What Millennials Want vs. What Millennials Realistically Buy vs. Are Millennials the only People Worth Marketing To? (housing, condos)

[Cheesesteak Cravings]

Originally Posted by glamatomic

For me, it depends on which stage of life the Millennials are in.

My husband and I were 24 and 28 when we bought our house a few years back. We were planning on starting a family but hadn't yet (since then, I had 3 babies in 2 years!).

When we bought our house, we accepted that it needed paint, some new flooring, a new kitchen and some other updates. We were happy to take all of that on board because the backyard was great, the house otherwise fit our requirements, and the price was right.

Fast forward a few years and we have a 1 year old, 2 year old and 3 year old and all of the updates we planned are only on a need-to-do basis. If I were to go house hunting tomorrow, I would choose a house with almost nothing to do.

I would want all hardwood floors, a new kitchen, new bathrooms, white/offwhite paint throughout, all new systems- pretty much a turn key property.

While my husband and I would have the time, energy and money to update a home pre-kids, once kids are in the picture it's less of a reality.

I think other millenials in the family planning stages (or with young families) are likely in the same boat.

We feel you on that, we're both in our early 30's. 2 houses we bought needed work. Seemed fun pre-kids, post kids, a total nightmare, and not how I want to be spending my free time in the evening and weekends, crawling around in the attic pulling wire when it's 120*F.

We got our current house "done enough" after remodeling the kitchen and bathroom (both fully gutted, most of the work done ourselves). We'll only mess with it if we absolutely have to or the kids get old enough not to need our attention all the time.

Big yard meant more to use than a big house. And this one was built in the 50's. But I'm an electrician and my wife used to remodel when she was younger.

We picked a house in a great, safe neighborhood, close enough to the downtown area to walk or bike for shopping/eating/drinking. We put a lot of effort in trying to minimize commuting to work or for errands.

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Piney Creek

We are talking about major changes including removing giant bathroom mirrors and builder grade vanities, removing all carpet, everything is painted grey, all hardwood is stained a dark color, etc. Surprisingly, they don't seem to think people care that much about roof or HVAC, but putting in a new trendy back splash is urgent. Some of the realtors were apologetic, some were pushy, some were very logical--but all were very insistent that making such renovations is a trend that cannot be ignored.

Roofs and Heating and AC units is something that will come up during an inspection so no they usually don't worry about that at first.



Interesting question yes but I cannot answer for all Millennials or your area. If I was you I would check the county records and look for all the "solds" in your area for the last 6 months or so. Look at the pictures....that is what your area warrants. Those are the ones that are selling. Do you see a correlation with price and what has been upgraded? How about location? Do some homework and decide what you need to do. Maybe you do need to make some upgrades but maybe you can just do the minimum and set your price accordingly.


BTW, if your agents were really good they would have done this for you and shown you about 10 comps for you to see. Sadly most don't.

[mkpunk]

This is what I find is a similar case to buying their first car, not some hand-me-down or cheap one their parents helped them find. Young people historically want a car that is up-to-date but then they see the price and drop down to even used prices whether a year or several ago with older tech rather than new. It is the same here, all about pricing and what they can afford. At least millennials are trying to act smarter than the boomers and gen Xers who lost their shorts with the last economic downturn...

[galaxyhi]

Piney:

First disclosure: I am not a millenial, I am 53 and just bought my first house in fall of 2015.

Second disclosure: I have always been amazed at "home buying shows" where young people will look at two cookie-cutter identical houses in a good neighborhood, one dated and one newly updated and say $100k more, and they will buy the updated house, then promptly rip everthing out and redo it. It seems to me the smart thing is to buy the dated house at the cheaper price, and just redo IT for the $100k extra they paid!!!!
So: I point that out just to say: some buyers DON't make sense.

Third: as has been pointed out, nOT ALL buyers will be millenials. Look at me {and MOH...58, first house for both of us}.

Now onto my statements: We looked at MANY modulars/manufactured homes. Some made us go :Yuck, and others: WOW. WE COULD pick and choose our finishes and "amenities"! But opted out.

We also looked at about 30 houses In our area, but different cities within the areal region so to speak. ANd we bought on a budget at least for our area. We looked at what some would call "slum houses", to give you the idea of our budget.

