Attracting millennial homebuyers requires you to use the following tactics:
- Use social media.
- Offer virtual tours.
- Highlight energy efficiency.
- Highlight smart home features.
- Focus on walkability.
- Be tech-savvy.
- Design websites for mobile.
Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996, making up the largest workforce. They are in their prime homebuying years, as many are starting families. This generation makes up 43% of home buyers, thus making them a vital demographic to target.
This article will examine how a real estate agent can attract millennial homebuyers. We will also provide practical tips to guide you when creating marketing strategies to target them.
What exactly are millennials looking for in real estate? Keep reading to learn more.
1. Use social media
Millennials grew up with fast-moving social media development. 72% of millennials, including homebuyers, say social media is essential to their lives. Here are tips to help create a solid social media presence to attract millennials.
Choose the right platform
The right platform sets the tone for your marketing tactics. Selecting one popular with millennials gives you the best chance to attract them. Instagram and Facebook have the largest millennial demographic of 31.2% and 18.8%.
Offer value
Share helpful tips and insights about real estate to establish yourself as an expert. Millennials make decisions influenced by data and will likely work with you if you provide accurate information.
Collaborate with others in real estate
Partner with other players in real estate. Property bloggers, interior designers, and other agents can help expand your reach. Create entertaining collaborative content to attract millennials.
Use high-quality visuals
Real estate is a visual industry that relies on quality photos and videos to attract buyers. Include these visuals on your social media platforms with the most millennials. Invest in high-quality photography equipment and editing software to lure quality leads.
2. Offer virtual tours
A virtual tour is a tool that allows homebuyers to view the property at their convenience. These tours allow foreign homebuyers to view your property from anywhere. 79% of homebuying millennials prefer to use digital plans and 3D tours. Here are three types of virtual tours to offer this demographic.
Walk-through virtual tours
These virtual tours use a series of pictures to showcase properties. Potential homebuyers scroll through the pictures to understand what to expect. While convenient, this type of tour limits the buyer’s view of the property.
3D virtual tours
This type of virtual tour uses 3D scanning technology to create a digital model of the property. Many real estate agents include furniture to give buyers a feel of what their homes would look like.
360-degree virtual tours
These virtual tours use 360-degree cameras to capture every angle of space. Viewers can adjust the camera’s angle to see the property as if they were there. Many landlords include interactive elements to provide information when viewers click on them.
Tips for promoting your virtual tours
Here are some tips for creating, editing, and promoting virtual tours for millennials.
Use the right equipment
The right equipment sets the tone for your virtual tours. Invest in a 360-degree camera or a DSLR. You should use a DSLR with the bracketing locks option. This feature will allow you to take multiple photos with different exposure settings, thus giving you more options.
Whether you’re using a camera or a smartphone, ensure you use a fisheye lens. This lens can capture an entire room in one shot.
Consider investing in a panoramic tripod head and controller to stabilize your shots. Shaky shots make your virtual tours look unprofessional.
Plan the tour
It is crucial to plan a tour before filming. Think about the best features of the property to highlight and how to showcase them. It helps to have a script ready if your tour includes narration to avoid stumbling over your words. Create a detailed checklist to ensure you mention every aspect of the property in your tour.
Choose the right software
Packaging your virtual tour requires the right software. The best virtual tour software has the following features.
- Customizable templates.
- Video editing features.
- Support for multiple video formats.
- Personalization features such as branding.
Use narration
Include a voiceover detailing every feature a millennial buyer should focus on in the property. Highlight things they may overlook and describe the neighborhood at large.
Make it interactive
Include clickable features that direct buyers to relevant information, such as floor plans.
3. Highlight energy-efficiency
75% of millennials say they will change their habits to reduce environmental impact. Highlight how your properties help them reduce their carbon footprint. Here are some examples of energy-efficient features to mention.
Energy star rated appliances
Energy star ratings are indicators that an appliance meets state guidelines on energy efficiency. These appliances save electricity costs and contribute to less emission of greenhouse gasses. These rated appliances are significant selling points for environmentally conscious millennials.
Solar panels
This feature converts the sun’s energy into electricity to power property. As a result, it saves tenants money and assures them your property has an uninterrupted power supply.
LED lighting
LED lights consume up to 90% less energy and last longer than traditional bulbs. This lighting option is an attractive selling point for millennials.
Energy-efficient windows
Windows are responsible for about 30% of a home’s heat gain and loss. Energy-efficient windows prevent excessive heat loss, thus keeping a home warm while saving on heating costs.
Tips for marketing energy efficiency to millennial buyers
Marketing energy efficiency to millennials is easier with these nifty tips in mind.
