Agents focus on serving the gay community

Some real estate agents in Central Pennsylvania have developed a niche market within the gay community, with the hope of tapping into a profitable market.

"The gay community is intelligent and financially stable. They know what they want. They are straight-forward," said Kate Uholik, an agent with Jack Gaughen Realtor ERA in Lower

Paxton Township, Dauphin County.

Uholik, an agent in the Harrisburg area for 25 years, said she depends on word-of-mouth referrals to garner business in the gay community. She also is a sponsor of an annual golf tournament organized by members of the gay community and run by a gay staff. Uholik could not estimate how much of her business comes from the gay community.

Gay clients don't gravitate to specific parts of the region, she said. They look for real estate all over Central Pennsylvania, she said.

The gay community chooses real estate based on economics, the type of houses they want and, in some cases, the school district the house is located in, said Ray Davis, an agent who works with a significant base of gay clients. Davis is an agent with Camp Hill-based ReMax Realty Associates Inc.

"As the general population has become more accepting of gay men and women in recent years, the gay men and women I have worked with have been much less concerned about ‘what the neighbors think' than they may have been 15 or more years ago," Davis said.

Davis markets to gay men and lesbians the same way he gets his name out to every other community. For example, if agents want to build clienteles of people who love historic houses, they should get involved with an organization such as The Historic Harrisburg Association, Davis said. The same applies to the gay community, he said.  Agents focus on serving the gay community
Central Penn Business Journal, PA -