Columbia SC Real Estate hits the big time:

http://www.realestateradiousa.com/blog/2008/05/25/why-generation-y/

As I told all of you yesterday, I had my first blog post posted on Real Estate Radio USA! You can read that on this blog, but above is a direct link to that post.

Without further ado, I bring you this post:

Why Generation Y?

We (Gen Y) don’t read newspapers. Snail-mail? Forget about it. What’s a LAN line? I have a Blackberry. Why call me? Send me a Facebook Message instead, or better yet, send me a Tweet. By the way, did you see that video on YouTube? It rocks! The guy did the thing in the place…you know which one I am talking about!

We are who we are. We can’t help it. I am sorry, but we won’t change. YOU must adapt to serve us. It is simple. Don’t act young, be young, be technological, transparent, know what you are talking about.

Generation Y, which I am proudly a member of, is different. As demonstrated above, we are not your typical client. But guess what! We buy houses too. Want our business? Communicate with us HOW we want to be communicated with!

Long are the days of cold calling us, IF you can find our phone number (more than likely we only have a cell phone that does more than most people’s computer).

Being armed with this, how does the average Real Estate Agent get through to us? It’s quite simple, but first, why would you want to get through to us?

Generation Y started with the first births of 1983. At the present, they would be 25 years old at the oldest. Growing up with computers in the classroom, AOL Instant Messenger, and progressive technologies, we have grown with them. They are a part of our life and we utilize them as much as we can.

By most ‘older’ people’s standards, we are socially stunted. We don’t talk anymore. We send SMS messages across the room while we could easily just speak. We send messages on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. Our lives are open on the Internet speaking some of our darkest secrets in front of millions of people.

So Mr. Real Estate Agent, you want to work with a member of the infamous Gen Y. God bless you, but hold on to your hat! It might be a bumpy ride for you.

We need our hands held through a transaction. Our parents always did everything for us. We think we are always right; after all, we always got a Trophy in every sport we played in, even if we were horrible. So praise us, hold our hand. We live for this.

WHY do you need Gen Y clients? We are the future. Today we are buying houses. We hold technology jobs that start at $100k a year. We can buy houses. We want to buy a house, it feels safe. We are open to you working with us.

Most importantly: We do not have friends in the Real Estate Business. We think of our parents’ friends who may be a Real Estate Agent as outdated, old. Why would we want them to help us buy a house? Can they even text message us when we get a counter offer? We are busy, without time for a phone call.

Still want to work with Generation Y? Good. We are the future.

Real Estate Agents often hear of Social Media such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and several other sites. Why is Gen Y on these social media platforms? I don’t know…but we are nosey and like to know everyone’s business. So get on there. Lay out your information. Don’t broadcast us a message. Don’t you dare do that! We want to feel important, send us an individual message.

If we are thinking about purchasing a house, we more than likely have been looking for a while on the Internet. Are your houses on Zillow? Trulia? Oh, you’re on Realtor.com, great…

Profiles are important. Does your profile on different Social Media or Real Estate websites still state “Post Your Information Here?” Well, I am going on to the next Real Estate Agent with his picture, bio, videos, and the fact that I can contact him in a thousand different ways without hearing his voice.

Do you have an email address and website? Do you check your email? Once a day, maybe twice? Good luck! Generation Y wants instant gratification. More than likely we have emailed about 10 other people. At least one of their Blackberries buzzed signaling a message. The early bird got the worm.

To sum it all up, working with a Generation Y client will either be the easiest transaction you have ever done, or it will be the hardest. And never say LOL. Please.