Property Management

Keep Showing Properties, Just Don’t Be There

• by James Barrett
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Virtual tools expand your opportunities for showing properties. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? That’s a question to debate with your friends during a virtual happy hour. For now, let’s dive deep into a similar philosophical question about your leasing process: If a prospective tenant views a rental when no one is showing them around, did a showing occur? The answer is a resounding YES! Self-showings have increased in popularity over the years as the cost has gone down and the security measures have gone up. During our current period of government-mandated lockdowns and the need to be socially distant, self-showings are now more important than ever to ensure you can still “show” your rentals while reducing the risk of getting or spreading infectious diseases like the coronavirus. Self-showings started with key checkouts decades ago. When a prospective tenant would come to your office, you would collect a $20 “deposit” and potentially make a copy of their driver’s license. And though this process kept your team at the office instead of driving around town dealing with no-shows, showings were still limited to your office hours, which meant you missed some prime showing opportunities. Today, we know that 38% of self-showings occur after hours and on weekends. In fact, 19% of self-showings occur on Saturday and 10.5% occur on Sunday. So, if you’re not showing units on the weekend, you’re missing out on nearly a third of potential showings. Electronic Lockboxes and Locks There was little improvement to the self-show process until electronic lockboxes came on the scene at the turn of the century. Electronic lockboxes were first made available to realtors and then to trusted contractors.  Now they are available even to vetted prospective tenants. The next hurdle was finding a quick and cost-effective way to vet prospective tenants in order to make self-showings viable. Property managers have found that solution in automated scheduling software. Prospective tenants can schedule self-showings to view your vacant rentals after they have provided verifiable contact information, been qualified against your leasing restrictions (e.g., pet policy, income requirements, etc.) and provided a copy of their government-issued ID. All access is monitored, and you are notified each time an authorized person arrives at your rental and requests an access code. Only those who have been prequalified or preapproved for entry into your rental are given a unique access code that can be used only one time, on the day for which it was generated. One of the benefits of electronic lockboxes is they can move from vacant home to vacant home and always be in use as rentals hit the market. One downside is they leave your homes after the vacancy has been filled. So new, keyless access solutions have emerged that are installed on the home and facilitate self-showings but remain as a long-term access solution for tenants and staff to easily access your rentals without having to worry about being locked out or having to come to the office to pick up a key. Plus, access on locks connected to smart home hubs can continue to be tracked under all scenarios: the tenant, their dog walker, a plumber, a property manager, etc. Through this period of social distancing, consider deploying a mix of smart locks and electronic lockboxes. For the units you own and manage, install smart locks backed by smart home hubs. Though there is a higher upfront cost, the long-term benefits of facilitating and monitoring access makes it worth it in the end. Plus, smart home technology allows for expansion of services like hot water heater sensors, window sensors and thermostats. For units you manage but you can’t get the owner on board to pay for the smart home technology, consider deploying electronic lockboxes to allow for secure self-access during the turn process. Vendors like painters, cleaners and handymen could get unique one-time codes each time they need to access the rental to get it rent-ready. Then prospective tenants can be vetted and given one-time use codes so they can view the property on their own. Once the property is leased, the lockbox would be used on move-in day, and the new tenant would keep the key. Finally, a staff member would pick up the lockbox to be moved to the next vacancy. This is contactless leasing that keeps everyone safe. Be Prepared If that all sounds too daunting or expensive, you can also use scheduling software with your existing contractor lockboxes or to schedule video conference showings using FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Skype or Zoom. Prospective tenants are still vetted, but instead of getting a unique one-time use code, they receive a static code or instructions on how to do a video conference. Using contractor lockboxes is not as secure as using electronic locks and lockboxes, and doing video conferencing would still require a team member to travel to the rental to virtually walk the prospective tenant around the property. But this approach does allow you to show your rentals without risk of infection. Regardless of how you approach leasing during a pandemic, just know that there will be fewer leads and fewer inperson showings, which means fewer opportunities to sign a lease. If you want to keep your rentals turning over as quickly as possible, have a plan for showing properties without any human interaction. Make sure you’re not trading one problem for another, so don’t skimp on security and just leave the backdoor unlocked (yes, we’ve really heard this from property managers!). Instead, kill two birds with one stone. Use technology to allow secure self-showings that ensure social distancing and that can accelerate your leasing process.