From Daunting To Doable: How To Get Baby Boomers To Move
Lead nurturing for the 55+ consumer is crucial. The key focus of marketing for active adult communities is to help these buyers envision themselves in your community, living the "next adventure" life they've always desired. Highlighting the benefits of the 55+ community lifestyle can significantly aid in this process.
However, the thought of what's involved in selling their current home is daunting, so much so that it may likely stand in the way of them deciding to buy your new home sooner rather than later. If these prospective buyers are interested in your homes and community, you need to be the helpful and knowledgeable resource they need to commit and say ‘yes’ to the best move of their life. Here are some ways to engage this buyer group and pull them out of their current homes:
Enticing Engagement. If these prospective buyers have visited your community, continue to grow their interest with emails filled with happy, smiling residents that outline the community’s activities, events, and amenities. Send invites to get-togethers that further the consumers’ journey toward figuring out whether they fit in and like the people within the community.
Longevity Rules. Moving into your new home community is likely going to help those 55+ consumers who want to live a healthier, happier, and longer life. Growing data support this premise and can — and should — be presented to prospective buyers. Effective 55+ sales associates ask questions to understand their prospects' daily routines and what they love and hate about their current home and neighborhood. Elevating the pain points of their current situation is critical to helping them find the right home within your community.
The Money Pit. Many of your prospects are living in homes that are decades old. Beyond the ongoing maintenance of a larger home and a yard that requires upkeep, time, and money, big-ticket repairs also are happening more frequently. Help them do the math as you compare and contrast the benefits of a new home.
Moving Matters. Consider the idiom that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. This mindset will prove helpful when outlining the entire moving process to take the perceived pressure off your customer. Along the way, educate them and provide access to experts who can help at various stages.
Is It Possible to Make Moving Fun?
One way for 55+ communities to help move along the moving process is by hosting events that directly address what needs to be done when preparing to move. The mantra at a 55+ community is often, “It’s more fun to do anything with friends,” so why not apply that concept to preparing to move? Create events hosted by your community’s lifestyle director, including beverages and snacks, and bring in subject-matter experts to deliver the content.
Your sales associates should personally invite their best prospects, and your marketing team can send emails to your customer database. Strategically coupling the lifestyle proposition with get-your-home-sold content continues the emotional ties to the community while giving your consumers the tools they need to move. Getting a group of people in a room to have a great time in your community will give your customers the tools to overcome the challenges of selling their current home. This kind of event not only shows it is worth living in this community, but also that they are not alone in this process as they are meeting future neighbors and friends who are going through it, too.
Possible event themes can include:
- the benefits of right-sizing your home
- how to prepare your home for sale
- tips from local real estate agents/brokers on how to sell your home and find a listing agent
- strategies for selling in a high-interest-rate market
- outlining mortgage options for the active adult consumer, such as the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, specifically for buyers 62 and older.