Since 2004 I’ve been working every business day with the LGBTQ Real Estate community. With nineteen years of experience, I’m glad to share this simple message. The LGBTQ community shares a strong preference of working with LGBTQ and allied realtors.  LGBTQ and allied Real Estate professionals benefit twofold by assisting LGBTQ clients buy and sell homes. As a realtor your business will benefit, and you will also feel satisfaction and happiness by helping your LGBTQ clients find their safe space within your community.

NAGLREP recently conducted a large national survey and found the national LGBTQ homeownership rate is 49%, considerably lower than the national homeownership average of 64%. There is surely a challenging gap to cross, but as an optimist I see nowhere to go but up. And the LGBTQ community itself is on the side of the optimists – the recent NAGLREP.com survey found three-quarters of LGBTQ Americans living in rental housing wanted to bid farewell to their landlords and become homeowners.

For realtors who face a very competitive marketplace, it is crucial to optimize your time by engaging with clients who want to work with you again and often reward your good work with referrals to their friends and family. While many home buyers and sellers within the non-LGBTQ population will gladly spread the word on your business skills, there are many more who are just seeking to conclude a complex transaction and are eager to leave the process behind once it is done.

On the other hand, LGBTQ buyers and sellers have concerns not shared by the majority of their non-LGBTQ counterparts: safety and discrimination because of their sexual orientation. The NAGLREP.com survey also found 94% of LGBTQ renters and 95% of LGBTQ homeowners reported that feeling safe from potential harassment and violence was the most important factor when it came to selecting a community to live in, while just under 50% of LGBTQ renters who were eager to become property owners feared they would encounter discrimination in the homebuying process.

Not surprisingly, many LGBTQ home buyers and sellers proactively seek out LGBTQ realtors because they believe these real estate professionals will provide a level of understanding and sincerity to their particular needs. Many LGBTQ realtors report receiving inquiries from their listing on NAGLREP.com website from potential buyers eager to move into a new community but uncertain on whether they would feel comfortable there, both socially and professionally.

This is especially true for households with LGBTQ children – concerns over school and neighborhood bullying have never been more acute, and LGBTQ and allied realtors are keenly aware that the safety of LGBTQ youth is paramount today. Also, LGBTQ households that wish to belong to a house of worship need to know if they are moving into areas where the faith-based communities are welcoming of them.

In seeking out realtors who share ideologies and values, LGBTQ clients will certainly prove their loyalty for assistance in the home buying and selling process and often go out of their way to provide referrals and references as a way of saying thanks. You will also often make new friends. The LGBTQ community can be the proverbial gift that keeps on giving to real estate professionals.