SeniorStat™ is a unique suite of services developed by Thomas, Warren + Associates (TW+A) to provide developers with a deeper understanding of the mature housing market. SeniorStat answers questions about the feasibility of a project and identifies a cost effective targeted marketing strategy.
SeniorStat is unique because its analyses are based on:

+   How mature home buyers value amenities, not group psychographic profiles
+   Recent decisions of mature home buyers, not speculation on their future choices
+   Proven economic and state-of-the-art statistical models
+   An extensive database of the latest national information organized at the zip code level

TW+A recognizes that all but the largest housing developments located in well known retirement destinations must first market the surrounding community. The first attractor of any development is the greater community in which it is located. Accordingly, TW+A’s SeniorStat services focus first on the community and then on the development.
The three components of the SeniorStat suite of services are:

+   Competitive Analysis: Identifies a community’s amenity strengths and weaknesses and their potential to attract mature home buyers

+   Market Analysis: Identifies regional and national target market areas and estimates the development’s market penetration

+   Impact Analysis: Estimates the economic value of mature residents to a community
Only when mature adults discover what a community has to offer, do they become potential home buyers. TW+A provides developers with the market research to get their attention.

As complements to our SeniorStat services, TW+A provides:
+   Analysis of Housing Preferences: Statistical estimates of the prices of houses and their features that accommodate the preferences of potential mature home buyers
+   Customer Relations Management Services: A database management system designed and implemented by TW+A for initiating, maintaining, and updating lists of potential mature home buyers

Thomas, Warren + Associates (TW+A) recognizes that for most developments mature home buyers are first attracted by the community not the development. Accordingly, the Competitive Analysis component of our SeniorStat suite of services, identifies the relative abundance of a community’s amenities and the value potential mature home buyers place on these amenities.

TW+A’s Competitive Analysis answers three fundamental questions:

+   How does a community compare to other communities?
+   What amenities will attract retirees to a community?
+   How will the community amenity strengths and weaknesses impact a new housing development?

Based on similarities in geography, climate, socioeconomics and amenities, TW+A’s Competitive Analysis clusters sets of like communities competing for the same mature home buyers. Then, using this cluster of competing communities for comparison, TW+A identifies a community’s relative amenity strengths and weaknesses compared to others in its cluster. In addition, TW+A uses data on their past behavior to identify the values mature home buyers place on amenities. The result is the identification of the amenities that will attract the largest number of prospective home buyers and provides a foundation for persuasive communication with potential home buyers.

TW+A’s Competitive Analysis is instrumental to a developer’s understanding of:

+   What attracts mature home buyers to the community
+   What is needed to improve the area’s overall appeal to mature home buyers
+   What sets the community apart from its competitors
+   The amenity preferences of the mature market segment most likely to relocate to the
community and development
+   How a development’s amenities can complement its community’s needs

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The Market Analysis component of Thomas, Warren + Associates’ (TW+A) SeniorStat suite of services provides developers with the foundation for a cost effective, targeted marketing campaign directed at mature home buyers most likely to have an interest in the community where the development is located. Click here for a whitepaper on SeniorStat and finding the 50+ home buyer.

TW+A’s Market Analysis identifies:

+   The areas where marketing a community to potential mature home buyers will be most cost effective
+   The amenities that should be emphasized in marketing campaigns in each area
+   Estimates of the number of mature home buyers most likely to have an interest in relocating to the community where a development is located

TW+A recognizes that mature home buyers are most interested in relocating to a community where they feel comfortable. Thus, there is a tendency for mature relocating adults to move to a community or area where friends and former neighbors have moved. Based on established county-to-county migration patterns, areas are identified where mature households most likely to move to a community currently live.

These areas are further delineated by their socioeconomic characteristics (e.g., incomes, education, house values) by zip code within each area in order to identify households qualified to purchase homes. To further identify the most likely candidates for relocation, the amenity characteristics within the qualified zip codes are determined and compared to the amenities of the destination community. The result of this analysis is an accurate estimate of the number of potential mature home buyers most likely to relocate to a community. The market share of an individual development is apportioned out according to its housing characteristics relative to other comparable developments in the area.

