Your biggest opportunity is easily your most overlooked. Millennials have long been getting the cold shoulder from realtors who don’t believe they are seriously looking for or even able to afford a house. Well, today we brought in a dynamic duo who has been crushing the competition by appealing to a generation that is 20 times the size of the Baby Boomers: the Millennials.
By 2050, Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce so it’s safe to say that if you are not able to win them over, you are going to have a bad time. In this article, we are going to explore who the Millennial really is, and what our Dynamic Duo – Bianca & Sara – have done to win over the hearts of over 7,200 in just 8 months.
Who Are The Millennials:
Millennials are generally categorized as individuals who were born between 1981-2001. They are hard working professionals who do whatever it takes to get ahead. According to the Viscardi Center, 61% of graduating seniors had an internship or co-op experience and nearly half of them were unpaid. Anyone who is willing to take unpaid work, just to get experience, is more than serious about their career choice. The Pew Research Center also reports that Millennials have incredibly responsible life priorities with the top 4 being: Being a good parent, having a successful marriage, helping others in need, and owning a home.
Lastly, Millennials are the most diverse generation ever. Pew Research Center also points out that about 43% of Millennials adults are non-white. This can be due to the large wave of Hispanic and Asian immigrants who have been coming to the U.S. for the past half-century. If you are going to start appealing to Millennials you have to understand that they are hard working, have their priorities straight, and are incredibly diverse. Now that we have a little background as to who we are going trying to win over, let’s look at a real example of our favorite couple who has this all figured out.
Embrace The Change
“Millennials are the future of this business and are changing the way some of the longest-running industries operate. They live for experiences and that’s something we want to bring to the table with our clients, the experience that we create for them in their home buying and selling process. The real estate industry has changed so much with the development of companies like RedFin and Zillow and the emergence and importance of social media, it is tough to stay on top of it all but also vital to stay up to date with these changes. In the 8 months, we’ve been focused on our social media development and outreach, we’ve accumulated over 7,200 organic followers and we’re finding an increase in following amongst millennials specifically. 75% of millennials admit that buying a home is a long-term goal of theirs but 25% say that they don’t even know where to start with the home-buying process. We see this as an untapped market with a generation that we can relate to. While Bianca and I both are considered ‘older millennials’ and can remember growing up without our cell phones and can recall the painstaking days of dial-up AOL and AIM Messenger before texting and social media were the central focus of life, we are proud to be part of a generation that is inspiring social change and innovative ways to reach audiences worldwide.”
The Key To Getting Started
“If you are going to get started, just know that it is all about consistency. There is no definitive handbook for becoming the perfect realtor and in the beginning, you really have to try a little bit of everything in order to find your niche. And I will say we definitely tried it all! And we’re better realtors because of it. We’ve found that we attract a lot of relocation clients (thank you, technology!) and with that comes a lot of phone time and ‘out of the ordinary’ actions that are necessary and in the best interest of the client. Every client is different and has different needs and we pride ourselves on providing exactly what the client needs to make the transaction as seamless and fun as possible for them. We’ve shown as many as 30 properties in one weekend before because that was the only weekend the client could be in San Diego before moving. We’ve video recorded and conferenced and even found ‘the perfect home-the one’ without our clients even being in the state more than a handful of times in the few short years we’ve been in this business. We’ve traveled over 140 miles to do showings in cities outside of San Diego that required special NMLS activations and registrations. We’ve personally created home buying guides and ‘San Diego Lifestyle’ guides for all the communities within San Diego so when they get here, they know what to expect from the city/neighborhood… and most importantly, where they can find the best tacos! You’re not a local until you’ve hit up this list we’ve created!”
You Have to Love Your Work
“In the end, the things that stuck for us were the things we enjoyed doing the most. We’ve found that if we enjoy it, we’re more likely to continue to work at it. And when you start to see results, even the most mundane of tasks starts to become enjoyable but it was a struggle to stick to a set schedule (time blocking), to do the daily follows, to keep track of every lead, every interaction, every single thing for every single client. You really have to find a way to make it fun and make yourselves original and stand out. If that meant spending our Saturday afternoons with our laptops at our favorite local bar all day, that is what we did. If that meant packing 300 mailers, envelopes and stamps while in the local Mexican joint on St. Patrick’s Day, we did it (and still got to enjoy some green beer!). Doing things like that started conversations and got us known in our community and neighborhood…just by being ourselves. And that is a rewarding feeling. After nearly two years in the business, we’ve been able to put a process to most everything that we do so we have some structure, and both know our roles and what we need to do to create the best experience for our clients. Looking back, I would encourage us to trust our gut more, to not be afraid to think outside the box and be different than everyone else because that is the thing that works best for us at this point. We have found that we attract like-minded buyers and sellers that have become some of our closest friends so it’s really a win-win.”
Special Thanks
We would like to thank our friends Bianca & Sara for helping us write this blog post. If you would like to learn more about them, you can start by heading over to their website and be sure to follow Bianca & Sara on Instagram. If you would like to call them directly use (858) 284-0586. (CalBRE #01984728, CalBRE #01984729)
If you have any additional questions, we recommend you talk to our loan officer Carl Spiteri (NMLS #286890) by scheduling an appointment online or calling him directly at (619) 544-6444.