Coldwell Banker Real Estate just released a new survey on men vs. women’s perspectives when it comes to the home, and I found many of the findings to be true for my clients as well as in my own home buying experience.  The home buying process takes a combination of your head and your heart and this survey interestingly found that about a quarter of men (25 percent) and women (28 percent) put more emphasis on their feelings about a home rather than the layout.

After two years of living in our wonderful home in Wilmington, NC, I still remember the process my husband and I went through to find our home.  The emotional aspect of choosing the right home was absolutely spot on for us! While I acted as my own agent in our home search, I was faced with challenges in balancing my emotions of wanting to buy a house and having to also be the professional negotiator.  It reinforced in my mind how important it is to have a real estate professional as your representative.

And while my husband and I were very much on the same page about what we wanted in our home (this is critical for couples), when we visited homes we looked at it in different ways.  The survey found that women take charge in making a house a home with over half of women (54 percent) saying they take the lead when it comes to decorating.  Wow – how true that was for us!  When we walked into a home I would comment on all of the ways I planned to make it our own, new paint job and décor, etc.  Whereas, my husband was much more content with each home as it was.

Here are some of my tips for couples based on my experience and lessons learned:

• Make a list together of what you want in your house
• Communicate, communicate, communicate!
• Keep it simple and don’t get too many people involved
• Have fun!

If you’re interested in learning more about how men and women compare when it comes to the home, check out the full survey results here or watch this new video!