The base for potential home buyers and sellers is constantly growing, and in order to keep pace with new demographics and age groups emerging in the real estate industry, you’ll have to continue to change with the times.
Millennials, for example, are starting to make a serious impact on real estate transactions nationwide. A generation that was once associated with renting and moving back home with mom and dad after college have built up their credit over the past several years and are learning that home buying can actually be cheaper than renting in some markets. These young, first-time home buyers are looking for the assistance of a real estate professional, which means they are not only eager but reachable.
Maintaining a strong online presence, and utilizing social media like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, will not only help grow your brand but will also expose you to that very internet savvy Millennial generation.
In addition to Millennials, boomerang buyers are also making a splash in today’s housing market. These are previous home owners who may have lose their home for whatever reason, but have waited out the necessary number of years and have restored their credit to the point of being able to buy a new home once again. This type of buyer may be wary about pursuing home ownership again after their previous experience, which is why you as a real estate professional will need to be kind, patient and accommodating throughout the entire process.
As Bob Dylan once famously said: “The times, they are a-changing'” and staying on top of your business will depend on changing with those times. Seth Godin, a branding guru who will deliver his Keynote address at the upcoming InfusionCon marketing conference in Arizona in April, had this to say in a recent blog post to real estate professionals:
“Even people who sell real estate have discovered that much of what they did all day is now being done, sorted and presented, for free, in real time, online. That doesn’t mean that the game is over. What it does mean is that we have to figure out how to obsess over things that are truly difficult. Access to tools alone is not sufficient.”
