.

Tall Poppy’s Janet O’Shea and Susan Northey are challenging misconceptions that a property sale is only a financial transaction. Janet says the emotional connection with vendors is equally as important.

“It is about the relationships you build with your clients, who are sometimes selling their home in life’s most challenging moments - marital breakdowns, grief and loss, financial troubles or family growth - people want to deal with someone who gets it and cares - a role women are uniquely placed for.

“Real estate is an emotive industry, and there’s strength not weakness, in leading with emotion,” she says.

Statistics from the REA show that currently, almost six percent more men hold real estate licences than women, which climbs to 19 percent for agents aged 33 – 37; Susan wants to encourage more women—especially working mothers—to consider real estate.

“Real estate requires you to be fast-thinking and fluid—a step ahead of the problem, and these are skills that many working mums have already mastered,” she says.

“I’m now in a position to mentor and encourage women to realise what they can achieve in real estate—achieving balance in life and work and building a sustainable long-term career that can support them and their families” she says.

Janet says real estate also gives women the opportunity to build a business that works for them, an experience she doesn’t take for granted.

“You learn that you don’t have to say yes to everyone, that you can build a career in a way that works for you and have courage in your own convictions - this is not something that women have always been encouraged to do, but are now in a position to change this.