We all have opinions about what residents are looking for when they rent their next home. Unfortunately, the problem is these are just opinions. To really get it right, you have to actually get inside the prospects' heads. The best way to do this is to talk to residents. I definitely recommend doing some of this. However, since this article is about what is going on in resident heads when they are choosing homes, let's talk about some of the things that recent surveys and events have shown about this.
First, there are some external factors effecting consumer that we as investors and managers should be thinking about when we are determining our marketing and leasing strategies. Some of these are:
A high percentage of new renters will speak Spanish as their first language.
Homeownership is badly tarnished and unlikely to recover to previous levels for decades if ever.
Consumer credit changes still further pushes households toward renting.
Consumers are more saving focused than they have been in decades.
Household size is going to fall dramatically as the Echo Boomers leave home.
Perhaps in some ways, recognizing the macro factors is the best starting place to understand demand factors. In some ways, consumers are not even conscious of these points as they making their renting decisions. Nevertheless, they will impact feature, form, size, and cost factor acceptability dramatically for owners. In short, without paying attention to macro consumer demand factors your rental property may fail.
Next, we need to consider how consumer demand is working in the current environment. The fact is the vast majority of renters will find your property one of three ways. These include: 1) word of mouth and local awareness, 2) signage, and 3) through internet marketing sources. Because of this, the first issue is to establish optimum visibility in these areas. Given visibility, the key next items are number of access to employment, shopping, and other community features, bedrooms, unit features, and amenities in that order. With these gross items identified, the key is your capacity to (as was highlighted earlier) dig into the specific consumer demand issues by as narrowly as possible focusing on your target market.
If you have properties in the area you are targeting or if you are dealing with a specific project, surveys for incoming and exiting residents divided into the group that chose your property and the group that did not choose you property are perhaps the best approach. This could be supplemented with a survey service doing the same with competing rental projects. Armed with this information, you will have a strong foundation for a powerful marketing campaign.
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