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Make the most of your home investment

Ask Our Broker Life on Mars … and Venus It’s a different world when men
and women go to buy a home

BY CHARLES SCUTT
CTW Features
THEY SAY OPPOSITES ATTRACT.
But how do opposites shop –
I refused to pay a broker who particularly when it comes to
home buying? Experts insist and
acted as agent for his wife. research shows that men and
Was he right to begin with?
women often differ significantly
in terms of their approach to
purchasing a home.
For example, results of a
recent survey conducted by
Countrywide Home Loans reveal
that only 23 percent of men said
they spent too much time shop-
ping for a new home, compared
to 43 percent of women.
The reasons for contrasts like
this have a lot to do with funda-
mental emotional and personali-
ty differences between the gen-
ders, says Peggy Spiro, a broker
for RE/MAX Alliance, Louisville,
Colo.
“Men seem to be more bot-
tom-line and pragmatic, while
women seem to be emotional
and ‘fall in love’ with things like
the colors and the fireplace.
See MARS – VENUS Page 2

NAHB
Q: I sold a house to a broker who
acted as an agent for his wife so that he
could get the commission. When I found
that out, I refused to pay the commis-
sion. He agreed. Was what he did a
proper thing to do in the first place?

A:When you listed your home for sale you agreed to pay
a brokerage fee.Typically, the listing broker agrees to pay
some portion of that fee to any other broker who brought
in a ready, willing and able purchaser.
In this situation, a broker represented his wife. If he
plainly disclosed up front and in writing that he represent-
ed his wife, then why should he not get a fee? He’s doing
the work of a buyer broker and your cost has not increased
because your fee was established in advance.
Sometimes there’s a lot of concern about brokerage fees.
That’s fair and appropriate, but, at the same time, the cen-
tral purpose of selling a home is to get the highest net
result after all costs. If paying a broker gets you to the
promised land of big profits and little hassle with an
acceptable cost, then why not? If it was me, I would have
taken the offer if it met my prime objectives.

Q: My mortgage has been in “forbearance” for sev-

eral months. In other words, I have an agreement
with the lender to make up for some missed pay-
Over here: Sprinkling color throughout a room – on the table and couch, and in the furnishing choices – directs the eye to look at only what you want it to see.
ments. However, my employer owes me a large
lump sum, enough to bring my loan current. I have
not gotten the money from my employer and now
the lender wants to foreclose. What happens if I’m
foreclosed?

A: You will lose your home, your credit will be damaged,

Cause Color to Cause Effect
you could be bankrupted and – in some circumstances –
you may continue to be responsible for lender losses and
Make a bold statement in your home by tricking the eye into where to look
even face income taxes on any debt that has not been
repaid. BY KIT DAVEY spread color throughout their environment. VISUAL HARMONY
CTW Features They innately know where to put their To create a sense of visual peace and to
What’s happening with your employer is separate from
your agreement to repay the lender.That agreement, appar- knickknacks, potted plants and artwork.You have the eyes take in the room as a whole,

ently, has been broken, and now foreclosure has been
threatened.This means you must contact an attorney
immediately – today, this moment – to avoid the loss of
your home and other damage.
Q: We need to review our last will and trust. Can
you recommend an attorney who can give us honest
advice and not to sell us something we do not need?
See ASK OUR BROKER, Page 2
C
olor is one of the most important ele-
ments in decorating any space. Our
eyes yearn for color and unconsciously
scan the space in front of us seeking its
delights.To illustrate the power of color, imag-
ine yourself seated in an all-white living room.
A crystal vase of bright-red tulips sits on an end
table across the room.Your eyes sweep over
the room and naturally come to rest on those
red tulips – and will return to them again and
again – because the room is out of “color bal-
ance.”
Many people have a natural ability to
can observe this ability in the pages of any
interior-design magazine.The designer care-
fully and subtly has placed color throughout
the room for strong effect.
By understanding color’s ability to draw
the eye, and strategically placing it in your
home, you can:
• Bring visual harmony, wholeness and
peace to a room.
• Draw the eye toward or away from an
object or area.
This simple, effective technique is a called
color balancing.
you need to balance the color. First, stand
with your back to one of the walls in the
room. Make note of the room’s predominant
color scheme. Mentally pick one of the col-
ors in your scheme.As you’re standing with
your back against the wall, look for this color
in the left side of the room, the middle of the
room and the right side of the room. Look for
it in the carpeting, walls, upholstered furnish-
ings, artwork and accessories. Notice where
the color is missing or is too intense.Then,
See COLOR Page 2

