To be an effective landlord in Atlanta, you need to know your market, and a large part of the rental market today is made up of millennials. This is a generation of people who actually prefer to rent property, even if they can afford to buy.
Defining Millennials
You might be wondering - who are these millennials? People who were born between 1980 and 2000 make up the millennial generation, and it’s an age group that’s also been referred to as Generation Y. It’s a big group of people. Conservative estimates applied to this generation are in the range of 76 million to 80 million. It’s even larger than the Baby Boomer generation.
Renting versus Buying
Generally speaking, millennials prefer to rent. They can usually purchase if they want to, but they tend to stay in rental homes. They prefer this because they like to travel and be able to quickly go wherever the next job is going to be. They don’t want to have to stay put or be tied down to a job or a property that they own and can’t get out of. This generation is concerned about real estate and financial security because they witnessed their parents go through the Great Recession. This generation wants to be prepared if something like that happens again.
Renting is Convenient
The millennial age group loves the convenience of renting. They like that they can put in a maintenance request and get the problem taken care of the next day or whenever the contractor can get there. They like having less financial responsibility. All they have to do is pay the rent every month, and if the hot water heater leaks or the HVAC goes out, they don’t have to pay for it.
At McCreary, we have seen more and more members of this generation come to us over the last few years. There are unique marketing challenges and opportunities with millennials, which we talk about in another video and blog.