The Millennial First-Time Home Buyer

Agent Proof Me (APM) founder Garry Glidden is a realtor with over 25 years of experience helping people from all ages and walks of life to find their perfect home. Not only does he know the Ontario real estate market in inside and out, Garry practices with a high degree of integrity and social consciousness. He is respected by his peers and others in the real estate market.

APM arose in 2014 from the need to help prospective home buyers find the right agent to manage their real estate transactions. Having seen the extreme range of individuals who are licensed Realtors? and knowing the significant impact a real estate agent can have, Garry began to help people find, not just good, but exceptional agents.

APM knows firsthand the steep learning curve and risks relating to buying your first home. The preparation for – and purchase of – real estate can also be stressful and fraught with unknown hurdles and unrealized expenses. This is especially true for those with high student loan debts who have only recently began their careers – many of whom are Millennials. And while there is a vast supply of information and advertisements on the internet and opinions on social media, there is no better way to learn than to have an experienced professional take the time to walk you through the process – without costing you a dime.

With the advent of online media, Millennials are the most scrutinized generation of all time by all market sectors. With such attention, comes the tendency to mark this generation as one cohesive group with the same needs, issues, trends and apparent failings. There have been many forecasts on what the Millennials will do next – many are unrealized. While some aspects may be true for many Millennials (such as wanting to be a part of creating positive social impacts and putting pressure on companies to change to more worker favourable practices), no generation has a one-size fits all persona. There is also no exact dividing line between generations – there is no firm agreement where one begins and another ends. It only makes sense that the changes are gradual – even if certain events can be identified as times of change.

This rather intense scrutiny has also created myths about Millennials and has been too quick to brand them as needy, narcissistic, lazy and indecisive. In addition, there seems to be little effort to see how all generations have commonalities – even though we have lived in different times. These commonalities create bridges between generations – to reduce the apparent gaps.

These similarities are more visible as Millennials, like other generations before them, are working hard to pay off their academic and other debts, purchase homes and raise families. Many are now moving to suburbs and edge cities where there is more bang for their buck. In addition, there were many Boomers and Gen-Xers (like those at APM) who pushed the boundaries (with varying degrees of success) much in the same way as Millennials are doing now. These are the leaders / early adopters of their age.

Jeremy Boudinet makes sense of the situation that Millennials now face in the work place (and other areas of their life).

“Recently, a New York Times feature on Millennials concluded with this wry quip from a group of marketing researchers: ‘No one truly understands millennials. Not even millennials.’ Isn’t this indicative of a generation that is not so much narcissistic as we are uncertain? Everyone’s calling for humility, but what I see is a need for direction. On a professional level, there is compelling evidence that Boomer and Gen-X mentorship is the cure for bridging the generation gap and “fixing” Millennials, for the betterment of all parties involved… So I beseech my prospective Boomer and Gen-X mentors out there: Mentor a Millennial.”

We believe that APM has come at just the right time for Millennial first time home buyers. Garry is a Gen-Xer with the right mix of experience, humility and integrity to help you find the right real estate professional for your needs.

Start your search for a real estate professional now or contact us to see how we can help.