What we LIKED about the house we bought over the other houses was {built in 1948 of solid wood}:
1} even though we don't have kids [ and never will], we wanted good school district, the homes are generally better in the better neighborhoods.
2} LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION, FIRST RULE of real estate. Regardelss WHO is buying! THAT hasn't changed. If your house is in a good location, kudos. Ours is close to the major city servcies we always did most of our shopping and running around in. BINGO
3}The OTHER rule of real estate that hasn't changed: Buy the WORST house in the BEST neighborhood and make it your own/upgrade to the standards of the neighborhood IF need be. We bought a "starter" ranch 2 br/1ba house with garage and bonus room {unfinished, behind the garage-was a porch tha had been enclosed, but had insulation for "amenities" LOL}, and full clean dry basement in a GREAT neighborhood. By contrast the house next to us is a brick 4br/2ba ranch with finished basement and garage. It was of course more than double what we paid, and sold the month before ours.
4} the house was ALL WHITE, except the kitchen {green-but I always wanted a green kitchen- "seafoam green" to be exact, a color now "out of favor", and the bath was a "yellow/tan"..looks yellow in low light, tan in bright sunlight. We appreciated the "NEUTRAL" BRIGHT Walls. We painted the master, but that was our choice,and we'd have to paint the deep red we painted it if we ever sell.
5} the windows had all been replaced with vinyl double pane windows a ++
6} the roof has 30 yeras left on a 40 year architectural roof.
7} It HAD carpet...good neutral beige IRON WEARING Berber ANother +++ {WE Happen to LIKE wall to wall}
8} 10 years earlier the seller bought it as foreclosure and updated the bath and kitchen to THEN standards. We spent some money replacing the vanity {which was HUGE and difficult to get by} and added other cadinets {off the shelf OAK WOOD cabinets form Lowes} as the bath had little storage other than the monsterous vanity {probably the reason for it to begin with}. They also had redone the kitchen with new off the shelf cabinets and formica counter tops in a neutral color, and the floor with pergo "wood flooring". Then we ADDEd more off the shelf cabinets that matched closely to those in the kitchen and matched our added bath cabinets. They had installed new tub and surround, a ++, and new wall to wall tile floor, a ++ in neitral beige color. Because it was wall to wall, we had no problem and no need to replace the WHOLE floor to change out the vanity to a smaller one. They also had the basement walls {cinderblock} parged white, making it light and airy. They also added a new blacktop driveway. I shudder to think what the old one looked like, judging by some in the neighborhood . The kitchen was done to THEN standards of 10 years ago {when "seafoam green" was fashionable}, but holds up VERY WELL today. And I shudder to think what the bath looked like. THE point here is it was done, even though "outdated", and we were basically happy.
9}The back yard is all fenced as are all the backyards in the neighborhood, a definite plus and the ONLY house so done.
10} NEW wiring was evident too, though we have an electrician friend we had do more wiring as we felt we needed just a few more outlets, they just rewired what was there.
The only thing they left out was really it could use a new heating system,and definitely central air. The system is 10 years old and hopefully will last us another 5 until we can replace it.
11] they previous owners used it as a rental, so it had NO foundation plantings, but we could choose our own.
12} It had vinyl siding already on it {GRAY! NO LESS!}

In short, bright neutral walls, new neutral carpeting, new roof, fenced yard, new driveway, new wiring, extra space we could finish ourselves {the bonus room is now a room with heat and walls and ceiling and carpeting thanks to my hard work-and our favorite in the house},close to shopping {walmart and target less than 3 miles, a 10 minute ride, 3 grocery stores in less than 5 miles, banks easy accessible}, close to fire and police {the police are literally just down the street and one block over}, and the town hall is where the police are. WE don't care for toney counter tops, our parents home's still have their formica and is in great shape for the years of living their houses saw,and I THINK formica is actually Coming Back In.

ALL THAT in that last paragraph SOLD us, as well as a great price to fit our budget! TEchnically, we DIDN'T really have to do much, but chose to. That was "jsut right" to use "goldilocks"!!!

I would NOT care if we were millenials just starting out, or a retired couple Downsizing, THAT is what we bought and why.

My suggestions IN MY OPINION:

****DO get rid of the gold tone fixtures {I think i read you have them}, and do the neutral paint. If you have GOOD carpet in neutral, leave it, if they want the buyers can tear it out, it costs them nothing to do it.
****DO get rid of over growth in the yard or hard to care for plantings. That doesn't mean bare grass, but be sensible if it isn't already. DO fix broken steps, sidewalks, driveway. If minor, do a patch, if major, seriously put your $$$ there.

***DON't go for the updates that "are the IN thing now" as the buyers might not like it 10 years later. Or now.

***In short, i'd stick to what you know: good location, good roof and HVAC, good driveway, good "curb appeal", and remove/change the things for about a $1k that can "really date" your house. The OLD HARD RULES of real estate STILL APPLY.

