I spoke tonight at the National Association of Realtors Mid-Year conference in Washington, DC. The panel’s topic was: Creating a consumer facing business. Other panelists included Allan Dalton of Move.com, Marty Frame of Fidelity, Justin McCarthy of Google, and other really important folks, well, important to the real estate industry.

My particular question was: tell us about women as consumers. Talk about that niche.

Now, of course, that was a softball question from my friend, Ed Krafchow, president of a big real estate company in California. He knows I’ve been building a consumer-centric brand with women as the primary target audience for 6 years.

So I said: Ed, women comprise more than 1/2 the population of the U.S, control 79 percent of all consumer purchases, and make or direct 91 percent of all home buying decisions. Seems to me, female consumers aren’t a “niche” or minority group that needs to be dealt with.

Ed agreed!