Virtual Leasing Agent for Multifamily Communities
You don’t have just to be an in-person leasing agent at your property–you can also be a virtual leasing agent! The only catch is that you’ll need the right tools to be effective. You can start with a video tool, take a virtual tour of your entire property, and post it on social media.
Continue reading below to learn more about how video allows you to be a successful virtual leasing agent. If you found this information helpful, subscribe to the Realync newsletter to learn more!
Virtual Leasing Agent
Everyone has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and this includes the real estate industry. In the past, it seemed like prospective residents always wanted to do an in-person tour whenever possible. This makes sense since they wanted to see the physical space in which they might be living with their own eyes. Furthermore, back then, the technology was not nearly as reliable as it is today. Now, times have changed. While the idea of taking a tour virtually was already growing in popularity, it reached new heights when the pandemic hit. Now, the ability for property managers to act as a virtual leasing agent is more important than ever before.
The real estate industry has been forced to expedite the adoption of technology due to the major changes that have taken place this year. Professionals in the real estate industry have had to find ways to keep their apartments occupied without being able to provide in-person tours. This is why virtual apartment leasing has grown by leaps and bounds during the past few months. Overnight, it seems that virtual leasing apartments have become more common than physical tours. In fact, almost 50% of consumers would prefer to tour virtually! For these reasons, multifamily buildings that want to keep up with their competition have to find ways to act as a leasing agent virtually.
Even though it seems like a lot has ground to a halt in our world, people are still moving due to needing a change in scenery, job changes, or a host of other reasons. For these reasons, there is still a fair bit of turnover taking place in multifamily communities. In order for multifamily communities to get their leases signed and keep their units occupied, they need to take advantage of virtual leasing. There are a few important points that everyone has to keep in mind when it comes to virtual leasing in this day and age such as connectivity, experience, and more!
Virtual Leasing Definition
Virtual (also referred to as “video”) touring is the transformation of the physical, in-person tour into a tour that takes place via video.
When prospective residents think about moving into a new apartment community or condo, they probably have images of showing up in-person, taking a tour, and then deciding whether or not they like the community. Times have changed and virtual leasing has become the new normal. Some studies even cite that half of all prospective residents prefer to tour in a virtual setting. This has given rise to a new virtual lease meaning.
When it comes to the idea of virtual leasing, this starts with the tour. There are two ways that someone might take a tour virtually. The first involves a pre-recorded video tour. With this tour, the leasing agent records a video ahead of time of that specific unit or amenity space. Then, this video is placed either on the website or is sent directly to prospective residents to gauge their interest in the community. The other type of virtual tour is a live video tour. This takes place with prospects on the other end of the camera actively watching as the tour unfolds in front of them. Both of these tours have their place in the world of multifamily communities and both can help leasing agents fill vacant units.
Freelance Virtual Leasing Agent
A new term that people in the multifamily industry might have heard a lot about lately is called a virtual leasing agent. The roles and responsibilities of a leasing agent have changed tremendously over the past few months.
As many people have been told to stay home due to the pandemic, this includes most people who work in the real estate industry. While multifamily professionals are essential employees, leasing offices were shuttered and all leasing activities switched to virtual. In addition to a prospective resident not physically being present for a tour of a vacant unit, there are some cases where the leasing agent might not be present as well. This is where the idea of a freelance leasing agent or an independent leasing agent has grown in popularity. Or simply work-from-home leasing teams.
With a freelance virtual leasing agent, he or she might not physically be at the property as the virtual tour unfolds; however, an independent virtual leasing agent still has enough knowledge of the property to guide the individuals as the tour unfolds. Of course, with this type of tour, the feel of the tour can change significantly. Therefore, it is important for everyone to consider whether they want to have a freelance or virtual leasing agent conducting the tour and what the logistics of that tour will be. Likely, these virtual leasing experiences will be reliant on pre-recorded video tours that are already created and available for a virtual leasing agent. In most cases, it would be better to have a leasing agent who is physically present while the tour unfolds even if the prospective resident cannot be there himself or herself though.
In-House Virtual Leasing Agent
Now, it is still possible for there to be a virtual leasing agent even if that person is in-house. There are several advantages to having an in-house virtual leasing agent. First, this is someone who is going to have a lot more knowledge of the building. Hiring a freelance leasing agent to replace an in-house leasing agent can create a lot of knowledge gaps. Remember that the virtual tour is only going to be as effective as the person giving the tour, as people still buy from people! Sometimes, a freelance leasing agent simply isn’t going to have the same knowledge of the community as an in-house virtual leasing agent might have.
