Women are from Venus, men are from Mars

I was reminded again of that book title while we were on "tour" yesterday. We tour the newly listed homes after our sale meetings on Tuesday mornings. At the end of each visit, as we're driving to eh next house, we record our comments about the home we've just visited. That's where this phrase comes in. Our car yesterday happened to have two women agents and two men agents in it. The contrast between what we "see" in a home is interesting.

The women apparently have much better noses than the men, because they can detect when they walk in whether a pet has ever lived in the house. The men don't smell much unless the homeowner cooked breakfast with garlic that morning. It's really not that stark of a contrast, but the women do seem to be able to pick up on more subtle odors than the men.

When they leave the house, the men can tell you if the electrical panel was updated and how the mechanicals looked, but they can't remember the subtle touches in the kitchen or the color of certain rooms (unless it was ugly of course). The women can tell you which rooms had soiled or worn carpets, while the men may not even remember which rooms had carpeting, but can tell you the size and condition of the garage. Both might comment on the nice deck out back, with the men evaluating when it might need re-staining again. The men will notice granite tops on the counters but are as critical about the cabinets; whereas, the women will note the layout and everything good or bad about the kitchen.

Now I know that these are broad generalizations and not true of all women or men agents. We get trained over time to look for all of the things that might impact the marketability of the homes, but it is interesting how a set of people can walk through a home and "see" so different a picture. I guess that book title was right for Realtors too.