What Millennials Want: How to Attract Millennials to Fill Your Apartment Vacancies

To fill open units and reduce vacancies, you need to know what millennials look for in apartments to rent, then exceed their expectations. While millennials have somewhat different values and preferences than other tenants, with a few tweaks you’ll be able to adjust your approach to attract them.

What Millennials Want in Apartments

Many millennials are long-term renters who are not prepared to buy a home anytime soon but want flexibility in their living arrangements in case they need to move for work or a relationship. They might have a high amount of student loan debt and need predictable expenses so they can set aside income to pay their loans.

Even if they are on a budget, millennials still want to go out and enjoy life. They prefer apartments located near restaurants, bars, cafes, nightclubs, parks, gyms, and other places they can hang out, be social, and entertain themselves.

Yet these renters are not just party animals. Millennials care deeply about the environment. They insist upon recycling at a minimum (composting is a plus). They want to curb water and electricity usage, and enjoy finding new ways to conserve, reduce, and reuse. As much as these renters love being online and using social media, they also like to hang out in person and value community.

They prefer to stream shows on the internet, so fast internet is a key to keeping these tenants happy. On a related note, the internet is their first-choice tool for everything from ordering up food delivery to looking for apartments. You absolutely must be online to connect with these renters.

Millennials also tend to be phone shy. Instead of calling you on the phone or meeting with you in person, they’ll probably opt to send a quick text or email.

Ideas to Make Your Apartments More Attractive to Millennial Renters

Now that you know what millennials like, you can position your open units as modern, efficient, and community-oriented to appeal to these renters. There are many ways to go about it.

Ways to make your apartment modern:

• Develop an attractive website to show off your open units and evidence of your modern approach to property management
• Allow renters to apply online and pay rent electronically
• Let renters make maintenance requests online
• Use millennials’ preferred communication methods of email and text message when possible
• Create social media accounts for your apartment complexes to build an online community

Ways to make your apartment efficient:

• Install low-flow toilets and shower heads in bathrooms
• Use compact fluorescent or LED lights in common areas
• Offer recycling and composting services on site
• Insulate your property to reduce drafts and slash utility bills
• Switch to energy-efficient appliances when upgrading units
• Use programmable thermostats in common areas to keep expenses low
• Have an Earth Day event at your apartment complex
• Adopt solar panels, wind power, or another source of renewable energy
• Showcase all the eco-friendly steps you take on social media and on your website to attract renters who care about their environmental impact

Ways to make your apartment community-oriented:

• Advertise neighborhood amenities, from bars and restaurants to farmers’ markets and parks
• Show photos of community perks (like your swimming pool or picnic area) on your website
• Host parties, movie nights, or social hours – and then post pictures on your website
• Engage with renters on your social media channels
• Have a virtual bulletin on your website where residents can engage and connect with each other

It is illegal to actively discriminate against renters of any age, so make sure not to explicitly turn anyone away from renting an apartment because they are or are not of millennial age. The good news is, all of these millennial-friendly strategies you adopt will make your apartment a better place for all renters in your community.

Article originally published here: https://www.appfolio.com/blog/2016/05/how-to-make-your-apartments-attractive-to-millennials/