Why Millennial Buyers Aren't Interested in Your Home

Millennials will be 28 - 43 years old in 2024, and despite the significant economic changes their generation has faced, more than half of them are now homeowners. Still more Millennials are projected to follow this pattern of success this year, so it’s little wonder that sellers who are Gen Xers or Boomers want to market properties to this younger generation. 

If you have placed your home on the market with the intention of targeting buyers aged 28 - 43 only to encounter crickets instead of an avalanche of offers, you have to be wondering why Millennial buyers aren’t interested in your home. Most importantly, what can you change to draw in this key demographic?

Decide on One Slice of Millennial Buyers 

You aren’t going to be able to draw in Millennial buyers as a whole, but you can easily appeal to a specific demographic within that age group. 

For example, your luxury home may be ideal for buyers who want a turnkey experience. Millennials have to work more hours to secure far less buying power than generations prior. You can safely bet that if members of this age group have the cash to spring for luxury, they are going to be working too much to while away the weekends scrubbing and mowing. 

Instead, offer them upscale, easy-care features in neutral, Instagram-ready hues. Hire a videographer to make gorgeous footage of your property, with the spotlight on amenities for professionals close by, and you’ll be far more likely to succeed with your target market. 

On the other hand, if you have a fixer-upper to sell, you’re marketing to a DIY-ready Millennial who is motivated to save cash by remodeling on their own over the next few years. In this situation, you’ll be marketing the home’s high-quality bones, beautiful location, large lot, nearby community features, and the overall quality of the surrounding neighborhood. 

Analyze your home, collaborate with your Parks Real Estate Agent, and you’ll be able to decide just how to market to a narrower demographic. 

The Importance of Kitchens and Bathrooms for Millennial Buyers

Unless you’re selling to buyers in the top 20% income bracket, Millennials will not have the cash to redo the kitchen or bathrooms for several years after moving in. In fact, it has taken many years for them to save enough for a downpayment and closing costs.

Unless you’re selling to someone eager to DIY, freshly-updated kitchen and bathrooms will go a long way toward selling your home. Millennials want white cabinets, steel fixtures, easy-to-clean countertops, kitchen islands (at least a butcher block with storage), and gleaming, soft white or gray bathrooms. Give them this combo, and your home will make their Top 5 list off the bat.

Lights, Camera, Success

More than any previous generation, Millennials have a wealth of understanding of what makes for great lighting. This is thanks to their experience capturing photos and videos since before the first smartphones were released, but it has affected what they look for in a home’s lighting.

Make sure your lighting fixtures are updated, properly situated, soft-focus, and equipped with slightly warm-hued LEDs. Blue-green lighting will be a losing strategy, as will bare lighting beaming down from a central fixture. 

Keeping Up Appearances

Millennials aren’t just trying to impress their neighbors anymore; instead, they want everyone who sees their social media posts to be aware of their success, wealth, and good taste.

What you need to know is that your home’s interior doesn’t have to be packed with top-dollar materials in order to appeal to this sensibility within your desired demographic. Instead, team up with your stager to create an uncluttered interior with a few strategic touches of luxury-inspired design. Furniture, accessories, and fixtures can be all it takes to communicate that modern image of wealth. 

Paint Colors Matter

Interior design trends are swinging back toward rich interior colors, accent walls, and even richly-textured wallpaper.

Please note: none of that matters when you’re staging a home.

Instead, your job is to offer a canvas onto which buyers can project their dreams for their ideal color schemes. Consider soft cream, pale gray, a touch of taupe, or the palest hint of beachy green. Stick to white trim and white ceilings. Anything more saturated or personalized will be difficult for buyers to see past in order to envision the outcome they are hoping to achieve. 

Be Aware of the HGTV Effect

Millennials have been influenced by HGTV and similar networks, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, and they may consequently have a set idea of what they’re looking for before they’ve explored the real homes in their budget.

To bridge the potential gap between what they hope to see and the home you’re selling, it’s time to get to work. Install matching fixtures and hardware absolutely everywhere, upgrade the main doors and the garage door, make sure there’s fresh paint inside and out, tidy up the landscaping, lay fresh mulch, and clean every nook and cranny of the home to a high shine.

Finally, hire a stager who has a track record of successfully pulling in the market segment you’re after. Follow their advice when it comes to decoration, furniture arrangement, and window coverings; you’re in good hands, after all.

This tried-and-true approach will help Millennials see your home as ideal, even if they would have previously passed over it without a second glance. Unless they’re looking to reenact House Flippers, they want to move into a home that’s clean, updated, and easy to decorate. Show that this describes your home, and you will close the deal quickly!

The Takeaway

If you’re selling your home in 2024, there’s no time to lose. Start updating, painting, cleaning, and work with your real estate agent to hire a stager and a videographer. With the strategies we’ve outlined above, you can feel confident that your home will fly off the market.