Tech Savvy Rentals for the Millennial Generation

It’s only natural that many multi-family property owners and property managers find themselves targeting their rental properties towards the largest age demographic of America’s rental market, the Millennial Generation. Millennials make up nearly 26% of the rental market, far larger than any other age demographics’ share according to a 2015 Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Study. This powerhouse generation also known as Generation Y is made up of a 25-34 year olds that are most frequently characterized as ambitious, impatient and always on cusp of the latest and greatest innovations in technology. As a result, there is a growing demand for owners and managers to equip and enhance their properties and rental procedures with technology features that will appease the millennials unwavering appetite for technology.

‍

MOBILE FRIENDLY AND ONLINE RENTAL PROCEDURES
‍

Smart phone accessible door locks.

To catch the millennials wandering eyes, marketing rental properties has turned to smartphone accessibility for nearly all tasks. Websites are optimized to be mobile friendly so that prospective renters can view photos, complete rental applications and schedule showings all via their smartphones. Once accepted, renters now benefit from online tenant portals, where they can pay their rent, submit maintenance requests and communicate with property managers with ease.

33 Management utilizes an online tenant portal for all the rental properties they manage. “It makes tracking maintenance requests, rental payments and communicating with tenants much more efficient. I can see the status of each maintenance request which helps me prioritize and dispatch maintenance personnel faster.” reports 33’s property manager, Allison Ludwig.  33’s property managers even have the option to text renters via Appfolio’s property management software. This allows building wide notifications to go out quickly to all residents in case of power outages or weather related warnings.

‍

HIGH TECH AMENITIES THROUGHOUT
‍

High Tech amenities also make the top of the list for today’s millennial renters.  Since streaming videos is a popular pass time of many millennials, equipping buildings with Wi-Fi access in common spaces such as laundry rooms and gyms or offering package deals with premium bandwidth service providers give multi-family buildings the cutting edge technology millennials look for in their new home. Some buildings take the technology demand even further by offering USB equipped outlets and smart phone controlled thermostats and electronic key access.

It looks as though the millennial generation will continue their rental market domination as they continue to enjoy the flexibility of renting over owning, especially as many are just embarking on their career paths and are still paying off massive student loan debts. This makes the technology savvy rental experience a popular and profitable trend when attracting the big fish of Generation Y.