How to Appeal to Millennial Homebuyers
How to Appeal to Millennial Homebuyers
As a real estate professional, you more than likely already understand how it important it is to be familiar with clients of all types: married and single, wealthy and humble, employed and retired. However, one group you may not have much experience with is Millennials as they’ve only started looking for homes in earnest in the last decade or so.
If you wish to keep this growing contingent of buyers satisfied, then it’s crucial that you understand what motivates them and what they’re looking for in a residence. While every individual is different, there are a few trends that tend to crop up again and again when working with Millennial homebuyers.
Open Spaces
Younger home buyers value the freedom to craft their own living experiences. This means they don’t wish to be tied into the previous owner’s vision of how space ought to be arranged. With an open floor plan, they have the ability to customize their homes according to their own visions and have some extra room to work with. Entertaining guests and socializing is likely to be a priority for your clients, so big rooms that can easily be arranged to the homeowners needs and wants are more appealing than small, sectioned-off areas.
Automated Home Living
Millennials have grown up with technology and view it as a convenience rather than a headache. Many of them are interested in home automation systems to make their lives easier and safer. Automated lighting, security packages, and doorbell cameras are just a few of the devices that promise to deliver a level of convenience and peace of mind that prior generations could have only dreamed of. Even if a home doesn’t yet have a fully fleshed out smarthome setup already installed, you may want to consider adding the necessary wiring and other electrical components to support one.
Environmental Friendliness
Green building and living is all the rage these days not only because it helps the earth but also because it can allow people to save money too. Energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, windows that reduce air leakage, and other energy-saving elements can really boost the market value of the property you’re attempting to shop around. Adding a few eco-conscious features to the house, like a smart thermostat or new door moulding shouldn’t cost too much and might yield rich dividends.
Gleaming Kitchen and Bathroom
Although most younger real estate shoppers don’t mind buying a fixer-upper and doing a little work on it themselves, there is a limit to this. The bathroom and kitchen are typically the priciest rooms in a home to have redone, and so most purchasers wish to have them taken care of already. Fortunately, bathroom and kitchen upgrades are some of the home improvements that deliver the largest returns on investment, so you can bump up the sticker price of a building quite nicely with a few savvy expenditures in this area.
Easy Maintenance
Busy professionals aren’t interested in a house that they have to spend a lot of time tending to and taking care of. Items like quartz countertops and wood flooring that endure for a long time without requiring a lot of maintenance will send a good impression to prospective buyers. Elaborate gardens and wall-to-wall carpeting may look nice, but they’ll leave Generation Y worrying about how much effort will have to go into their upkeep.
With Millennials making up a big percent of the current homebuying market, it’s imperative that you keep up with their wants and needs. The real estate industry is ever-changing, especially with the younger generation taking more interest in buying their first home. Newer and renovated homes are likely to be of interest and Millennials are likely to change the real estate market for good.
Maricel Tabalba is a freelance writer who is interested in writing about smart gadgets, emerging tech trends and environmentally friendly advice. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Open spaces and easy maintenance are the winners for me. When I show my properties to the millennial age group, these are always the two leading factors!