AND THE LADY WILL HAVE...

WELCOME

Hello! I am coming off quite a weekend. So I did Dancing with the Atlanta Stars and I want to say for the record that I raised over $200,000. I could not be more proud of that. Did I win? No. Am I doing it again? Absolutely not, even though it was a great experience. I just feel like I have less life in front of me than I have behind me, and every single hour needs to be spent intentionally, whether it’s with my family, my friends, or helping people buy and sell real estate. That event took everything I had, and if I could have those hours back, I'd spend them with my grandchildren. So, onward and upward.

And we are moving on quickly, because this week I’m headed to Las Vegas for the Country Music Awards. Blake Shelton, Lauren Alaina, the whole situation, and I am so ready. I spent all of Sunday in the swimming pool recovering, but now I’m recharged. Nashville energy and Las Vegas style, here I come!

Before I go have the time of my life, I want to talk to you about something I’ve been seeing in this market that the industry keeps getting wrong. The most motivated, most prepared, most ready-to-close buyer out there right now is not who you imagine it is. If you're a real estate agent, this one's going to change how you work. If you're a woman thinking about buying? Honey, this one's for you!

STORYTIME WITH GLENNDA

The Most Amenable Buyer in Real Estate Right Now May Surprise You

Let me tell you something the industry keeps sleeping on: the most motivated, most prepared, most ready-to-close buyer in today's market isn’t who you expect. Nope, it’s not a couple. Not a move-up family, either. Right now, the most motivated buyer is the single woman. And if you're not paying attention to her, you’re not only leaving money on the table, but you're doing her a disservice.

I've been selling real estate in Atlanta for decades, and I've watched this shift happen in real time. Women are buying homes on their own terms, for their own lives, and guess what? They’re done waiting for anyone’s permission or approval.

Who’s That Girl?

This buyer isn’t an avatar of one person. No, ma’am. She is every person. She’s the 31-year-old executive who’s decided she's tired of renting and isn't going to put her life on hold waiting for a partner who may or may not show up. She’s buying for the life she has, not the one what “could possibly happen.” This buyer is also the 42-year-old mother who finally got out of a marriage that wasn't working. Now, for the first time in years, she’s making a decision entirely for herself. And she’s the 58-year-old empty-nester navigating what I call the Gray Divorce. Her kids are grown, her marriage is dead and buried, and she’s ready to build a life that is entirely, unapologetically hers.

That last group? Let me tell y’all, they are the biggest single segment of buyers I’m seeing. These are ladies who’ve spent decades putting everyone and everything else first, whether it’s their kids, their husbands, their households, etc. And now they’re done. Finito. They’re not looking for the sprawling family home they just walked away from. They want something high-quality, low-maintenance, and located exactly where their life actually happens. That could be anywhere from near their grandkids to by the tennis courts. (And there’s a good chance they’re my doubles partner when we play against the ponytail girls.)

What we have to understand is that community is everything to these women. They want to be surrounded by people who look like them and live like them. That is not a small thing. In fact, that is a massive buying criterion, and smart agents treat it like one.

All That She Wants

Here’s where I need y’all to really listen, because this is where so many agents get it wrong: single women buy for their lives right now. They don’t buy for the life they're hoping to have, whether it’s an imaginary partner or theoretical kids. It’s just them and their crusty little white dog and both of them are happy as a pig in a puddle.

I have a client (one of my favorites, honestly, even though I shouldn’t say that) and we’ve done three transactions together. She's a high-level executive and she buys townhomes, exclusively. Why? Because she travels constantly for work and she loves going to Florida State football games on the weekends. The last damn thing she wants is to come home at the end of the week and spend her Saturday edging a garden bed. She does not want a house with a yard. She’s buying for the life she has, and oh my stars, she is nailing it.

Single women don’t buy for status. Now this is a big one. For a lot of men, the house they buy is a badge of honor because it’s what they want the world to think about them. Women are practical and they tend to buy well within their means. And that’s only after thinking through the total cost of ownership. They buy the right house, not the one that’s most impressive.

She Moves in (Not) Mysterious Ways

What I love so much is that these women are not paralyzed by inaction. I need y’all to hear that clearly, because there’s a myth that single female buyers are indecisive or require more hand-holding. That is dead-ass wrong.

The reason a woman sometimes delays buying has nothing to do with analysis paralysis and everything to do with her being conditioned to put herself second. The 31-year-old who should have bought three years ago didn't because she was leaving room for someone she hasn't even met. The woman who stayed in the wrong marriage a few years too long did it for her kids. Women have been trained—and I’m speaking from personal experience here—to make themselves the afterthought.

What I'm seeing now is a fundamental shift. Women are finally giving themselves permission to put themselves first. They’re listening to their own instincts and trusting their own judgment. Now, once a single woman has decided she's buying, she’s already done the work. She’s checked every preliminary box and when she walks in, she knows exactly what she wants.

Give me a single woman buyer and I will find her a house faster than any other client. That’s because her vision’s clear and she’s not negotiating with anyone else's priorities.

This Is How We Do It

I'm going to tell y’all a story. After my divorce, I went to buy a Toyota Highlander. I’d already done all my research. I knew the exact model, and a black exterior with a black interior. I specifically wanted a black interior because I’d had red Gatorade incident with beige interior incident that I’m still not over. I walked up to the salesman and told him exactly what I wanted.

You know what he said to me? "Most women buy blue cars. Let me bring you one of those."

Sit with that for a second.

That is exactly what bad real estate agents do to women buyers, and it is exactly why those agents lose them. A woman says she wants a townhome, and you start explaining why she should really consider single-family? Or a woman tells you she wants to stay under a certain price, and you start pushing listings $50,000 over budget? Or she explains that walkability matters more than square footage, and you book showings in the suburbs?

Cut it out.

Women have done the research, okay? They know what they want. I promise you they’ve thought through every variable far more carefully than we have. Our job is to listen, genuinely listen, and then execute on what they've told us with efficiency and respect.

Ultimately, women want to be heard and taken seriously. They want us to move with urgency, because they’re busy people who’ve made a decision and are ready to act on it. So we have to get out of our own way and just serve them.

Do that, and you will have a client for life. I have clients I've done three, four, five transactions with over the years, not because I dazzled them with my knowledge, but because I listened to them the first time. That’s the whole secret. The single woman is your best client, if you're smart enough to treat her like it.

Now go find her some townhomes.

GLENNDAISM

Today’s Words of Wisdom

GLENNDA BAKER & ASSOCIATES

Out of the Woods

Y'all, let me tell you about 280 Wentworth Drive in Canton, GA. Wooded backyard, vaulted ceilings, natural light for days, and a finished terrace level that will do whatever you need it to do. Media room, home office, guest suite, workout space; what’s so great is that you decide how to use the space!

The kitchen flows right into the family and dining room, which means entertaining is easy and living here is comfortable. And then you walk outside and it feels like you're tucked away from the whole world, except you are literally minutes from 575, Downtown Canton, Downtown Woodstock, shopping, and restaurants. This home lives bigger than it looks, and it’s move-in ready in one of the best locations in Cherokee County.

Come see it before somebody snaps it up!