Are you a prospective Millennial home buyer or know someone who is? In the U.S., Millennials are today’s youngest signature generation. Their spending power, cultural influence and priorities are impacting how many industries conduct business nowadays, and the home-building industry is no different.

Millennials, by definition, are those who began their early adult years in the 2000s. Think those with birthdays in the 1980s and the 1990s. Per a recent National Association of Realtors report, millennials now are the biggest home-buying group — a whopping 34 percent.

Let’s examine what we know about how Millennials approach buying a home. We at ICI Homes interact with customers of all ages, from many generations. We’ve built new custom homes all over the state of Florida for more than three decades, so we’ve been trend-spotting for a while!

Here are some suggestions to help Millennial home buyers and industry pros happily do business together.

Understand the pace of business

Home buyers no longer peruse want ads, drive around looking for for-sale signs, or head to a real estate company’s office to pick up a printed circular of listings. We’re being at bit general, but you likely know what we mean.

Our phones, laptops and computer tablets give us instant access to all sorts of real estate info, so Millennial home buyers and sales pros had better be ready to react if they’d like to buy the exact new home they want, or they’d like to sell a new home to a potential customer, respectively.

Millennials live on their phones — both via email and texts. Today’s real estate pros and builders undoubtedly do too, but if not, it’s time to “get with it.” Millennial customers value speed in the flow of information.

Talk techno with each other

This is a corollary to the above, and equally important. Millennial home buyers and their real estate sales people need to be able to speak the same language.

A broker may have to explain basic home-buying procedures and terms to younger customers, but the same broker needs to be able to zero in on the exact info he or she needs on a digital device in order to explain it.

Social media? You bet it will matter. Millennial home buyers will cruise platforms for ratings and feedback, while simultaneously searching for model-home photos and new listings. The same level of detail should be on a home builder’s website; it needs all the current bells and whistles.

Eliminate the paper trail

A few things still require a printer, but not many. A mortgage specialist checks a Millennial’s home buyer’s credit reports online and receives the results while that customer sits in his or her office.

Necessary forms can be filled out via email attachments. Photos, online links and contact information can be texted. An exception is a business card, which remains a nice touch, both for the real estate pro and the Millennial customer.

One piece of paper Millennials might hang onto is an infographic. They’re used to digesting IGs in all forms of today’s media. So summarizing a new community’s critical selling points in an easy-to-read, by-the-numbers fashion, might be a good sales move.

Ready to embark on a Millennial home-buying experience? Start here.