Second, it is better to have an in-house leasing agent because this is someone who is also going to be more familiar with the process of signing leases for that apartment community. While there are a lot of processes that are standardized in the industry, this does not mean that every process is identical. An in-house leasing agent is going to have a lot more experience when it comes to how everything unfolds in that specific community. This is going to make a better impression on prospective residents and could result in a much higher conversion rate. An in house leasing agent is usually the way to go.
Virtual Leasing Agent Skills and Qualifications
When it comes to the idea of a virtual leasing agent, there are a lot of topics that need to be discussed such as knowing leasing agent skills and qualifications.
First, a virtual leasing agent skills and qualifications should include the right certifications. There are certain tests and background checks that have to be passed before someone can start to work as a leasing agent. In addition to these certifications, it is important to consider the experience of the leasing agent as the more experience someone has in the field, the better. Of course, during this time, it is also important for a virtual leasing agent to be familiar with the technology that is needed to effectively lease the apartment community.
It is also important to consider the salary of a leasing agent. Now, it is important to note that a virtual leasing agent salary is going to vary widely based on location. For example, in large cities where the cost of living is much higher, a leasing agent salary could exceed $100,000 on the first day that person walks through the door. On the other hand, in more rural parts of the country, the salary is going to be lower. However, a contract for a leasing agent might also have incentives built into it that could cause the salary to increase depending on how well the leasing agent performs. These are a few of the most important considerations when it comes to the job of a virtual leasing agent.
Virtual Leasing Tips
When it comes to virtual leasing, there are a few important tips to keep in mind. One of the most important virtual leasing best practices is to come up with creative virtual leasing ideas for how to lease apartments virtually. First, it is critical to remember that there are two types of virtual leasing tours near me. The first is the pre-recorded tour. There are two situations where this type of tour might be helpful. The primary situation is as a pillar video on a website where people can get a nice overview of the apartment community or neighborhood. The second situation is as a pre-recorded tour for a specific prospective resident of the exact unit they are interested in. The second broad category of a virtual leasing tour is the live video tour. This is a tour that takes place with another person actively paying attention on the other side of the screen. For this type of tour, it is critical to make sure that the other person has a chance to ask questions to gauge what is important to the prospective resident when looking for their new home.
In order to maximize the value of virtual leasing software, it is important to find the right platform. That is where Realync can help. There are a few ways that Realync has set itself apart from the other platforms when it comes to virtual leasing tours such as built-in editing tools, reporting and analytics, and live tour and pre-recorded video functionality.
Virtual Leasing Tours
Realync virtual leasing tours can be used in multiple ways ranging from public tours to videos on your community website.
Realync’s platform has been designed in such a way that someone can simply aim a phone camera or tablet, point, and shoot. Then, the video can be edited and shared through the Realync app for virtual tours. Through the app, users can edit videos of everything from virtual tours for current resident communication to virtual apartment tours, amenity tours, neighborhood overviews, and more. Then, the videos can be shared on the property website, to social media, directly to prospects, and more.
When it comes to virtual tours real estate, this is becoming the new normal in the industry. While multifamily VR does have its place, that is better as a top of funnel solution to get people interested whereas Realync helps close those prospective residents in the bottom of the funnel. When it comes to finally getting a signature on the dotted line, a human-to-human connection is what matters most as people still want to buy from people and not just technology. That is what sets virtual leasing, including platforms such as Realync, apart from the other options in the industry.
Ready to Get Real?
Accelerate Leasing
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Speed Up Lease Up
by providing construction updates and showcase your space without having to do hard hat tours.
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PRE-LEASE OCCUPIED UNITS
by ‘showing’ them without having to physically tour the space by sending pre-recorded videos.
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CONVERT A HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF YOUR LEADS INTO LEASES
when you receive notifications when prospects are viewing videos to cater your follow up.
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SPEND LESS TIME TO CLOSE EACH LEASE
by removing roadblocks and barriers in the leasing process.
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INCREASE SIGHT-UNSEEN LEASING
by making it a breeze for out-of-market leads to choose your community.
Improve Community Engagement
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PROMOTE YOUR PROGRAMS BETTER
via pre-recorded videos by linking via social media or internal apps.
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DECREASE MAINTENANCE REQUESTS
by creating maintenance videos.
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REINFORCE COMMUNITY RULES
by receiving notifications when residents are viewing videos to know who has seen a message and who hasn’t.
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REDUCE REPETITIVE QUESTIONS
because consumers retain 10% of a message when reading it via text, but 90% of a message when viewed in a video.
More Than Software
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Virtual Training
is available for every property utilizing Realync.
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Make your video efforts consistent
with one set, standardized process and platform.
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TRACK ENGAGEMENT And Usage
across your entire portfolio.
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Partner with the Realync Team
to create a personalized training program to be rolled out across all properties.
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Are you Ready to Get Real?
Talk with us today to see how Realync’s platform can 4X your lead-to-lease conversion!
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