Understanding Gen Y’s Real Estate Needs

Here’s an interesting article from USA Today regarding the changes in real estate marketing towards Gen Y’s.

The comments on the article are even more interesting as it shows a real disconnect between the real estate industry, lenders & the Gen Y’s. Overall the different points of view are very interesting.

Here’s the link

YOU are your Point Of Difference

The current spectrum of online marketing products seems to be funnelling all the agents down a similar path. It appears that it is going to get harder & harder to create a real point of difference.

The main way that you will be able to stay ahead is through clever use of innovations and even though others will follow your lead you can at least be further along the path than the next agent. You want to be seen as the innovator not the immitator.

Agents worldwide seem to be grabbing onto the smallest detail within their businesses and are passionately selling their point of difference based on that alone. Things like we create the best brochures or we do longer or more frequent open homes, etc simply won’t be enough to grab the seller’s attention compared to some of the web 2.0 marketing strategies that we are currently developing.

Ultimately the consumer is going to become even more confused by all the similarities within agent’s marketing that they won’t really care who they select to interview for the market appraisal & may end up choosing their agent based on commission rates.

At the end of the day the only real point of difference that you have is YOU. You have to market yourself in such a way that you can connect with people. You have to become a presenter & embrace the Web 2.0 strategies, via video & podcasting because unfortunately as an agent people assume things about you without even meeting you – video helps more people to get to know you.

Within these videos you have to provide your potential clients with social proof that you are an excellent negotiator & you should provide supporting evidence eg. testimonials (video or audio preferably) and wherever possible you should use piggy backing. I’ll explain piggy backing in my next post.

Understand that it’s going to be a bit tricky to wear the sellers agent hat & the buyers agent hat within the one video. A buyer may be put off by putting too much seller based slant into the video & vice versa.

Have a planned approach to these videos. Remember that the video could end up anywhere on the web & if it’s too outrageous the majority of people won’t connect with you.

Ultimately, it’s about getting people to meet you & getting them to like & trust you. Make sure you include some information realting to the area in which you work because both sellers & buyers would be more interested in watching your video if you provide some insights about your area rather than just making it all about you.  A professional video company can help you with this.

Could social networking effect tenancy applications?

I heard something the other day that really surprised me. Apparently, someone didn’t get accepted for a job application after the company researched the person via Facebook or MySpace. It’s understood that they didn’t like the images they saw & felt that they were unsuitable for the job.

The same could apply for any other aplications made. The main one relating to the real estate industry would be tenant applications. Currently agents can do credit checks & financial checks, but I wonder if this will become the new way to check out an applicant? I hope not.

Using these social network sites for processing tenancy applications would fuel a massive debate or backlash from Gen Y.

Mortgage products need to appeal to Gen Y’s

Over the past 2 years there has been an overall percentage increase of almost 50% (from 5.9% – 8.5%) in the standard variable interest rates in Australia . This has put a credit squeeze on overcommitted homebuyers and investors. The flow through effect has seen an increase in demand for rental property which creates huge pressure on housing availability in rental markets. There were news reports today of record 0.9% vacancy rates in NSW.

The state government are looking at ways to encourage investors back into the market. Hopefully, this may open up some new opportunities for first time Gen Y investors.

As new medical advancements develop, our life expectancy will naturally increase & therefore I can’t understand why the banks haven’t considered increasing the maximum term for their home loans, especially for Gen Y’s.

What do you think?

The future of the real estate industry is in the hands of Generation Y.

 

I’ve been really looking forward to today, but I’m even more excited about tomorrow.

My first post on a blog that is ultimately here to help all of us understand a lot more about where the real estate industry is heading with technology. I am really excited to see what ideas develop along the way. I’m especially looking forward to being able to contribute some personal insights for the industry, but I’m even more excited about some of the contributors that will be joining in along the way.

Whether you are a Baby Boomer, from Generation X or Generation Y this blog will always provide information to help you.

After 20 years in real estate I’ve seen a lot of changes take place, but these changes are nothing like the massive real estate 2.0 changes that have either already been developed or are just over the horizon.

I really want this blog to help fill the gap for some of the agents that currently struggle with technology & ultimately assist them to understand what today’s online real estate customer wants & expects.

If you feel you can help please feel most welcome to comment or contribute your thoughts or insights.