So we’ve all heard at least one place that Generation Y is huge, important, young, arrogant, etc. I’m Gen Y and I’m not the only person here who is, but I was doing a mind-catalog of others I know in the industry, and couldn’t think of too many other Gen Y professionals. There are a ton of Boomers and Generation X, but not much Gen Y.
People Buy From People They Trust
We’ve heard it all before, but if it holds true, don’t most people trust people they can relate to? Can’t I relate best to someone else who has also grown up on the internet, had a blog and thinks it’s okay to text message during a date?
Note: The average age of my close group of friends is actually 40+, so I don’t 100% fit the stereotypes.
Gen Y Is Missing From This Side Of The Table
Are all of the Gen Y people the programmers at sites like Trulia and Redfin? Do they work in the IT departments for John L Scott and Keller Williams? I sure don’t see too many young peoples faces on postcards.
I know when I worked for a title company, we had a couple of Gen Y’ers a few more Gen X’ers, but a large number of people much closer to retirement with no replacements coming soon.
I’ve even asked using the correct hashtag via Twitter during the Inman Connect New York Conference for a show of hands of Gen Y people and have heard from 3. That seems odd to me, a conference focusing on the changes needed in the real estate industry yet the largest (real estate buying) age group of our country isn’t represented adequately.
Diversify
Do we need to diversify our work teams? I completely understand the value of experience which is why I’ve never refused to accept professional help from someone because they were older than me, but I also know age does not equal wisdom. Should the smart, experienced agents, mortgage brokers, appraisers and title people need to scout out younger people to join their teams, learn the real estate skills (since odds are they already have the online marketing skills) and help really move the industry into the future? Or are Gen Y’ers too fickle and prone to changing professions that it isn’t worth the time to train them?
Ageism
I’ve spoken to groups of real estate professionals about generational marketing many times, the average age I would guess to be around 55 and even though I promote a multi-generational marketing approach, I get cheered when talking about marketing to Boomers and jeered when talking about marketing to Gen Y’ers. “They’re just going to do it themselves since they think they’re smarter” is something I’ve heard more than once.
Generation Why?
Why aren’t there more Generation Y people on the professional side of real estate?
