3 Ways Real Estate Agents Can Accommodate Buyers with Religious Needs and Preferences

Real estate is an industry where one can expect to come across buyers and sellers from all walks of life. Different language, nationalities, and cultural customs all play into what someone considers a home — and this is especially true for religion. Whether it be kosher kitchens, halal kitchens, or a home’s feng shui, it is important for real estate agents to have a multicultural understanding when dealing with clients. Here’s what two real estate agents had to say about accommodating clients with religious needs and preferences. 

While Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter are automatically ticked off on U.S. calendars, there are a variety of other religious holidays practiced throughout the nation, and they can impact the homebuying process. 

“In certain religions, the holiday will change because of the lunar or solar calendar and will not be at the same time every year,” says Shivangi Mishra, a buyer specialist for the Kelley Solberg Real Estate Team in Los Gatos, California, and the regional ambassador for the Keller Williams Social Equity Task Force in Northern California and Hawaii. 

In order to keep religious observances in mind she recommends “getting a multicultural calendar and keeping an eye out for what holidays are coming up.”

Mishra has a lot of experience working with Muslims, for example, and actively seeks to accommodate Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, into her calendar. 

“Sometimes it falls in winter, sometimes in summer,” she says. “It’s a really good idea to connect with any clients that may be of that faith and accommodate them. Ask if they would want to see the home in the afternoon or evening because they’ll be tired.”

When someone is looking for a home, often there is more than personal aesthetic a buyer must take into account. 

 “In the home search process, there are lots of observances that they follow,” Mishra says. 

She gave the example of vastu, a Hindu-Indian system of building that emphasizes the five elements of nature in their correct positions in order to attract positive energy. There are preferences for the direction that the home is facing, that the bathrooms should be in a particular corner of the house, among other things, she explains.

“In most markets you can’t get every single thing, so it’s a good idea for a consultation to ask a client if there’s anything about the house they require,” she says. “Have a nice opening for people to bring those things up so they don’t want to feel judged.”

Mohamed Khalifa, a Realtor with Home Smart in Denver, Colorado, echoes this sentiment, recalling a recent experience with a Muslim buyer who wanted a clear division between his home’s kitchen, a private space, and the living area, a semi-public space, because of religious reasons. To accommodate the buyer’s preference in the house he wanted to buy, they built an extension wall in the kitchen with a window to bring the food out.

For agents on the listing side, seller clients may also have religious customs that are important to keep in mind. In the past, Khalifa had a Muslim client who was in the process of selling his house but wanted privacy for his family during showings and prayer times. 

“They made an upper level suite with an Arabic-style floor sitting area which gave the owners a little bit of privacy,” he says. “When they’re sitting right there nobody can see them and they can do the showing at the same time.”

According to Mishra, it’s the agent’s job to understand what these potential anxieties are or could be and do the best they can to accommodate them. 

“If we have cross-cultural or religious clients and the buyer isn’t aware of these things, it takes a kind of intention to build a space instead of just letting things happen and the clients being uncomfortable but letting them think it’s supposed to happen this way.”