Sex And Real Estate

Peter G. Miller
OurBroker®

Dare we discuss a private matter in a public forum? Can we look at the question of real estate and sex from a clinical perspective, or must it remain a taboo topic?

It's not taboo any longer. With the publication of Majorie Garber's book, Sex and Real Estate: Why We Love Houses we now have a license to discuss the human longing for shelter.

As I read Amazon's friendly blurb and a tough review in The Washington Post, Garber -- a professor of English and director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University -- makes a connection between lifeless bricks and mortar and the emotions which shape our housing preferences.

I suspect that none of this is new to those in real estate. There must be a reason that people want to live in better homes, whatever "better" might mean.

If "better" equals bigger, then there's no doubt that a huge demand exists for larger homes. According to the National Association of Home Builders an average new home in 1975 had 1,645 square feet whereas a typical home had 2,190 square feet in 1998.

Meanwhile Census Bureau figures show that average household size has shrunk from 2.94 people in 1975 to 2.62 people in 1998.

The result is that we allocated 559.5 square feet of home space per person in 1975, and 835.9 square feet in 1998 -- a 49.4 percent increase.

Such change surely results in part from the massive economic growth that followed World War II and which continues even today. We have gone from the industrial era to the information age in less than a lifetime.

Do people really need larger homes? It's a debatable question, but a lot of homeowners worldwide do well with less space -- look at Japan as one example.

Why then are bigger homes in demand?

There has always been an emotional component to real estate. The ads in any weekend paper stress such values with great clarity -- status, achievement, independence, comfort, prosperity, accomplishment, and success.

And why not? While books such as Small is Beautiful and Less Is More argue for a lifestyle with less consumption, human nature seems to equate "more" and "bigger" with "better."

Until this point "less is more" has been a minority position, but with new concerns regarding growth and crowding perhaps views will change. After all, people 20 years ago lived perfectly well with both smaller houses and emotional needs no different than today.

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Question Of The Week

Q We listed our home for sale and the listing broker sold the property at full price within a day. Should we have asked for more money?

A When you created a listing agreement you established the criteria for the sale -- a given price, so much down, what stays with the property, what goes, the length of the listing agreement, its exclusive nature (if any), the broker's fee, etc.

The listing broker was not employed to string out the marketing process for as long as possible, get less than the listing price, or ask for more than the price you authorized.

Did the broker do anything illegal, unethical, or immoral by quickly selling your home at the price you wanted? Or did the broker merely do a good job? Would you have been more satisfied if it took six months to sell the property or if you received less than the full asking price?

Having done what was asked, you now question if the broker could have done better. Whenever a home is offered for sale there's always a pricing risk -- if the price is too high the property won't sell, if the price is too low it will be snapped up by savvy buyers. Not only is price an issue, but so are terms.

How do you know what offering price and terms makes the most sense in your market?

The best approach in many communities works like this: visit comparable open houses in your neighborhood to see how they match up with your home (and also to see if you like the brokers showing such properties); cruise the Internet to see other properties for sale and locate neighborhood brokers; review recent sale prices for like homes in your neighborhood; and interview several local brokers active in your community before entering into a listing agreement.

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Published: July 11, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Peter G. Miller only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.

Peter G. Miller, also known as OurBroker®, is the author of six real estate books -- including The Common-Sense Mortgage -- and is the original creator and host of America Online's Real Estate Center. Peter's weekly columns appear in more than 100 newspapers nationwide, he is also published in a variety of other media outlets and he is a frequent speaker at national events and conventions. Peter welcomes your questions, comments, and news releases via e-mail at .