Ask any Realtor or Home Stager if it's important to attract interest from a female home buyer, and most will answer yes. Most professionals know that appealing to the female buyer when selling a home, new or pre-owned, is a key factor in a quick and profitable home sale. How key? According to the book, Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying & Remodeling Decisions (BuilderBooks.com), women make or direct 91% of the decision to buy a new home. "Woman-Centric" designs are quickly becoming a popular approach to selling more homes for some of the nation's top home builders, and home stagers should take note.

Does the Woman-Centric approach really work in selling more homes? According to Paul Foresman, Business Development Director for the design firm Design Basics, LLC during his recent interview on BuilderRadio.com , "one builder in Maine sold 17 homes in 2008, the year they got started with Woman-Centric Design. In 2009 they sold 28 homes - that's more than a 50% increase in sales! Another builder in Rhode Island had been selling 15-20 homes per year. He started with the Woman-Centric approach in January of 2008, and by December 2009 he had sold 149 Woman-Centric homes." He also adds, "... it's making a big difference for a lot of our builders. It's a great opportunity to differentiate yourself from everyone else in the marketplace. "

What is Woman-Centric?

"Woman-Centric Design is the art & science of looking at every feature of a home through a woman's eyes," says Foresman. In this interview, he also describes the four 'lenses' through which women see and measure a home or plan:

Design Basics developed the Woman-Centric concept through over 7 years of research, including holding numerous focus groups. "But we also spent time with women in their homes watching what they would do to overcome common design deficiencies," says Foresman. He cites an example of watching a woman bring her dogs back in through a sliding door. It had been raining and the dogs were tracking their muddy paws onto the carpet. Woman-Centric design would call for a hard surface transition area where pet's could be towelled before they reached the carpet.

Element of the Woman-Centric Design

What are some of the design elements that make a home more desirable to women? Foresman lists a few for us here:

Spa Shower: "Our research shows that 78% of women never use the bathtub in the master bath. So when you start designing master bathrooms around the idea of an oversized spa shower, you can create a much more desirable master bath."

Pet Friendly: Places for dogs to shake off when they come in wet and to store pet toys and supplies.

 

Work-In Pantries that are big enough to prepare food in and that has an extra dishwasher and sink. This de-clutters a kitchen, even allowing some upper cabinets to be replaced with windows for a more open feel.

Entertainment Kitchens that flow seamlessly into other living spaces and that accommodate larger groups.

 

Lockers in the transition space between the garage and home so that every family member can store their personal items.

Attractive Front-Entrance Garages: "We found that women prefer to be able to pull straight in and back straight out of the garage as opposed to making the sharp turns often required for side-load door."

Other trends that Foresman sees coming include smaller floorplans, fewer formal living rooms, and formal dining rooms being replaced with breakfast rooms that are open to adjoining living spaces. "More open spaces; more free flowing and flexible spaces that keep people together."

To read the rest of this article and listen to the interview on BuilderRadio.com, click here