Youth Focus Group

Mary Stanisz, our Brighton High School intern, updated training attendees at Thursday's meeting on the focus group she conducted recently among her peers. I asked her to summarize her findings so I could post on the blog. Here it is:

A class full of marketing two students participated in a focus group involving real estate and technology. The class, consisting of mostly seniors, will be purchasing homes within the near future, so it is key to gain information on ways real estate companies can reach them. Many don’t know how to go about buying a home. Providing them with valuable information, such as credit and loans, will benefit them when they face the home market.

Teens now use technology such as Facebook, Myspace, and text message to communicate. They are able to learn about events through these sources. Images and interactive activities are important in order to capture your audience on a
website. They look for these things to intrigue them to stay on a website for
longer periods of time. Technology is what many would use in order to begin
their process in looking for a home. To target the teen market you must use
these technological advances to inform them.

Coming from a town which is considered wealthy, many children depend on their parents to do everything for them. They don’t have experience buying their own car or other related things that other kids may have. By showing them the right way to do things it will help them become successful first-time home buyers.

A few other things I'll add that I thought were interesting:

• Mary shared that they use Google almost exclusively for their searches.
• They prefer Facebook to MySpace.
• They want fast responses to their inquiries. Always within same day, but prefer sooner.
• They won't register on websites, unless they get something of importance to them that they can't get anywhere else without registering. If so, they may register later so they can continue getting information that is of value to them.
• Most said they wanted a smaller home than their parents. Many said their parents' home was too big even now and can be embarrassing.
• They said they thought they needed $10,000 in the bank in order to purchase a home, but they were aware it depended on price of home and your income. The group thought they would be purchasing their first home in their mid 20's. Most of them expect to remain in Michigan.

Mary has done a great job for us the last couple months and it has been a pleasure having her here. She has written text for the featured homes on our website, has created Craigslist ads, has done some data clean-up for us and assisted with our recent open house.