****If buyers want to buy it, they will, and MAKE it their own, like we did, regardless of generation, IMO. needing just a LITTLE WORK to get it to their tastes will suit any buyer just fine.

Best of luck to you selling, and in finding your new home, if not already!

[brodie734]

I think the carpet vs hardwood thing is a valid concern... carpet is not aesthetically pleasing and tearing it out and finishing the floors is a LOT of work, my parents did it and it took a long ass time. It would be a strong investment in your resale value.

[Tuscan80]

Millennial here. I wanted to buy a fixer-upper in the nicer area (basically the worst house in the nicest neighborhood). I was in escrow on it. The home inspection came back with BIG repairs for plumbing, electrical, etc. all in all i was looking at $40k of repairs and this was not even cosmetic. The deal fell through, I got cold-feet and bought a turnkey home. The most updating I wanted to do was paint colors and cosmetic stuff i realized.

I think people watch a lot of shows on HGTV these days thinking they can fix things up, but don't realize how expensive that can be. Also one "under the hood issue", can often be a warning sign of other problems ahead.

I didn't need absolute "turn-key" but it's hard to find a house that only needs "cosmetic" updates but the bones are strong. usually when the "cosmetic" has been neglected, so have the "bones" of the house in terms of termites, plumbing/mold, electrical and other issues.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by Tuscan80

Millennial here. I wanted to buy a fixer-upper in the nicer area (basically the worst house in the nicest neighborhood). I was in escrow on it. The home inspection came back with BIG repairs for plumbing, electrical, etc. all in all i was looking at $40k of repairs and this was not even cosmetic. The deal fell through, I got cold-feet and bought a turnkey home. The most updating I wanted to do was paint colors and cosmetic stuff i realized.

I think people watch a lot of shows on HGTV these days thinking they can fix things up, but don't realize how expensive that can be. Also one "under the hood issue", can often be a warning sign of other problems ahead.

I didn't need absolute "turn-key" but it's hard to find a house that only needs "cosmetic" updates but the bones are strong. usually when the "cosmetic" has been neglected, so have the "bones" of the house in terms of termites, plumbing/mold, electrical and other issues.

And.....
This post could easily have been written by a buyer of any age. It is a classic generic real estate position, unrelated to personal demographic, independent of age.

Greatest Generation, Baby Boomer, Gen X, Gen Y/Millennial?
All the same gene pool.
And, condition, location, etc, will be generic considerations for Gen Z, too.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Or, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

[GeoffD]

I think it all depends on the zip code. In general, realtors are pretty tuned in to their local market.

I'm in the northeast where the housing stock is very old. There isn't much new construction or recent construction. It's a lot easier to sell a house that hasn't been remodeled in 30 years. People care about school system, the neighborhood, and their commute.

I also own a townhouse condo at a ski resort. There, anything that's not fully updated and turnkey will rot on the market. No potential buyer is going to want to deal with a long distance remodeling project unless they're bottom fishing. My place was built 30 years ago. Before I sell it, every square foot of flooring needs to be addressed and brought up to current expectations. Kitchen cabinets, counter top, and sink. Bathroom vanities, tile everywhere, and modern shower fixtures. If I don't do that within a couple years of when it goes on the market, it will rot forever with nothing but lowball offers.

[Hemlock140]

I can only comment on our area where the real estate market is really hot. Most of the new buyers I see are Gen-x, with kids about to start school moving from Seattle or from another state, or coming in from another country with kids and parents in tow to work at Amazon or Microsoft. Developers are marketing to the multi-generational families, with dual masters and 4,000 sf common on new homes. Of the 4 Millennials that I work with, one bought a 4-plex in West Seattle and lives in one unit with his wife and kid, another lives alone in an apartment 20 miles north (less expensive area), the other 2 are married with no kids and rent apartments in Seattle.

[mschrief]

We bought our house last year - our retirement home. We looked at literally dozens of filthy, broken down houses and were out bid on all but one, the one we purchased. It was either that or almost double what we were willing to pay.

Horrible interior paint, flooring, moldings, popcorn ceilings, landscaping non-existent, dirty, contractor grade everything. No updates in 12 years. We knew it was a total gut job when we closed. We both loved the floorplan and knew it would be a lot of work but it was doable and we had cash for the renovations we did ourselves. But you would not know it today - a totally different home.

The one thing that irked me was the bizarre paint colors. Our house had a dark brown kitchen, who does that? Dark yellow wall paint, Barbie sparkle blue bathroom, two color blue (navy) striped bedrooms. Hideous.

We went thru four huge Kilz containers to cover that mess. Makes you wonder what people are thinking.

I would never do this again. If we ever upgrade it will be to a home that is turn-key ready with neutral paint.