4 ways to crack the millennial homebuyer code: Part 2

Are you set up for success in 2016? Join 2,500 real estate industry leaders Aug. 4-7, 2015, at Inman Connect in San Francisco. Get Connected with the people and ideas that will inspire you and take your business to new heights. Register today and save $100 with code Readers.

Takeaways:

• How to provide more value than just finding homes.
• What to emphasize and how to emphasize it with updated interfaces and good Web design.
• How being trustworthy can be your best asset when it comes to millennials.

Connecting with younger homebuyers involves more than simply keeping an updated blog and texting instead of calling (though, really, please text). It involves first engaging with how millennials view homebuying as a whole and learning now to navigate their current hangups, which we covered yesterday in “5 ways to crack the millennial homebuyer code: Part 1.”

So, taking that into consideration, what can you do to better engage millennials in the homebuying process?

1. Be more than the middleman

The most successful brands reaching out to millennials are the ones that either streamline a convoluted or archaic process with technology or offer quick and easy access to a desired product.

Chances are your young prospects will already have a couple properties researched and ready to check out before they reach out to you.

We’re accustomed to processes that are streamlined to maximize ease. Unfortunately, our current homebuying process does not represent this type of ease, with its dozens of processes and participants.

Presenting yourself as the person who streamlines the process and facilitates knowledge and insight rather than a salesman will appeal to the independent sensibilities of Gen Y.

Experiment with ways that you can help aspiring homebuyers get what they need to purchase with fewer steps by looking creatively at the process and smoothing out uglier bureaucracies.

2. Understand design

Perhaps more than any generation before, the young people of today are affected by aesthetic design and distracted by an outdated or unfriendly interface.

Use technology to your advantage when posting new listings, providing buyer tips and info, and presenting yourself as a trustworthy source of insight.

An ugly website design that doesn’t connect with buyers won’t help you in the long run. Also, take note of your search engine rankings and consider working on your organic SEO structure — ranking higher on local Google searches can generate new leads.

3. Know what to emphasize

The tastes and preferences of younger buyers are often radically different than their parents’. Statistically, young people value energy efficiency, home offices and an open floor plan more than bigger homes and other old-school amenities.

Access to public transit and walkable distance from restaurants, cafes and bars will also attract younger clients looking to stay engaged with their local community.

4. Support

Millennials are exceptionally resourceful when it comes to research, but the logistics of buying a home can be confusing and downright frightening.

Having a trustworthy agent on our side can make all the difference. Making things fun is a great way to engage with younger folks, especially in ways that help them overcome some of the emotional hurdles that are associated with making a substantial long-term investment such as buying a home.

There’s no one way to transform your selling model into something that makes millennial homebuyers come flocking, and trying out new things with technology and approach will lead to both successes and failures.

Having a good understanding of the aspirations and tendencies of your new market, though, will not only attract interested buyers but will also help drive referrals as their friends start to becoming interested themselves.

Nicholas Brown is a Los Angeles-based writer for JustRentToOwn.com. You can follow his Twitter at @justrenttoown or check in at his blog.

Email Nicholas Brown.