How Video Leasing Apartments Can Generate Results in 22-Minutes
Leasing teams need technology solutions that actually make their day-to-day operations smoother, more efficient, and have real results like a signed lease in 22 minutes – site-unseen (this is a true story!).
Continue reading below to learn more about how video leasing can improve your leasing efforts. If you found this information helpful, subscribe to the Realync newsletter to learn more!
Apartment Leasing App
You can order groceries, have a therapy session, and virtually try on clothes with apps on your phone, so it is no surprise that leasing apps are also becoming a key marketing opportunity for multifamily property managers. Many potential residents are digital natives, and the idea of shopping for an apartment with a leasing app is not only comfortable but is an expected option in today’s world.
A leasing app is usually created with the primary goal of increasing the likelihood that prospective residents sign an apartment lease. This is often especially relevant during the lease up period of new development, and the lease up app can be a vital component to improve the lease up schedule. Regardless of whether a property is well established or not, the user experience of the app is essential and should work in harmony with the apartment leasing software you are utilizing. The potential resident should be able to look at your website, online listings, and be able to experience the property via nothing more than their smartphone or tablet to quickly be able to recognize your brand and property. Knowing the importance of branding in the multifamily industry, Realync provides custom branding options for your apartment tours through the Realync apartment video leasing app.
At Realync, we built our platform with a mobile-first approach, which means our entire leasing app and apartment leasing software will work on any smartphone. We also recognize that some property management and ownership companies have well-established mobile apps and provide the ability to leverage the Realync toolkit within existing apps and systems through our robust APIs. When looking at the best apartment app Reddit threads it’s clear that video is a critical piece of what most consumers value in a leasing app. This means, whether you use the Realync mobile-first platform as your leasing app or integrate into a broader platform, having the power of authentic video with Realync will give you an immediate advantage.
Apartment Lease Agreement
Once you’ve driven interest from consumers with solutions like Realync and are working towards your lease up goals, it is critical that you become an expert on your apartment lease agreements. We recommend an attorney with a strong understanding of apartment leasing guidelines and apartment leasing regulations be involved in developing the initial apartment lease.
If you do not have a deep understanding of the apartment leasing guidelines and apartment leasing regulations, it’s best to consult an expert. However, as leasing and property managers you must understand the terms and be able to explain the apartment policies and rules to prospective residents.
Ultimately, it is in your best interest for residents to fully understand the rental rules list and secure the best apartment lease length for their specific needs. Simply sending a prospective resident an apartment lease pdf is not a best practice, but instead reviewing it alongside them and ensuring there are no questions about the lease terms, apartment policies, and rules. This also helps prospective residents feel more comfortable in signing and will undoubtedly reduce future issues and confusion once they become a paying resident. In this meeting, it is also crucial that you are ensuring there is a conversation about whether a one-year apartment lease agreement is the right fit. Often increasing the rate for a shorter lease or decreasing for a longer lease is a smart business strategy to maximize profits and secure long term occupancy rates and lease up goals.
Lease Up Meaning
Understanding what is a lease up and being able to set strategic goals during this critical period is what determines both the short-term and long-term success of an apartment complex.
The lease up meaning is simply the time when an apartment community has recently completed constructed or is currently being constructed, but is pre-leasing the yet to be completed space. During this period and depending on lease up assumptions, leasing agents and the entire team often have a goal to go from 0% occupancy to 80% occupancy or more.
During the lease up period tools like Realync must be utilized to ensure that leasing agents are efficient with their time and can accommodate the needs of prospective residents with virtual tours, video tours, live tours, and more. It is all about showcasing your space to prospective residents and showing them what they want/need to see in order to lease. These virtual tours with authentic video can be leveraged both as a stand-alone option or as a supplement to a traditional in-person visit.
The needs of your multifamily property will be different during the lease up vs stabilized property stages. Once a property has reached its initial occupancy threshold, there is then the need to manage the churn of current residents. However, Realync is also highly applicable to stabilized properties as well as there are opportunities to leverage the tool for maintenance videos as well as the ability to use the authentic videos created to continue to drive a strong pipeline of qualified, interested prospective residents. Having this pipeline reduces risk and improves the overall occupancy and financial health of the property long term.
The last note to ensure you and the team look like the experts you are as you go-to-market with a new property is clarity on an often misunderstood differentiation between lease vs rent apartment. Ultimately, these terms are used by the public quite interchangeably. However, the lease apartment meaning is often one of a 12-month term, whereas renting is often referring to a length as short as 30-days. The multifamily industry tends to lean towards using lease vs rent when referring to an apartment.
Apartment Lease Up Strategy
While there are many best practices to follow in marketing apartments throughout their lifecycle, the apartment lease up strategy is one of the key importance. Ultimately, the lease up property ideas that you implement during this initial phase of a property’s lifecycle set the tone for prospective residents and establishes the brand of the property. In other words, the lease up plan you choose is critical.
