Jacob Stallard is used to work intertwining with life. It comes with the territory of working in multifamily leasing. Jacob is a Property Manager at Artistry—operated by Milhaus—in Indianapolis.

So it wasn’t unusual for Jacob to check his emails on his phone while he walked to his Saturday night dinner party.

There was one specific email that caught his eye. A prospective renter said that the studio she applied for would be too small. Instead, she planned to sign with a different community.

Thinking on his feet, Jacob remembered he had a video tour of a larger apartment.

“I didn’t want to lose the lease. It dawned on me I had a video of a larger unit I could send over to her. So I stopped walking to dinner for a minute. I emailed her the video, and within 22 minutes, she applied and eventually leased the apartment.”

This is one of the many success stories Jacob has had with Realync. For over four years, Artistry has armed its onsite teams like Jacob with Realync.

We caught up with Jacob to hear more about his wins throughout his four years with Realync, how his leasing strategy has evolved, and what his plans look like with Realync in the future.

Read Jacob’s initial success story with Realync.

Jacob got his start in multifamily because of the renters.

“I get excited about helping renters find their new home. It’s important to me to help renters find a place that fits their needs,” Jacob emphasized.

And it shows. Jacob went from leasing agent to assistant manager to property manager all in the span of four years—and Realync was along for the ride.

Jacob started using Realync in May of 2019 at Artistry. Before and during COVID, Realync was his only way to continue leasing operations at that time.

We asked Jacob how his leasing strategy with Realync has evolved since 2020.

“From day one, we’ve used Realync to generate more leads. During COVID, it was our main form of communication to lease. Coming out of COVID, it’s still used for leasing.”

Jacob continues, “We use Realync videos initially to filter the floorplans that renters show interest in and eventually visit in person. After the in-person tours, we also utilize videos as a follow-up tool. This allows renters to revisit the video tours of the units and amenities when they are making their final decisions.”

In another instance, Jacob shared how he was in the middle of an in-person apartment tour with a renter when they expressed they didn’t like the layout.

Jacob took out his phone, pulled up the Realync app, and showed videos of other layouts.

Smart, right? He’s always thinking on his feet.

We asked Jacob what he plans to do in the next four years with Realync.

“Artistry has 554 apartments across its four buildings. We don’t yet have unit-level videos of each apartment—I just saw one apartment for the first time in four years. So I’d like to keep gathering those videos in our library as apartments become available.”

Jacob expressed he wants his team to keep providing Realync virtual tours ahead of some in-person tours. This way, both renters and Jacob’s team can save time throughout the day.

He’s also impressed with Realync’s integration with Apartments.com. The Apartments.com integration with Realync makes it easy for Jacob to add unit- or property-level videos from Realync straight to his Apartments.com listings.

“I’m going to be honest, that stuff goes way over my head, but I love that I hit a green check mark to approve a video, then it pops up on our Apartments.com listings.”

It’s a bit techy for us too, Jacob.

“The standout aspect of Realync, in my opinion, is its ability to assist leasing teams in presenting the distinct qualities of each apartment,” Jacob stressed.

He emphasized all his fellow property managers should consider budgeting for Realync.

“Realync allows your leasing agents to offer a unique customer service that sets your community apart, something not everyone else is doing.”