The Renter Demographic: Who Are They Now?

by Howard Bell 

The rental demographic is changing.  Are you keeping pace? 

The Echo-Boomers

The children of baby boomers are now driving the rental market. They make up a third of the population and are a significant segment of the renter population.

This is a group of younger adults that grew up on the Internet, not television. They are wired, multi-cultural, and hold more traditional values than many of their parents.

The largest generation of young people since the ’60s is beginning to come of age.

The owner that understands this demographic will rent smarter and faster.

Empty-Nesters

There’s also a robust apartment market for those over the age of 60 who are trading large suburban homes and yards for an apartment within walking distance to shops and entertainment.

Create Your Value Proposition Apartments themselves are changing. If you want to rent faster, you will need to understand what the new renter values and incorporate new design elements and amenities to make them more desirable.

Some Ideas

1. If you have some outdoor space, consider a community garden. Fresh herbs and flowers go a long way towards making apartment living fun experience. Give tenants a space for some community involvement.

2. Consider converting unused space into a small gym. Wall off a portion of a basement area, add a few Nautilus machines, some weights and mirrors and you can turn an under-utilized area into a real draw.

3. The convenience of washer/dryers and dishwashers is really appreciated. Echo-boomers are busy.

4. Make units cable ready and offer them as pre-wired integrated telephone, cable TV and high-speed Internet service ready

5. Add Water purification systems and programmable thermostats to all units

6. Install a public Internet for the building and create a blog or twitter account for tenants to communicate. Give tenants the tools to create a sense of community.

See Howard Bell’s feature, Get Your Property Rented Faster.

Howard Bell PFP CCRM is the founder/editor of Your Property Path.com, featuring over 450 articles on property management, Your Property Path SF, trade talk for the San Francisco real estate industry, Your Property Path News Brief, snap news updates and real estate market info, and Your Property Path Amazon Store. Howard is a property manager in San Francisco and holds a certification in financial planning. 

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your real estate investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at http://www.joinaaoa.org./

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Tags: tenant+retention, apartment+owners, landlords, renter+demographics, real+estate+forms

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Filed under: AAOA Forum

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 1:13 pm and is filed under AAOA Forum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Theresa Stein said at May 22nd, 2009 at 11:44 pm

   These are all very helpful & creative ideas. They will definately bring in more tenants. Keep up the good work.

2. Theresa Stein said at May 22nd, 2009 at 11:47 pm

   This is a very good article. The ideas are very helpful and creative. With which will definately bring in a lot more tenants. Excellent job!

3. Tell Your Tenants to Shape Up | AAOA - American Apartment Owners Association said at May 28th, 2009 at 11:14 am

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