THERE ARE MORE OF THEM THAN THERE ARE OF US

It’s no secret that the average age of a Realtor is a bit higher than the average age of most employees in other business sectors. Worse yet, the average age of brokerage owners is even higher. No wonder that the real estate profession sees the world through older, typically Baby Boomer, eyes.

Because the Baby Boomers are 77 million strong, they tend to view the world as “boomer centric.” They have been told for 20 years that they are the most impactful generation yet. Many Baby Boomers tend to be oblivious to the 82 million person bulge, known as Generation Y, or the Echo Boomers, just now entering their prime consumption years. There are, indeed, more of them than us!

This is important because, as anyone with children between the ages of 12 and 32 knows, the Echo Boomers think and behave differently from any generation that preceded them. They communicate differently and their expectations for consumer relationships are different.

Witness the proliferation of on-line sales versus traditional retail sales patterns over the past five years. Smart retailers have observed and reacted to this by offering consumers choices. They offer an interactive on-line shopping experience as well as traditional bricks and mortar stores. Those of us crafting the real estate brokerage business models of the future must do the same. Our future depends on it.