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 COLOR
It’s all in where you look
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
move to the next wall in the
room and check for the color in
these three areas as before. Go all
the way around the room check-
ing for the presence of this color.
Repeat this process with the
other colors in your scheme. If
color is weak or not present in
one of these areas, bring in acces-
sories to make up for its absence
– pillows, artwork, flowers,
MARS – VENUS
He buys, she buys
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Women want to feel an emotion-
al connection to the home and
figure out how they are going to
make it a home.Women also
seem to second-guess their deci-
sions, while men don’t,” says
Spiro.
“In general, men seem to look
more at a home’s structural
integrity, functionality and
specifics, such as if a home has
three bedrooms, a garage and a
large yard,” says Angela Wyatt, a
broker with RE/MAX Signature
Properties, Portland, Ore.
“Women look at the layout, the
charm and the details.”
Lorraine Denham, an agent
with Coldwell Banker, Chicago,
says in her experience with cou-
ples purchasing together,“the
husband is concerned about
things like good energy efficien-
cy, having a great place to relax
and low maintenance.The wife is
concerned about how the house
works for the family, the flow of
meals, the placement of dining
rooms and eat-in areas, and safe-
ty.”
Men, says Denham, have an
idea about what they want and
will not budge on their needs.
“Women have an idea about
what they want, but are more
spontaneous and willing to bend
for others.They are more aesthet-
ics-oriented and will ask ques-
tions like, How attractive are the
finishes? Is the house impressive?
How do the colors work with
my furniture?” she says.
This yin and yang of varying
sensibilities and priorities among
throws, books, sculpture pieces,
etc. Strategically placing color in
this way causes the eye to scan
the entire room without getting
stuck in one area or skipping
over another.
LOOK HERE, NOT THERE
To draw your eye away from
an area, you must create a color
imbalance. Let’s say you don’t
want people to notice a small
window looking out into a neigh-
bor’s yard. Face the area you
want to keep people from look-
ing at. Place lots of color – fur-
nishings, artwork, accessories –
couples actually creates a
healthy, balanced dynamic, says
Denham.
“In general, women tend to be
very intuitive and sensitive to
environments,” Denham says.
“They have an easier time imag-
ining a vacant property with fur-
niture, which makes sense being
that they are generally the deco-
rator of the household. Men are
usually not as in-tune to their
environment, but feel good in a
space that reflects well on them;
they look better because of this
or that house.They are very con-
cerned about the logistics of the
house – where is the parking, the
placement of electronic systems,
etc.”
Additionally, men are more
willing to forgive a house’s
imperfections.“So a wall has to
be moved? That’s no big deal,
they’ll say. For some women, that
could be a deal killer,” says
Denham.
One major factor accounting
for why women may take longer
to shop for a home than men is
financial disparity.A recent poll
by The American Association of
University Women Educational
Foundation indicates that
women in the same occupation
and major earn only 80 percent
as much as men one year after
graduation from college.
Despite these hurdles, Spiro
says that women are becoming
independent and want to know
they can afford a home in all
economies – particularly single
and divorced women, who are
growing into an even larger seg-
ment of the real estate market,
statistics show.According to the
National Association of Realtors,
in 2005 single women com-
prised 21 percent of all home
in one of the areas to either side
of the window.Your eye will be
unconsciously drawn to the
color and take less notice of the
view out the window.
You can use this same tech-
nique to attract attention to an
object. If you want people to
notice a new marble mantel-
piece, adorn it with lots of color
and keep the adjacent areas free
of color. If you’d like to give spe-
cial attention to your new oil
painting, place it on a white wall
with no distracting color near it.
Color is powerful. Use color
balancing to create a sense of
purchasers – up from 16 percent
in 1993 – and were the second-
largest group of homebuyers.
Single women, however,“end
up taking a lot longer to decide,
often second-guessing them-
selves,” says Wyatt.“They often go
back a second time to a home
with a male friend and try hard
to educate themselves more than
the average buyer.”
As far as touring homes for
sale, the outcome is predictable,
at least in Spiro’s market.
“Women work as the scout
and will come to an open house
during the week, while they
hunt together with a man over
the weekends,” she says.“Think
about it. How many men love to
shop? Women do it to relax and
connect, while men seem to
