The home buying market is changing and evolving, with millennials at the forefront of this major shift. They make up the largest homebuyer segment, the one that is growing at a rapid pace.
More millennials continue to move out and buy new homes, and the reasons for this big financial decision are numerous. Some are choosing to become homeowners after a career advancement or once they’ve secured a higher income. Others are deciding to buy their own homes after paying off large student loan debts that they owed. refinancing online can be a great way for people to get the benefits of a refinance and the convenience of doing it digitally.
Regardless of their reasons for doing so, there’s no doubt that this particular age group is deeply affecting the market. In this article, we will be looking at millennial home buyers and how exactly they are changing the housing market.
They rely heavily on technology
This doesn’t come as a surprise given how millennials are a tech-savvy generation. Thanks to easy access to information, millennials’ approach to first-time home buying is more tech-oriented compared to Baby Boomers. They’ll rely on the internet and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets for everything from finding properties and asking questions to scheduling appointments and learning about different mortgage options they have at their disposal. Millennials love shopping around and exploring, and they value easy and quick digital communication and user experience above everything else.
Making smart purchasing decisions is very important to them, so they’ll usually arm themselves with information before taking the plunge. According to statistics (2016), 86% of millennial home buyers will obtain several mortgage options. This is a large percentage compared to 55% of Baby Boomers who use the internet to shop for a mortgage.
They’re reshaping the way realtors do their job
Millennials’ heavy reliance on technology in the home buying process is also evident in the way they communicate with realtors. They prefer texts to phone calls, meaning texting is their default line of communication. This has heavily influenced the way real estate agents do their job. Nowadays, many of them are using either email, instant messaging, or texting to communicate with clients.
Aside from communication, millennial home buyers are also reshaping the way realtors list homes. According to the best realtors in Scottsdale AZ, providing details without leaving out anything important is a must these days. This means sharing information about the property that goes beyond posting traditional photographs. Nowadays, appealing to buyers calls for features that will offer the broader view of the real estate property. This usually means offering live streams and video tours of the real estate property, both of which are highly requested.
They approach home buying process differently compared to prior generations
Buying a home, especially their first home, is something millennials do a lot differently compared to their predecessors. For starters, they tend to wait much longer before becoming homeowners. Some of them move back with their parents in order to save money for a down payment. Some of them choose to rent for longer or may need to pay off student debts to improve their finances. Others, however, are starting families later in life, which is another factor that’s causing a delay in home buying.
One may argue that millennials face numerous financial challenges and that buying a home was easier in the past. Despite the longer buying window, millennials are still purchasing houses in droves and putting their own stamp on home buying.
Their preferences are simply different
Just like you won’t find a typical millennial homebuyer relying on the Yellow Pages or referrals to find a new home, you can’t really expect them to have the same preferences to those of previous generations either. Unlike Baby Boomers, millennials are skipping starter homes and rather saving for something more expensive. Instead of moving into an old home, they’d rather save up and move into a home that’s updated and in line with their preferences, and they can be very patient during the entire process.
Millennials are also showing an increased interest in suburban homes – rural areas and big cities aren’t exactly their top choice. Despite the third of millennials still living in urban areas, the demand for suburban locales continues to rise. This shift from urban living and a rise in suburban movement could have some interesting implications when it comes to the increasing costs of urban living.
Wrapping up
Tech-savvy and well-informed, millennial buyers are changing the rules of the home buying game. These house-hunters value experiences that are simple, quick, and on-demand, and need their home buying process to be the same. Their buying decisions and preferences are slowly, but surely, reshaping the housing market as we know it, and those able to cater to them will be catering to the giant buying potential that comes with this generation.