Millennials entering homebuyer’s market

The generation known as millennials, those born between about 1982 and 2000, has become the largest generation in U.S. history at 83.1 million strong. Westchester and Fairfield counties”™ real estate markets areÂ hoping to attract those potential buyers and, according to some of the region”™s brokers, millennials are transitioning from renting to buying and are increasingly becoming some of the most sought after clientele.

But putting this new generation of buyers into homes of their own is not without its challenges.

J. Philip Faranda, a broker and owner of J Philip Real Estate in Briarcliff Manor, estimated that more than half of his firm”™s buyers are millennials, a figure he said is hard to track because asking about age is a fairÂ housing violation. Nationally, the millennial age group is estimated to make up about a third of the home-buying market, according to a 2015 National Association of Realtors report, which considers millennials to be anyone under 34.

“(Millennial) purchasing power is growing and is going to be the bulk of the economy in the coming years. We owe it to ourselves, in any industry, to learn what makes them tick and serve the demand,” Faranda, who has been in real estate for 20 years, said.

Ken Jacobi, a treasury associate manager at Purchase-based PepsiCo Inc., is a millennial in the home-buying market who said the process has been strenuous at times. He has rented in Stamford for about five years. He and his girlfriend began looking at buying a house more than a year ago.

“It became very clear the market in Fairfield County and Westchester was ridiculously expensive and you really have to plan out how it”™s going to work,” he said. “It made sense to rent for a little longer, and re-look at the situation” after saving more money.

Now, Jacobi said they are starting to look again with the hope of closing on a single-family house or town house by next August.

In addition to the house prices, Jacobi said student loan debt has made the process challenging.

“You have to get a lot more creative and work a lot harder because of the fact that you have a really expensive market and a lot of other expenses that our parents didn”™t have,” he said.

Jacobi said this time around he is more aware of sacrifices he”™ll have to consider, like size or moving to a cheaper area like New Haven County, in order to be a first-time homebuyer in the next year or so.

Anne Marie Gianutsos, digital director of Houlihan Lawrence Real Estate, an independently-owned firm with more than 20 offices in the suburbs north of New York City, said trends in millennial home-buying are running counter to those of the previous generation.

“Overall, (millennials have) accumulated less wealth in their lives than previous generations,” she said. And therefore, “we notice people wanting to live beneath their means rather than stretch more than what they could afford.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge for brokers will be transitioning the generation from renting ”” which millennials are doing longer than previous generations ”” orÂ living inÂ their parents”™ homes, another trend for this age group, into their own houses.

Real estate competition is stiff in the region, with an increasing number of transit-oriented rental developments, which are designed to attract millennials ”” who value accessibility and walkability ”” opening and under construction.

Martin Ginsburg, founder and principal of Ginsburg Development Cos., said millennials might be more likely toÂ remain renters because they saw their parents deal with the housing crisis during the Great Recession.

Gail Fattizzi, a broker and executive director of Eastchester-based Westchester Real Estate Inc., said millennials are exercising caution in the housing market, which isn”™t necessarily a bad thing.

“There”™s an understanding real estate can create wealth if they”™re smart about it,” she said. “(Millennials) don”™t want to make the mistake their parents or family members made in over-extending themselves; they”™re more cautious that way.”

Faranda said he”™s also noticed millennials are more cautious.

“They”™ve lived in Brooklyn. They”™ve lived in Manhattan,” he said. “They may be inclined to rent to see the community first, prior to committing to living in a community because renting allows them to be a little more agile and nimble about where they”™ll put down their roots forever.”

Ultimately, Faranda said, the suburbs are where people move to settle down, often after marrying.

“That”™s not strictly a millennial thing; that”™s always been a trend,” he said, but “it”™s a little more pronounced these days.”

That was the case for Leanne Arnow and her husband. Both are from Westchester and decided to come back to the suburbs after spending years in New York City.

ArnowÂ said she and her husband were lucky that they were able to move back to the county they grew up in.

“We had been renting apartments in the city for years before we decided to move,” she said. “We wanted a place where we could set down our roots and have our kids live like our childhood.”

The process of buying a house, Arnow said, is challenging no matter how old someone is, but it didn”™t deter her and her husband from moving.

Getting over hesitations about the buying process and seeing peers buy homes will help millennials have a better idea of what to expect, Fattizzi said.

“At the end of it, they become homeowners,” she said. “Is still part of the American dream for whatever generation ”” and, yes, that changes …Â from generation to generation ”” but I think it”™s still something that most people strive for.”