An Emoji is Worth a Thousand Words

This column celebrates those who are most often underrepresented at condo associations, Millennials, i.e. those born between 1981 and 1997. For those who can't add quickly, or at all, like me, Millennials are those who will be between 21 and 37 years of age in 2018. They don't usually show up at condo association meetings.

When I look around at condo association meetings, I see mostly older people, Boomers and the elderly (I'm one of both, being over 55, but at the tail end of the Boomer Generation.) But most Owners do not attend condo meetings, and I wonder if it's because Boards of Director often overlook the population most likely to affect life at condo associations in the coming years, the Millennials. Why?

Condos are, for many if not most, the new starter homes as builders have gone from building Capes to Colonials to Colossals, so the default option for many people, is not a single-family home, but life in a Condo. So, a few facts gathered from the Community Association Institute about Millennials:

• Millennials are the first generation to only know life with computers

• Millennials are the first generation with 24/7 access to information

• Marriage rates have declined, as only 28% of the Millennial generation were married between the ages of 18 and 33

• Only 4% of the members of this generation have been divorced

• Approximately 99% of the members of this generation are internet users

• The average U.S. Millennial spends 3.1 hours a day on a mobile phone — totaling 21.7 hours a week or 1,128 hours (47 days) a year. Individuals aged 46-65 spend 1.2 hours a day on mobile phones

• Millennials are the largest pet owning generation and own 35% of all pets in the USA, including more than half of the non-traditional pets such as reptiles, small animals and, interestingly, saltwater fish

• They were projected to comprise 33% of all homebuyers in 2017, and their influence on the housing market in general and in condominium associations will only grow over time (http://blog.contactually.com/real-estate-statistics-for-2017/)

A few takeaways from these figures are that you can turn your Association into a more Millennial-friendly condo association or choose not to do so. But if you choose not to do so, condo prices will start to drop in your association as the pool of prospective buyers will start to drop. So, it's likely best as a Board charged with maintaining and increasing the value of Units to consider ways to make Millennials more welcome.

For starters, think about streaming Board and Association meetings. Make it easier, not more difficult for people to attend. Statutory changes in 2016 allow associations, if language is in the Bylaws, to have members attend electronically. So, maybe start researching in 2018 how to stream meetings in 2019, and post the stream on your website. (And, by the way, if you haven't yet created an Association website, you've just really dated yourself as a Board.)

Millennials, as noted above, are waiting longer to get married, which also means waiting to have kids … which means more pets. And in some cases, the increased use of social media (where people overwhelmingly only post positive images of themselves leaving the Millennial viewer to have lower self-esteem compared to every other person not on the Web) when combined with lack of fulfillment at work leads to higher rates of depression which leads to a greater prevalence of emotional support animals (discussed in an earlier column). And Millennials, as noted, don't have as many traditional pets, such as dogs and cats, as other, i.e. older, generations. What to do?

Have a broader Pets Policy that does not limit to certain types, but gives Boards the ability to remove any pet if it has become a nuisance.

More next time, on electric cars, solar panels and cyber security.