A Mortgage Choice broker has revealed the benefits of being a woman in a male-dominated industry.
In an exclusive interview with The Adviser, Mortgage Choice Lane Cove principal Stephanie Cook said that it is much easier being a woman in broking when it comes to meeting the needs of different clients.
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“It’s so much easier, it really is, because guys don’t care who they deal with,” Ms Cook said.
“Guys really don’t care whether they deal with a male or a female, I believe. Couples don’t care. But single females do care.
“We’re capturing that part of the market and dealing with single females. A lot of single female clients don’t want to deal with a bloke, because it’s a pretty personal thing that they’re talking about.
“Guys don’t care, couples don’t care, but the women do. So I actually think we can capture more of the market than blokes can.”
The Sydney broker also noted that when dealing with couples, the woman is usually the primary contact.
Ms Cook’s comments come after ING Direct launched its Women & Finance report last month, which revealed that circumstances today present a unique opportunity for financial services providers to nuance their offerings to appeal to the specific needs of women.
ING Direct’s executive director of customer delivery Lisa Claes said that with mortgages, younger women are slightly more likely to be a mortgage holder than their male counterparts. Meanwhile, men still hold the majority of investor loans.
Interestingly, there are an increasing number of young women living alone, Ms Claes noted, which should encourage mortgage lenders to innovate and develop new home loan products to allow those on a single income stream to enter the property market.
[Related: Aussie sees record rise in female brokers]