Many of us don’t think about our target market when we put an investment house up for sale. But that’s a terrible mistake. Any good businessperson knows his or her audience. We don’t buy and sell houses for a hobby—we are in business. And our business relies on house sales. Attracting the right kind of home buyer can mean the difference between two days on the market and three months on the market for your investment property. That’s why you need to know that Millennials could potentially be your biggest audience and what makes them tick.

Why Sell Your Albany Investment House to Millennials?

For four years running, Millennials, or those under 36, have been the largest proportion of homebuyers nationwide, at 36%. Of those, two-thirds were first-time homebuyers, according to the 2017 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends report by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). They are increasingly seeking out single-family properties in suburban locations. But, there’s more to it than that.

Millennials are also flocking to tech hubs, but it’s not just places like San Francisco or Miami—they feel lured to Albany, New York too. In fact, Albany made the “Top 10” in Realtor.com’s analysis of their home-buying hotspots. A budding tech center in its own right, Albany has the same kind of hip culture with events, parks, music scene, restaurants, and bars delivering a taste of “local” flavor as the other cities, but it offers something else too that the others cannot—relative affordability.

While local home prices are still within the reach of Millennials, it’s the perfect time to sell to them. The Albany housing market remained fairly flat throughout the year, experienced some ups and downs, and then flatlined at an even lower point in the second two quarters. But, things are looking up again. Between December of last year and April, the median listing price has increased from $188,000 to $200,000. The price trajectory looks like a slow and steady rise. This is good news for investors who have properties ready to put on the market!

How to Market Your House to Millennials

Beyond proximity and price, Millennials have specific amenities in mind when they go house-hunting. Marketing your property to Millennials takes a little savviness. Let’s take a look at what attracts them the most.

Online presentation

It’s no secret that most buyers—and especially Millennials—start their house hunting online. You’ll want to be sure that the online presentation of your property pops compared to the other options. Hiring a professional photographer is a good idea, but using drone video footage in your promotions is even better.

Home staging 

No, you don’t have to have a flair for decorating or hire a fancy interior designer to make this work. Just pick some fashionable items from the local thrift store or even your own house to add homey accents to stage the investment home on a budget. Remember, kitchens and bathrooms are the most important.

Environmental friendliness 

Sustainability is a value that most Millennials try to integrate into their overall lifestyle, and you can expect that it will be foundational in their selection of a new home. Install some energy-efficient appliances and lighting to woo them.

Smart home technologies 

Millennials are the first real tech-savvy generation and they enjoy the convenience that it adds to their lifestyle. Installing inexpensive smart home technology to your investment house will pique these homebuyers’ interests.

You don’t have to make your investment property perfect. You are marketing to first-time homebuyers after all, and they expect some quirks. But paying attention to just a handful of key details will certainly turn their heads and could help get your investment house sold faster.

Getting Ahead of the Market Competition

I have been buying and selling houses as a New York-based independently owned and operated HomeVestors® franchisee for many years now and I’ve found that you just can’t go wrong by marketing to Millennials. They are a significant segment of homebuyers and the details that you add for this group are likely to attract others as well. For example, while some might not value environmental friendliness as others do, who doesn’t want lower energy bills? I give business tips like this as a HomeVestors® Development Agent for new franchisees regularly. If you could use some guidance on jump-starting your selling power, we’d love to hear from you!

Each franchise office is independently owned and operated.