At Realync, we have properties and clients at all stages of the property lifecycle, but often see the most activity and prospective engagement in our analytics platform in this lease up phase. We’ve found that the lease up period reflects a marketing funnel that you may be familiar with where prospective residents flow through these stages: awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty, and advocacy. The great thing about our platform is that there are proven use cases that help at each stage of the marketing funnel.
When it comes to the awareness stage and coming up with ideas to increase occupancy in apartments, it is often a focus to spread a wide net and draw broad interest amongst prospective residents. This broad interest can be driven through hosting open houses, attending community events and having a strong digital and social presence. In all of these scenarios, there is the possibility to leverage the authentic video created with Realync to help bring the property to life (especially when you might not be at the property for an offsite event). We are big proponents of ensuring you are collecting emails and phone numbers from prospective residents and then sending a follow-up video tour to them, highlighting any key areas, amenities, or specific units.
Apartment lease up experts will often advocate for exclusive deals and promotions to encourage speeding up the shift from awareness to consideration and ultimately conversion. These concessions and deals can look like short term rent reduction, welcome gifts, first selection on specific units, decreased security deposits or even the promise of early community events. This promotional strategy, when done in conjunction with ongoing tailored video communications, can be the one-two punch that helps move the needle to lease up apartments.
Leasing Software
The leasing software market has grown considerably more complex over the last few years. It is vital that you do your research and ensure you invest in the right components and lease software vendors for your property. In other words, ensuring you get a right-sized solution that is going to help you lease up multifamily properties and encourage your overall renewal probability in the process.
While there are several open source lease management software platforms, we’ve found that the real costs of these tools are often high as the implementation and ongoing internal support & expertise needed can be significant. One additional consideration in choosing your leasing software stack is the market leasing assumptions you have. In some markets, you may need to invest more in online property management software to ensure client retention and happiness.
On the other hand, in more transient markets, you may decide your investments should be focused more on marketing functions and needs at the beginning of the client lifecycle (awareness and consideration). Tools like Realync that can be used in either circumstance are great investments as predicting future needs is always hard in the multifamily industry.
We’ve seen our clients at Realync have both successes and failures with most of the major players in the leasing software space. Ultimately, finding the tools that work for your property is what matters most. The great thing about Realync is that we’re a flexible component that can be a robust video tour software tool that includes lead capturing and communication options. However, Realync also easily integrates into a broader toolkit that may consist of a lease accounting software, property management software alongside marketing and CRM tools, website plugins, and more. Also, using simple email and text with Realync can be a strong starting point to help make leasing agents have a more personal relationship with prospective residents.
Enterprise Lease Accounting Software
Enterprise lease accounting software, which was mentioned above as a part of any software selection for an apartment complex is one of the most critical elements for your success. Because there are a large number of lease account software providers, we recommend utilizing the lease account software Gartner reviews to get a better idea of what may be the best fit for your needs. Often, for the larger property owners and managers, the lease accounting vendors are pre-selected, so perhaps this is a decision that was already made for you if you are working at the property-level. However, your local budget may be impacted by the lease accounting software pricing as this can sometimes be a relatively expensive item and costs are often charged back to the properties.
Regardless of who decided on the enterprise lease accounting software, having a strong lease accounting software vendor is mandatory for the success of your property. There are a few of the key capabilities that lease account software provides, which includes keeping track of income & expenses, track payments, send invoices and reminders and create financial reports. In addition to these vital functions, a significant value of lease accounting software is the ability to help ensure FASB and IASB compliance as well as proper storage of lease-related documents. You may also find ASC 842 standards and compliance is strengthened and streamlined with enterprise lease accounting software when compared to using a generic solution or opting for DIY accounting on spreadsheets.
Leasing Manager Vs Property Manager
While the best properties have a strong team approach, there are distinct responsibilities between a leasing manager vs property manager. Both are critical roles for the success of a multifamily property. The demands and timing of demands vary greatly depending on at what stage the property is at—lease up or a stabilized property.
Often, when you review a leasing manager job description pdf you will see a strong emphasis on ensuring high occupancy rates and managing all the interest inquiries and requests from prospective residents. On the other hand, the property manager job description often has a much stronger focus on maintaining the rules and regulations of the property and ensuring the happiness of active residents and reducing the churn rate.
From a timing perspective, leasing managers are often incredibly busy during the initial lease up period and sometimes you will even see a “lease up manager job description” posted, with this title reflecting this critical period of this role. These leasing managers are often the first within the property to begin to leverage Realync and do so with an emphasis on prospective residents and building out the initial video library highlighting amenities and features.
As the apartment builds occupancy, the lease up property manager (which is also referred to as the property manager) begins to take a more prominent role and engage with the active residents through programming as well as being attentive to needs and requests. These property managers often start to leverage Realync to communicate how to do certain things within the property or to introduce new amenities and procedures, providing an authentic video experience that helps also build rapport.
When it comes to salary of these two critical roles, it is very dependent on the market and company as well as an individual’s experience level—the lease up property manager salary is often much more stable. In contrast, the sales-focused leasing manager often is compensated with a moderate base salary as well as commissions and bonuses based on hitting monthly occupancy targets.
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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