There has been a lot of discussion about the wants and needs of millennials and younger people in the rental housing market lately, but not as much attention has been paid to another rising demographic. Baby boomers, for one reason or another, are beginning more and more to take up residence within rental properties rather than to purchase their own. As a result, the intelligent property manager might take a look into what these people look for in their new home to better appeal to them and to see more successful results for their own business.
Don’t Forget to Market to Baby Boomers
The baby boomer generation is “the nation’s second-largest… estimated at 76.4 million.” Obviously, then, it would be a mistake to not consider their ideal living situation when much of the rental market these days includes these older people. Something to keep in mind is that baby boomers are said to rely heavily upon reviews, mostly online, which may surprise some people whose parents or grandparents’ performance with technology is less than impressive. Ratings that they may find via a simple search are likely to affect their decisions and so property managers should make a point of marketing their building on the web as clearly and as widespread as possible. Statistics suggest that “more than half” of these people utilized online reviews in their search and that they were then heavily swayed by what they found in those reviews.
Despite these high numbers, though, barely any baby boomer-aged adults are asked to write reviews. If they are planning on moving to another location and if their experience was generally a good one, property managers should absolutely go out of their way to ask this demographic to share their opinions online about their time in the unit, if they can. The gesture of asking the question itself will likely have a positive impact and, if they do write a review, it’s similarly likely to be good for business. “The industry seems to be missing the opportunity to gather and utilize resident opinions to market their properties.”
If you’re looking into better strategies for online marketing, particularly toward this older demographic, it’s best to begin with a further examination of their habits and preferences. A fourth of them don’t actually turn to social media for anything, but when they do, the most-frequented is Facebook, which still tends to be the social media giant across the board.
Once they find a well-reviewed property, baby boomers move on to examine the state of their other concerns. As recorded via relevant surveys, people of all ages look for a clean space, safety, and quiet. Though the value placed on each of these qualifications varies depending on the generation, each are still highly important in all cases and should therefore be closely attended to. It isn’t a novel concept that people want to live in apartments that are well-kept and that don’t have neighborly noise problems, but it’s reassuring that these criteria are key in all cases. Perhaps unsurprisingly, baby boomers favored quiet spaces more than their millennial counterparts, but even so, there were not recordings of enormous differences in what renters are looking for in their apartments.
As far as amenities, it’s not unexpected that millennials look for a gym in their property as the most desired bonus feature. Though this is still important for the older generation, baby boomers’ most wanted feature is actually a swimming pool, which can be harder to find in many residential buildings these days than a fitness center. They also look for “private outdoor space,” and though spaces like a rooftop deck have become staples in many of these buildings, they aren’t exactly private. Perhaps a walled-off balcony where they can set up a table and chairs would fulfill this desire.
There are other differences between what older and younger demographics are looking for in their rental property, but it’s the mistake of a novice property manager to ignore the baby boomers when they make up such a large number of renters these days. Just as you should consider all generations’ wants and needs while managing your property, you should also consider all available options for staying on top of your business. If you’ve never used a property management software before, now is the time to consider implementing one into your day to day work. You’ll see before much time has passed how powerful solutions such as SKYLINE software can organize your information and more with cutting-edge, but easy-to-use, features.