have a purpose and a goal.”
When it comes down to bar-
gaining, Spiro finds that men
seem less likely to compromise
on the fundamentals like number
of bedrooms and baths, size of
the garage, storage space and
overall condition of the home.
“The woman doesn’t want to
compromise on schools, closets,
kitchen, play areas – more family-
oriented items. I’d say women
are a harder sell on the house
itself, while men are tougher on
the price negotiations.”
For the most part, Denham
agrees.
“Women are much more likely
to take the whole negotiating
personally, while men tend to
stay detached,” she says.“Men
come to the negotiating table
with their gloves on ready to
spar.They expect a counter and
don’t mind haggling. It’s almost a
game to them.Women, on the
other hand, want to start the
negotiating on the right foot.
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wholeness and visual peace. Use
your creativity to cause an imbal-
ance of color if you want to draw
the eye away or toward some-
thing in your home.
© CTW Features
Kit Davey, an interior design-
er based in Redwood City, Calif.,
helps clients redecorate their
homes through the creative use
of their existing furnishings. E-
mail Kit your questions at
kit@ctwfeatures.com.
They want to make sure the
other party knows they are fair
and careful about not insulting
the seller.The truth is that while
negotiating, both strategies can
work beautifully and both can
backfire.”
In the end, the woman in the
relationship almost always has
the final say to move forward
and write an offer, says Denham.
“Men just want to feel they’ve
done their research, they’ve
looked at the properties, they’ve
been educated about what offer
is fair. But the answer to ‘Will this
house make you happy?’ is gener-
ally decided by the wife. I think
men win the small battles, but
women win the war.”
Lastly, male and female buyers
may not always agree, but they
do find common ground on
many issues, based on other find-
ings of the aforementioned
Countrywide survey.The poll
showed that both women and
men acknowledged room for
improvement in their approach
to the home-purchasing process,
with both genders indicating
that when buying their next resi-
dence they would:
• Save more money for the
down payment and closing costs
(25 percent)
• Learn more about the home-
buying process prior to starting
home sale negotiations (25 per-
cent)
• Buy a new house as
opposed to an older home (22
percent)
•Purchase in a different neigh-
borhood (21 percent)
© CTW Features
Ask Our Broker
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
A: One of the most important characteristics of any
professional is that you have faith and confidence in that
individual’s ability and ethics.Ask people you trust for
their recommendations, meet with individual profession-
als and find someone you believe is competent to handle
your affairs. Be aware that initial consultations with attor-
neys often are available at little or no cost.
Q: The day before the closing I asked for my
HUD statements, only to find that the sale price
had been altered. I quickly hired a lawyer who
found out that all the closing statements were
based on a second sales contract that reflected a
$53,000 price increase. My broker said this was a
mistake. Three months later, while doing my taxes,
I checked the public record and found that a deed
was recorded showing that original sale price plus
$53,000. What should I do?
A: You were absolutely right to ask for the settlement
papers 24 hours before closing.You also were right to
retain an attorney.The reason an attorney is so important
is that an outside professional can provide independent
advice and information. Lastly, you were smart to check
the sale record after closing to determine if your transac-
tion was or was not properly recorded.
There are millions of closings each year. Mistakes some-
times happen at settlement; most are minor and clerical.
In this case, the public record shows a vastly higher sale
price. Does it also show a larger mortgage debt? Given
that you and your attorney corrected the materials at
closing, how was the higher price recorded? Please con-
tact your state attorney general for additional information
and help.
Q: We’re in the process of selling a commercial
property. We have interested buyers, however,
questions are beginning to crop up regarding the
removal of an in-ground, 1,000-gallon fuel-oil tank.
What should we do?
A: The concern is that such a tank can leak and thus
can contaminate nearby property and ground water. Call
your local building-inspection office and ask if they can
recommend someone qualified to inspect and remove
the tank.According to The Home Inspection &
Construction Information Web site (http://www.inspect-
ny.com) one study found fewer than two leaks per one
thousand tanks.
© CTW Features
Need real estate advice? Peter G. Miller, author of “The
Common-Sense Mortgage,” would love to hear from you. Send
your questions to peter@ctwfeatures.com