Council Aims to Promote SFR-BTR Sector by Standardizing Its Terminology
Group provided guidance on how to “gain favor among consumers,” “win over municipalities,” “optimize search-engine visibility.”
An emphasis that “no one is living above or below” is among the key recommendations that a 20-member New Home Trends Institute’s Build-to-Rent council recently gave to help promote the single-family and build-to-rent markets.
The group gathered to provide the industry with some missing clarity and consistency in terminology, according to John Burns Consulting.
The single-family rental and build-to-rent housing sectors stand a lot to gain in marketing and public perception by determining nomenclature when it comes to their product and its listings.
Among its recommendations was to use build-TO-rent (BTR), instead of build-FOR-rent (BFR), because build-to-rent receives more traction on multiple fronts: Google traffic, #hashtag followers, and citations in the press.
‘Home’ Is Better than ‘Multifamily’
To appeal to municipalities, use these keywords: Home is a better word than multifamily, product type, unit, or apartment. Use individual addresses rather than unit numbers when possible.
Professionally managed rental home community is the most accurate and accepted verbiage for the innovation that is sweeping the country right now.
To “lease” better conveys the long-term nature of the agreement than rent, possibly due to the terminology related to leasing a car (long term) vs. renting a car (at the airport).
Note that consumers typically google “home for rent,” so both terms have their advantages.
It said to attract consumers developers should highlight that it has private yards, low maintenance, pet-friendly, no one living above or below, and a private/secure community.
It also provided guidance on how to “gain favor among consumers,” “win over municipalities,” “optimize search-engine visibility” and to “reach the broadest audience.”
Deana Vidal, Senior Manager, Trend Consulting, John Burns Consulting, said in her column on the topic, “Consistent definitions will reduce complexity within our industry. Rather than defining communities differently, consider using the terms above and refining your home designs under each category”
Nathan Pile, president and owner, Curve Development, tells GlobeSt.com, “Many developers in this space prefer to call out the communities as single family for rent (SFR) homes. That is the product we’re marketing to potential residents — it’s not a horizontal apartment. It’s an entry-level, single-family detached home.”
Pile said that regarding online search options, “private backyard” and “pet-friendly” are both great selling points and amenities that renters are looking for.