Today’s landlord knows the importance of attracting the millennial demographic. This subset of the population currently saturates the rental market. These individuals—born between 1982 and 2004—are choosing to buy homes later and are grabbing up rental homes.
If you haven’t transformed your property into a millennial mecca, you’ve been losing out on profits. If your property is in an up-and-coming area, you may already have a tempting offer, but there are plenty of ways to upgrade your property into a standout.
Understand Their Motivations
In order to offer the things that millennials want most, you’ll need to take time to understand what they’re looking for in a place. Millennials want rental properties that combine the best in functionality and ease. In many cases, this is captured through open floor concepts. Is there a wall you could take out to improve the flow of the space? Can you add a window or two to improve upon the expansion of the space?
It’s also important to understand their desire for a sense of community. They’re looking to make connections and feel immersed in a great neighborhood.
When listing your property, highlight local amenities that could improve this feeling of community like nearby bars, parks, and restaurants. It’s important to emphasize the ways your property could solve problems in their daily lives. The bus stop down the road can help their transportation issues, and the laundromat a few blocks away could make laundry a worry of the past.
Convenience is king! Enticing millennials is finding ways to highlight the ease your property provides.
Consider Your Kitchen
Millennials are interested in communal spaces and are avid entertainers. Make sure the kitchen in your rental property is not just up to par—but the actual heart of the home, which will make all the difference when it comes to attracting high-quality tenants.
Upgrading kitchen appliances can be a worthy investment and small changes can make all the difference. Switch out handles and pulls to update the look of cabinetry without spending a fortune on complete replacements.
Green Upgrades
Millennials are a socially conscious group and are increasingly concerned about sustainability and the environment. If you’ve been waffling on adding green features to your property… now is the time.
The simple addition of energy-efficient upgrades can help you pull in higher rental rates and improve the overall value of your property for years to come. The tone of the most popular home improvements comes in the form of solar energy. Don’t let cost deter you; there are plenty of solar panel financing solutions so that you can start saving on energy costs.
Your tenants will love that their utilities are cheaper and you’ll find that your property’s value skyrockets with the right energy-efficient upgrades.
Technology Is Your Friend
After you’ve made the necessary home improvements, be sure to put as much effort into advertising your vacant space. Attracting millennials means getting your listing in front of them and the best way to do this is through modern technology trends.
You may find that targeting this demographic requires efforts to alter your advertising techniques. Millennials have grown up constantly connected and they utilize technology to access a multitude of rental listings channels.
It’s important to expand your advertising outlets to ensure you’re on the majority of these channels. You can use numerous listing websites to your advantage. Check out ApartmentFinder and similar offerings to ensure you’ve got your property in front of as many eyes as possible. Sites like this offer fantastic filtering features and make it easy for landlords to list out the highlights of their property.
When creating your listing, be as detailed as possible. List out all the positives of your space, considering millennial motivations as discussed earlier. Also, invest in professional photos of your property, because this one-time investment can pay dividends down the road.
Attracting the millennial market to your rental property means putting in the extra effort to create a space that caters to their needs and desires. If you’re looking to improve your bottom line, consider incorporating some of these lucrative upgrades and making a difference in your rental business profitability.
