Your toughest critics may very well be the children of your clients. Their children’s input on a home carries a lot of weight. Nearly two-thirds of all home buyers say their children have input on what type of home they plan to buy, according to newly released data from Bank of America’s Homebuyer Insights Report, based on nearly 5,000 adults surveyed.
First-time home buyers are more likely to say their children have influence than other buyers. Seventy-four percent of first-time buyers said their children had a major influence on the type of home they purchased, while 58 percent of current owners said their children had a strong pull.
Family decisions in real estate are an important guide. After all, homeownership is most associated with the word “family” to 53 percent of current owners and 47 percent of first-time buyers, according to the study.
The study also found that many children, even as they reach adulthood, don’t plan to move out anytime soon. They may like the free rent. “Boomerang kids”—adult children who are living at home—tend not to pay rent to live at home, the study showed. Sixty-four percent of the adults surveyed said they aren’t charging their adult kids rent, while 34 percent said they were.
Further, when the adult children do finally move out, they aren’t likely to go far from home. Four in 10 of first-time buyers say they will move closer to their immediate family and one-quarter will move closer to extended family, according to the survey.
Source: “Homebuyer Insights Report,” Bank of America (September 2017)
