High School Class of 1968. If you're a Boomer like me, that doesn't seem all that long ago. And we're reaching the age of 65 at the rate of 10,000 per day, according to PEW Research. That's going to continue for the next 19 years!
High Opportunity
While many agents and loan officers bemoan the current long-lived housing downturn, others of us are taking advantage of a promotable competitive edge with this demographic group, creating a powerful marketing message, and reaping the benefits.
Low Competition
"But everybody knows this," you say, "Isn't there a lot of competition for this age group?" Surprisingly, the answer is a resounding NO! And that's the reason you might want to focus on this segment of the market.
Try this: do a Google keyword search for "baby boomers." At the moment, only three global searches rank "high" in the Competition column. These are
(1) baby boomer dating,
(2) baby boomer dating sites, and
(3) advertising to baby boomers.
This surprised me. I'm a Boomer, and we Boomers like to do research. A little more digging led me to two conclusions that may be useful for you as you evaluate this niche of the current real estate market.
Younger agents would prefer not to deal with us for a number of reasons. Here's why:
- We like to have someone pick up the phone when we call them.
- We don't like voicemail.
- We get ticked off when people don't return our calls.
- We're not addicted to texting.
- We're opinionated, and that can be intimidating to some agents and loan officers.
- We're not big on social media.
Boomers like to do business with other Boomers
- We tend to trust people of our own generation to do what they say they'll do. That trust doesn't generally extend to our kids' generation.
- We share the same historical context.
- We use the same contextual language. Words change meaning from generation to generation, and it's easier to converse with someone who "speaks my language."
Does this mean that younger agents cannot be successful with Boomers as a target market? Not at all. You can be very successful if you'll take those bullet points (above) to heart.
Don't text me. Call me.
Don't put me into voicemail if you can help it. Pick up the phone.
Don't expect me to respond to your "message" on facebook just because I have an account. I probably log on once a week or so...
...and loan officers...please don't take me for granted.
There's a world of opportunity out there, my friends. Grab it by the horns!
_____________________
I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson Arizona Mortgage Lender
NMLS #223495
SUNSTREET MORTGAGE LLC ~ Correspondent Mortgage Bank
Offices in Mesa, Tucson, Sierra Vista & Nogales
usdaruralhomeloans.com
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