Brooke Morgan’s family has been in the Atlanta real estate community for more than 40 years, and she is a third-generation realtor now working for RE/MAX Unlimited alongside her husband, Justin.
“I was surrounded by real estate conversations my entire life while growing up,” Morgan says. “I have been privileged to be a full-time realtor for over three years.”
With her team taking 23rd for REMAX teams in the state of Georgia, Morgan credits her success to word of mouth. “The majority of our clientele are friends that we have known, which has lead to more friend referrals of people our age,” says Morgan, who was named 2015 Rookie of the Year in her office.
Below, Morgan shares more on her experience with Millennial homebuyers and how she has helped members of her own generation find the perfect home.
What do you think Millennial homebuyers prioritize when looking for a new home?
In my experience as a realtor, I have seen a turn of what Millennials are looking for in general. Not only can they easily search online for properties, but also with the rise of HGTV and home shows like “Fixer Upper,” we see that many young people and young families have the mentality of wanting to fix up things themselves. They’re not afraid of projects, like removing a wall or changing out a countertop. The open floor plan has become wildly popular with young families that like to have company over, entertain and have family time together. Another thing Millennials are interested in is access to fun restaurants and places of outside activity, like walking or biking trails, parks and a place of a community.
Where are the most popular areas in metro Atlanta that Millennials are currently buying?
Our clientele consists mainly of buyers and sellers who may work in the city but want to live outside of the Interstae 285 Perimeter. In this case, good school systems are a huge factor, also being close to areas that still allow them to experience the perks of city life. This gives them the opportunity to have a larger lot, if they choose, for organic gardening and maybe a small chicken coop, which would be much more difficult to have inside the city. From our experience in the last few years, Millennials have begun to move further north into places like Cherokee County and northern Fulton County. Here they can find a larger home, larger lot and more for their money than what they could buy in the city of Atlanta. But they still have easy access to Downtown if they choose to move to areas like Woodstock, Roswell, Crabapple and Alpharetta.
Do you think there are any unfair stereotypes or myths about Millennial homebuyers?
being in our late 20s, we are very familiar with the stereotypes. When it comes to the homebuying process, we have found Millennials to be prepared, hardworking and willing to be guided through the process. They appreciate integrity, honesty, quick responses and being told everything upfront. When we are servicing a client, we always strive to find out quickly their desired mode of communication. Most Millennials like texting, because they have multiple things going on in their lives at one time. We try to answer every phone call and text immediately, and our clients know we can always be reached.
One thing we do try and caution Millennials about is to avoid sharing every emotion on social media. For instance, when there is a challenge in the process — which always happens at some point — we encourage them to give us time to resolve and work through challenges before venting to their entire social community. Almost always, we are able to find solutions to these challenges. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are all great tools and sources of information and community. We love to see our clients celebrating the homebuying process on social media, and we celebrate with them as well! It is such an honor being a part of such an important time in their lives and we quickly become such great friends, even after the homebuying process has completed.