TW+A’s Market Analysis provides:

+  An estimate of the number of potential home buyers 
+   A foundation for an effective marketing message
+   Market areas most likely to generate high response rates from advertising
+   Migration patterns of recent retirees into the community
+   Area specific, cost effective marketing strategies

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The Impact Analysis  component of Thomas Warren + Associates’ (TW+A) SeniorStat suite of services provides documentary evidence of the economic benefits of mature adults to support a developer’s negotiations with a community in which the development is located.

TW+A’s Impact Analysis identifies the economic impact of mature home buyers on the community by estimating:

+  The total local spending impacts of relocating retiree households
+  The total tax revenues generated by a relocating retiree household

The income, spending patterns, and housing values of mature residents who have recently moved into the community are estimated. Based on their spending patterns and local multipliers, their total economic impacts on the local economy (total spending and jobs created) are determined. The total local sales and property taxes generated by their relocation (including the spending and housing needs of those providing goods and services to them) are calculated. Finally, the monetary value of the volunteer services provided by the relocating mature home buyer is estimated. These estimates of the value of relocating mature residents can be used by developers to show the value of their development to the existing community.

The Impact Analysis provides information on:

+  The total economic impact that will be generated by a new, mature development
+  The local jobs created by the spending of a new development’s mature residents
+  The incremental spending changes that will be created by a new development
+  How much tax revenues increase as a result of the new mature development
+  The spending patterns of retirees by category of expenditure
+  A demographic profile of potential residents of a new development
+  In-migration patterns of recent retirees to the community
+  The monetary value of volunteer services provided by residents of a mature development

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A complementary service to Thomas, Warren + Associates’s (TW+A) SeniorStat suite of services,  Analysis of Housing Preferences assists a developer in making informed decisions concerning the housing options to offer mature adults most likely to move to a community and what they are willing to pay for those options.

TW+A’s Analysis of Housing Preferences is:

+   Based on observed behavior, not surveys or focus groups

+  Able to provide reliable answers in a relatively short time

Using the past decisions on housing prices and the marginal costs of structural features, the average and marginal prices of houses and their characteristics in the appropriate market area are inferred using traditional statistical methods and established economic models. The result of this analysis provides estimates of competitive housing prices and characteristics that will accommodate the preferences of most mature home buyers likely to relocate to the target community. It will also specify the additional price mature home buyers would be willing to pay for up-grades from the standard house characteristics.

TW+A’s Analysis of Housing Preferences provides statistically based estimates of:

+  Optimal house prices
+   Average and marginal values of housing characteristics
+  Customer feature preferences
+  The willingness of mature home buyers to pay for up-graded housing features

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Advertising is essential to develop an awareness of what a community or development has to offer, but its primary function is just that, awareness, not sales. Sales are the result of on-going communication between a development and a potential mature home buyer. To facilitate that communication, it is necessary to capture the names, addresses, and other socio-economic information about the potential mature home buyer as well as their housing preferences. As a compliment to our SeniorStat suite of services, Thomas, Warren + Associates (TW+A) provides a customer relations management (CRM) system to store and organize this information and to provide reminders of the need for communication with clients.

TW+A’s CRM services include:

+  Set up CRM database and templates for data entry
+  Host website to collect prospect information
+  Develop prospect questionnaire
+  Provide data entry and verification
+  Provide periodic and year end reports
+  Conduct statistical analysis of inquiries and estimates of response rates
+  Develop special reports

By implementing and monitoring the results of a marketing effort to attract mature home buyers, TW+A’s CRM services:

+  Provide the client with a hassle free, systematic data management system
+  Utilize client contact information collected from existing marketing efforts
+  Initiate and maintain contacts with prospective mature home buyers on a regular basis
+  Continually update lists of prospective mature home buyers
+  Document and track client contacts
+  Provide metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of a marketing campaign
+  Identify opportunities to improve and adjust marketing strategies

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