Marketing to young professional real estate buyers should always involve the use of home staging techniques that appeal to the aesthetic and emotional needs of this influential buyer demographic. Young, professional buyers are most often attracted to urban areas and are known to purchase some of the priciest real estate in the world in major property markets such as New York, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago.
Young professionals are not often looking ahead to owning a family home. Instead, they are enjoying their early success in life and often want to purchase real estate that reflects their current wants, rather than future needs. This creates an ideal opportunity for home stagers, since “wants” are often closely linked to style and presentation and are therefore easier for stagers to provide than “needs”, which may relate to location, size, function or structure.
This insightful essay explains some highly effective strategies for marketing real estate to a youthful, professional buyer demographic, with a focus on desirable city properties.
Effective Marketing to Young Professional Real Estate Buyers
Developers already target young upscale buyers for certain projects. In fact, these projects are built with the sole goal of satisfying young buyers who are looking for the “latest”, “coolest” and most “desirable” real estate among their peers. Often, these properties already feature marketing campaigns designed to create the craving for ownership in young and prosperous buyers. This makes a stager’s work much easier. However, the stager must still know how to deliver perfect results that will satisfy the wants of these finicky buyers when they come to view the residence as a prospective purchase.
Learning to identify the target buyer is an important skill for home stagers. This is especially true if they might be working with a new or clueless real estate agent who really has no idea how to put together an effective marketing campaign for the most likely purchaser. Therefore, we highly recommend that stagers stay up-to-date on all the projects in their area that target young, urban buyers with plenty of money to spend. These properties are fun to stage and since purchasers are young and will likely buy and sell real estate many times in their future, also make great networking opportunities for every involved staging professional.
Tips for Marketing to Young Professional Real Estate Buyers
Below, I provide some helpful advice on tailoring staging efforts towards young urban buyers:
First and most importantly, meet with the building developer’s office to learn of the features that are already desirable about the property and the marketing concept that is in place. Then, do everything possible to highlight these features in the staging design, as well as in the real estate presentation. Use the developer’s marketing strategies to build synergy with your own, making full use of the large amount of money that has already been spent on developing a core concept for the property when it comes to theme and aesthetics.
Stay current of the latest home staging trends that appeal to young, successful real estate buyers in your area. These trends change regularly, so be certain to reconnect with the newest wishlist items prior to staging any new project.
Tend towards contemporary to modern style and refrain from using traditional materials or design elements. Younger buyers embrace cutting-edge everything and are willing to pay for the exact look that they desire. Therefore, go high-end and seek to impress in every way when it comes to imparting the desire to buy upon first impression. Set a lifestyle image of success and allow the prospective buyer to see themselves living, entertaining and enjoying their new home by giving them what they want most in look and feel.
Try to integrate some memorable elements into every room, with at least one showstopper in every unit. Popular additions for young urban buyers might include functional home offices, open layout design, impactful artwork, cutting-edge media, staging the view, minimalistic window treatments and a stylish color palate.
Successfully Marketing to Young Professional Real Estate Buyers
Young buyers with money are educated and critical. They know what they want and it is your job to know also and give it to them. Many of these youthful buyers will purchase emotionally, so you must create that look of universal appeal that will have them wanting the unit and all of their friends being jealous that they bought it!
However, I do offer a warning: Just because a buyer is young and impulsive in some ways does not mean that they do not know quality or will make foolish choices. Therefore, carefully use discretion to make a property seem young and hip without making it seem like a passing trend that will lose its appeal in 5 minutes time. Therefore, be sure to keep in mind that these buyers are spending considerable money for their new home and do not want to be disappointed in any way. Make them happy now and you will not only make the sale, but you will also stand a very good chance of building a client base with a group of buyers who will also become sellers and repeat buyers over the next 3 decades. There is no better way to build your business!