Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
If the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and related financial fallout have you thinking about selling or renting a property in the coming months, it helps to get up to date on relevant real estate trends.
In particular, be aware that the younger millennial generation is having a significant impact on real estate. Many people don’t realize it, but millennials are one of the biggest markets today. As such, whether you’re a homeowner or landlord, you should understand how this generation chooses a home.
Millennials are researchers and planners. They grew up with access to the internet from a young age and got used to having all sorts of information at their fingertips. As a result, they tend to look at many options before settling on anything, including properties. Many millennials are moving from their parents’ home to a house of their own, so they don’t have to rush. They learn about different suburbs, price points, and housing opportunities before they commit.
This younger generation spends significant time looking at housing options online before they even consider inspecting a property in person. They not only utilize technology to learn about potential homes, but also about other helpful details such as zoning regulations, nearby amenities, public transport options, school systems, and general neighborhood details.
If you want to get the attention of millennials, you must put information about your house online where they’ll see it. Don’t just slap up a generic description and post a single photograph if you want to get results. Millennials expect to see many quality photos of properties, plus virtual tours, and floor plans. Post graphics that give clear insights into the interior and exterior of your home, all with proper lighting, focus, and sense of dimension. Tech-savvy millennials won’t settle for less.
It’s wise, too, to incorporate social media strategies. Millennials use such networking sites to research and make purchasing decisions on all manner of things, including properties. This means you want the agent you hire to lease or sell your home to have a solid online reputation and be available to answer questions via a multitude of methods, including messages sent via social media avenues. Agents, and even you, as the seller or landlord, can also leverage blog content and apps to attract young buyers.
Millennials grew up surrounded by technology and live on their smartphones, so they expect to see updated appliances, excellent connectivity, and other smart tech products in the houses they inspect. Upon entering properties, younger people usually check straight away to see if they have service on their devices and then look around for integrated smart-home gadgets such as thermostats, lights, locks, fridges, etc.
Many landlords worry about installing more expensive modern fixtures in their homes, due to not only the upfront costs but also potential ongoing fees (e.g. repair costs). However, adding these elements to your property can help you not only rent a home sooner but also at top dollar. Plus, check out home warranty prices online, and you’ll see that you can buy affordable annual cover that pays for repairs and replacements on gadgets and components over time, as required.
If you still don’t feel comfortable adding modern gear into your property, or don’t have the time to do so before you put your home on the market for lease or sale, at least ensure millennials can stay connected with their own products if they move in. For instance, check to see that high-speed internet services run in your area, and have an electrician install Ethernet cables for reliable connections and additional power points to cater to a tech-filled home.
Although millennials are incredibly tech-savvy, this doesn’t mean they don’t have an interest in less modern things too. Younger generations often want to live in properties featuring the charm of yesteryear, with historic, period details, and older architectural styles. In particular, millennials tend to have a fondness for mid-century modern, pre-war, and Mediterranean options.
If your home has historical credentials, mention such details on online listings and instruct your real estate agent to bring up the features in chats with younger renters and buyers. Alternatively, look at using virtual staging tools and other software to show millennials how they might go about adding period features themselves, such as crown moldings.
Learning about the millennial market is essential in this day and age if you want to lease or sell your home quickly and for the best price. The more you know about this important market segment, the better.
