The housing industry is keeping a close watch on hipsters. But they’re not really sure what that means.
A well-respected and oft-cited realty publication took a deep interest into the lives of “hipsters” when vice president of RealtyTrac Daren Blomquist wrote an article Wednesday titled “Top 20 Zip Codes for Flipping Homes to Hipsters” (no New England zip codes are on the list).
What is a hipster? Blomquist is admittedly not sure, though he appears to be using the term interchangeably — and perhaps regretabbly — with “Millenial” and any human being in the age category 25 to 34. “Why are hipsters not becoming homeowners?” he asks.
Naturally, because the Pew Research Center says Millenials are living with their parents — and Millenials is “a demographic heavy with hipsters,” says Blomquist. He sees more opportunity than anything in the hipsters or Millenials or humans aged 25-34 because of the untapped potential of new homeowners.
We’re sure all the hipsters love him for his altruistic positivity. Still, in a 600-word article, he gets a tad trigger happy rapping out”‘hipster” on the keyboard a whopping 17 times, headers and graphics notwithstanding.
Speaking of graphics, we tip our hats to the folks at RealtyTrac for this bespectacled and mustachioed gem.
If you were wondering this isn’t Blomquist’s first foray into modern youth’s (not-so-sub)culture.
Back in November he rattled off the “25 best places to rent to hipsters” where he revealed his ignorance right in the first sentence: “While the precise definition of hipsters is elusive — which is likely just how they want it — there’s no doubt the culture surrounding the hipster lifestyle has a major impact on local real estate markets, and mostly in a positive way.”
It should be noted that we assess Blomquist only narrowly escapes the demographic he’s writing about, judging by a quick Google Image search.
So if you’re looking for a home and call yourself a hipster, Millenial, or anyone between 25 and 34, drop Daren a line and pounce on one of those foreclosed homes before the flippers do.
[Photo: Gene J. Puskar/AP]
