Virtual leasing isn’t going away anytime soon – that’s something we all know by now. Today’s prospects want their leasing experience to be on their timeframe and on their terms. And, many times, that’s virtual.

Still, many multifamily leasing teams are trying to figure out how to integrate virtual leasing into their leasing practices. So, if you want to stand out, you’ll need to make sure your virtual leasing efforts are top tier.

Looking for ways to take your leasing efforts to the next level? Here are three must-have tools.

Virtual Leasing Platforms

The number one, hands-down best tool we can recommend? A virtual leasing platform. But, it needs to be the right one. Before you or your team tries to implement DIY with FaceTime or native shooting on an iPhone or Android, let’s talk through why it’s worth finding the right virtual leasing platform.

There are plenty of virtual leasing systems on the market. Most have one or two solid virtual leasing benefits for leasing agents and property management teams. However, if you’re looking to go to the next level? You will want a comprehensive platform whose purpose is built for multifamily.

This virtual leasing platform should easily and seamlessly integrate with all of your existing systems and processes. For example, it should work with property management systems like Yardi, Entrata and Realpage, plus all back end lead management systems. Plus, your platform should provide you with actual tracking data, analytics, and reporting. If you want to get the most out of virtual leasing, you need to be able to track what’s working – and where you may need to tweak something. You’ll have visibility into what leasing teams are doing and where they may need some additional resources or training.

A great virtual leasing platform will also offer virtual leasing training. Virtual leasing skills may not be something every leasing agent has at their fingertips. Providing some best practices and training can make a huge difference.

Finally, a virtual leasing platform that will take your virtual leasing to the next level MUST be Fair Housing compliant and have WCAG functionality. Without those, you are putting your team and property at far too much risk.

Anti-shake Gimbal

What’s the next must-have tool to take your virtual leasing efforts above and beyond? An anti-shake gimbal. Using this simple tool to stabilize your mobile device when recording a video can be the difference between an amazing virtual tour and giving your prospect motion sickness.

Humans aren’t built for staying perfectly still. Video will pick up and even magnify those slight movements and tremors. The good news is that new, battery operated anti-shake gimbals are designed to fix just that. These pieces work with your mobile device and allow for production-quality anti-shake. That alone can help and take the quality of your video to the next level. For anti-shake gimbals, there are quite a few styles, and ranges in cost, on the market. Many are designed specifically for smartphones so your leasing consultants can do it themselves and produce high quality videos easily. Whatever brand or design you choose, these pieces are truly a must have for creating polished videos on your own.

Production-Enhancing Accessories

While the anti-shake gimbal is our first accessory choice, it is by no means the only one. Depending on your phone, and your community needs, there are tons of accessories on the market that can help make your virtual tours and videos the best they can be.

Wide-Angle Lens
Does your iPhone or Android have a wide angle lens? If not, you should look into adding one to your video production tool box. A wide angle lens can help capture the space and showcase the full dimensions and flow of your apartments. They allow for an improved viewing of a space with no bending or fisheye on the image. That can be a game-changer if you’re looking to level up your video tours for virtual leasing. Another piece of good news? These wide angle lenses are universal across any device, mobile phone or tablet, because of the clip setup.

If you or someone else will be speaking on video, you should look at adding a microphone. Unfortunately, the built in microphones on mobile devices just don’t cut it. External microphones will exponentially increase the quality of audio when creating videos with a mobile device, but they do not need to be expensive or fancy.

Lighting
One other accessory to consider is lighting. If your community struggles with natural light, or if you’re filming in the winter months and there just isn’t much natural light available, some lighting assistance can do wonders. You want to show your property in it’s best light, pun intended. Depending on where and when you need to film a unit or virtual tour, that may require some extra help.

If you are serious about turning up your virtual leasing efforts, and turning leasing agents into virtual leasing agents, these are the three main tools that will set you on your way.

Get In Touch!

Close more leases, market more effectively, engage with residents and, as always, keep it real. Do you have a question or suggestion? Or want to learn more about what you read? Email us at contact@realync.com. We’d love to hear from you!