ATLANTA — More women are buying homes locally, with Atlanta being voted the ninth-best city for single women to purchase a home by ThinkAdvisor in 2021. However, women still face more challenges when looking to buy a home.
“On average, women receive about two percent less on the sale of their home than men, and they tend to pay two percent more versus a man,” Realtor Cheri Benjamin said.
This statistic comes from a 2020 Yale School of Management study. It found that single women see significantly lower returns from buying and selling real estate than single men, losing out on average $1,600 per year.
What month it is when homes are bought and sold affects returns. The Yale study found that single women are more likely than single men to have children, and dependents, which may hurt them entering the market at the right time.
Though single women made up 19% of all homebuyers in 2021 compared to men at 9%, according to a study from the National Association of Realtors - it doesn't mean they're getting the best deal.
The study found that gender bias could explain why women were still losing out in negotiations. It referenced another study on women and men using identical scripts when buying a car. The study found that women didn't get the discounts offered to men.
Benjamin said anyone looking to buy a home to hire a real estate agent when going through negotiations.
“Show us what you are getting and we will tell you whether or not that looks fair for today's market because the truth is that, well, as a real estate professional, we deal with this every single day,” she said.
The Atlanta realtor's advice is for women to go into this vital purchase educated.
“Women are facing so much more than what single men are right now and the number one solve for this is them being educated going in,” said Benjamin. “That's the number one solve of this.”
Overall single women are second only to married couples in the homebuyer market. Benjamin advises women to view their home purchase as a business move.
“Understand that this is still a business decision for you because it is an investment for you,” she said.