Highlight the savings
Millennials are often on a tight budget, with 92% saying inflation has affected their home-buying plans. Emphasize the cost-savings of energy-efficient homes, such as low electricity bills.
Highlight health and environmental benefits
Millennials place a great deal of concern on carbon footprints. They also care about the impact of their environment on their health. Explain benefits such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions and reduced risk of mold to attract millennials.
Provide data
Millennials are a data-driven demographic who prefer research evidence of your energy efficiency. Provide inspection reports and energy certifications to attract them.
Use visuals
Millennials are highly visual and rely on pictures and videos to understand features better. Include photos of your energy-efficient features in your marketing material and listings.
4. Highlight smart home features
Smart home features offer convenience, security, and energy efficiency to properties. These three selling points are vital to attracting millennial homebuyers.
Nearly 8 in 10 millennials say they feel positively toward smart home tech. Here are a few smart features you can mention to secure this demographic.
Smart thermostats
Unlike traditional thermostats, smart ones allow tenants to control the temperature remotely. They also learn a tenant’s preferences and adjust accordingly.
Smart lighting
Smart lights can be turned on and off by remote command. They can also change color, brightness and operate on schedule.
Smart locks
These lock systems allow tenants to open and lock their homes remotely. They have camera fixtures to alert homeowners of anyone on their doorstep. Some inform security authorities of suspicious activities such as tampering and forceful entry.
Voice-activated assistants
Voice-activated assistants allow tenants to control appliances from anywhere in the house. They also give updates such as weather conditions, delivery tracking, and news reports.
5. Focus on walkability
Walkability refers to the ability to move to different amenities on foot. Walkability offers health and cost-saving benefits that millennials care about. Here are some tips to market walkability to millennials.
Highlight amenities
Amenities are desirable facilities in a location, and millennials love it when they are within walking distance. Amenities to mention include:
- Restaurants
- Cafes.
- Gyms.
- Grocery stores.
- Parks.
Emphasize convenience
Highlight how millennials will save time moving between amenities in your walkable neighborhood.
Include a map
What better way to show walkability than by using a map? Highlight spots on the map close to the property and show the shortest routes.
Highlight health benefits
Millennials love active lifestyles. Highlight how walking keeps them fit and how fewer cars in the area contribute to cleaner air and reduced emissions.
Partner with local businesses
Collaborate with local amenities to provide discounts and special deals to residents of your property. This incentive improves the reputation of your homes and attracts millennials.
6. Be tech-savvy
Millennials are heavy users of digital technology. They expect technology to ease home-buying and would go to a tech-savvy agent. Here are a few examples of ways technology can streamline the purchasing process.
Digital contracts
Technology facilitates easier home buying through digital contracts. Millennials no longer need to visit offices to sign documents. Additionally, digital contracts eliminate the need for paper copies.
Online mortgage applications and Preapproval
Lenders now offer online financing applications, thus removing the need for trips to the bank. Millennials can now apply for mortgages from the convenience of their homes. You can attract millennials by setting them up with online lenders who carry out the application and approval process.
Electronic payments
Making payments is easier now than ever. Offer electronic payment methods to eliminate the need for cash and wire transfers. This promise of convenience and safety influences millennials to choose you as their agent.
7. Design websites for mobile
According to a National Association of Realtors report, 99% of millennials search for information using a phone or tablet. Neglecting mobile-friendly design is a sure way to lose out on this demographic.
Keep these helpful tips in mind when designing your website for mobile to attract millennials.
Use responsive design elements
Ensure your website’s layout, content, and images can resize depending on a user’s phone. Responsive design provides a consistent experience to millennials browsing your properties across different screen sizes and OS platforms.
Optimize images
Optimizing images involves rescaling them to reduce their size while still maintaining quality. Optimized images ensure your website loads fast. Millennials will bounce from websites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.
Simplify navigation
Complex website navigation on the phone is frustrating for anyone. Millennials will leave your site if they need clarification about the next step. Use simple navigation systems such as hamburger and slide-out menus to ease access to sections on your website.
Keep forms short
A phone has a small screen, making it hard to fill out lengthy forms. Keep your forms short and only ask for essential information.
Conclusion
Attracting millennial homebuyers is a practice that requires you to know their interests when looking at real estate. Additionally, you need to use social media to reach out to them and explain the energy-efficient features your property offers. Highlight smart-home features and the walkability they would enjoy as well.
Focus on mobile-friendly design to attract the significant percentage of millennials who rely on phones to browse property. Use these tips and watch millennials flock to you for their next home-buying solution.
