Capturing Empty Nesters

Each type of home buyer looks for a specialized set of requirements in a new home. Empty nesters are no different. In her book Sales and Marketing Checklists, Jan Mitchell gives the following tips on how to show a model to this niche market:

• Use irrigations systems, rock gardens and smaller areas of grass to demonstrate easy yard maintenance.
• Because many of these customers are downsizing, use garden walls and landscaping so the size of the house isn't so obvious.
• Demonstrate security systems.
• Use secondary bedrooms as specialized rooms, such as an office, a den or a sewing room.
• Show a guest room or a room for elderly parents.
• Create the atmosphere that the model is in use. For instance, put food on a bar or cards on a game room table. Advertising and promotional materials can be tweaked to cater to these buyers. Mitchell’s suggestions include:
• Depict an active lifestyle using activities such as golf and tennis.
• Create a sense of community by including photos of residents socializing on a walking path or in a gazebo.
• Emphasize the low-maintenance lifestyle by using shots of a resident mowing an expansive lawn and then lying on a hammock next to a rock garden near a waterfall.
• Offer a year's free service to a lawn and garden company.