The Apartment Tour Checklist to Make Your Property Stand Out
There was a time when touring an apartment had to be done in person and with a leasing specialist. There was no platform or way to have multiple tour types, schedule them, and make sure they were all effective and tailored experiences to the prospect. The more personalized a tour can be, the more likely the rental prospect will sign a lease.
In the last few years, virtual leasing and leasing AI really have taken off in the multifamily industry. While the pandemic sped things up, the trajectory has always been going towards virtual. Consumer buying habits have changed over the last decade and more major life purchases are being done completely online. Purchases, like a new car, that we never thought could be done online.
Leasing and apartment renting were bound to come this way eventually. The new generation of renters, Gen Z, have grown up in a digital world and expect automation and instant gratification. This generation wants the ability to do it all from their couch on their laptop or phone. Before we get to the ultimate apartment tour checklist, we need to talk about the tech you need in order to meet these needs.
Getting Started: The Virtual Leasing Tech You’ll Need
Platforms like Realync make it so much easier to host virtual tours on your site or with prospects. From pre-recorded videos to live tours, the options for video tours give prospects the ability to tour an apartment even if they live out of town or are feeling ill. This kind of accommodation is a must-have in the digital and artificial intelligence era.
With pre-recorded and live videos, leasing teams can point out specific amenities and areas of the unit that they know the prospect is looking for. AI Leasing Assistants do a great job of collecting more insightful data so leasing teams can be equipped with this knowledge in order to personalize the tour more. If the prospect has told the chatbot it’s looking for a unit with a lot of natural light, highlighting that during a video tour is important.
The Apartment Tour Checklist
Some things that need to be included before, during, and after the tour are:
- Study up on specific prospect’s data
- Make notes of things to highlight during the tour
- Ask if they have any apartment tour questions
- Go over the next steps post-touring
- Talk them through the move-in journey
- Follow-up with leads through email or text with the info for next steps
Having the tech to support leasing teams in touring will make going through the checklist easier and more efficient. An AI Leasing Assistant will give you access to more insightful data that is easily put into the guest card or CRM so leasing teams can study up before the tour and really tailor the experience. Apartment viewing etiquette hasn’t really changed, it’s just the way one can view an apartment.
Another fun perk of an AI Leasing Assistant is the follow-up capabilities. PERQ’s AI Leasing Assistant allows you to personalize the follow-up in your brand colors and voice. This kind of personalization also makes your property look more polished and put together for prospects. While they expect automation, it doesn’t mean you still can’t wow them with automated nurture.
Virtual touring shouldn’t just be an option you have to fall back on during difficult times, it should be a solution to how you meet this new generation of renters’ needs. Many people are working remotely and have the ability to move wherever they want. Out-of-state prospects tend to not be able to view an apartment in person before signing the lease. Virtual leasing has allowed multifamily communities to be more accessible to rental prospects who are moving from farther away.
Consumers have changed and in order to meet up with today’s demand, your multifamily property needs to be up to their standards. Since 2015, over a million new multifamily properties have been developed in the US. The market is becoming more saturated and in order to keep up you need to invest in tech that can support virtual touring and that personalized automation and instant gratification that Gen Z demands.
Don’t believe it yet? Let’s take a look at some data:
- Unified Residential saw its website traffic conversion increase 3X within the first 60 days of using the AI Leasing Assistant.
- Recently, we talked to Matt Weirich, CEO and Co-Founder of Realync, about what virtual leasing has taught us. The links within this article are great resources to help bring your apartment touring up to speed and help shine some more light onto why leasing AI and virtual leasing are the way forward.