Apartment video tours are changing the way people search for their next apartment. In fact, not only are video tours changing the search process, they changed the entire leasing process. From search to lease signing, it’s all going virtual.
For multifamily leasing agents, understanding this market change has the potential to make the entire lead-to-lease process simpler and more efficient. By creating compelling video tours, leasing teams can draw prospects in at the top of the funnel during search. Then, embrace virtual leasing to get them all the way to signing in a simple, transparent way. It’s a process, yes. But if you start by using video in a smart way, you’ll see your lead-to-lease conversion rates go up.
Here are a few ways apartment video tours are changing apartment hunting and how to make it work for your leasing team:
Narrowing Down the Selection
Whether completed via virtual apartment tours or not, today’s prospective residents are going to tour a minimum of 7 properties. Even before a global pandemic, offering virtual touring as an option helped streamline that touring process for consumers and helped your community standout amongst the crowd of options. Now, with COVID-19 restrictions firmly a part of our reality, it often is the only way that prospective residents are able to experience your community. And that’s not a bad thing! It just means that your team and community needs to be equipped to connect with those prospective residents via virtual leasing with unit-specific and amenity-specific videos. Allowing prospective residents to see your space and community through a video tour first is a prime way to continue taking your property to prospects, no matter where they are.
Even a pre-recorded video on your website gives them insight. They’ll see, in true authentic fashion, what your community offers on their own time from their own (current) home. They’ll know right away if your community fits their apartment hunting checklist. Then, if they are comfortable and able, they can self-select which communities they’ll see in person. Or that virtual tour leads to a personalized pre-recorded tour or to a live video tour. All are smart ways to engage in the virtual leasing process.
Insight into the Apartment Personality
When it comes to new apartment hunting, prospects want a community that fits their desired vibe. Pre-recorded apartment video tours on a website or blog makes that discovery easier. Using video tours to show off the property’s personality is a prime way to let your community’s vibe and atmosphere shine through. For example, record an apartment tour blog or bedroom tour blog post for your property website. Or, likewise, showcase resident testimonials from people who already are happily living there.
If you are in an upscale neighborhood, record a luxury apartment tour. Show off all of the special features that your property offers from the upgrades in unit to the top notch amenities and location. Or, if you have smaller units, shoot how to maximize space in a small apartment or general small apartment ideas. Regardless, use apartment videos to give prospects a peek into the personality of the community. You’ll streamline the hunting process for them. Plus, prospects will feel more comfortable and ready to get the next phase when they feel like they know your team and know your community better.
Host Live Video Tours
Even if there is a library of wonderful pre-recorded video tours on your website site, a live apartment video tour is hard to beat. Luckily, apartment video tours can offer the best of both worlds. If a prospect is looking for apartments for rent, they want to see the real, authentic, non-photoshopped version. They want to see their exact unit early in the process without having to commit to physically being there in person. Offering live video tours helps make that possible. It can be a one-on-one personal tour or offer a group live tour via virtual open house. Either way, leasing agents are at the center of the leasing process, even with their virtual audience. Every prospect has their apartment checklist and unique things that they’ll care about and want to see. Having a leasing agent available to check those boxes in real-time and answer their individual questions is critical. Even in a virtual leasing environment, leasing agents can answer apartment tour questions throughout, build trust and move prospects closer to their home selection.
COVID-19 has moved our industry to a nearly entire virtual touring and virtual leasing environment. That, of course, includes the apartment hunting process. While apartment video tours were becoming popular in apartment hunting before, they are a must now. We don’t see that changing any time soon either. If you’re looking for advice on how to create and use apartment video tours, we can give you some guidance here.
In short, apartment video tours and virtual leasing allow prospective residents to see the property in a transparent and real way. They also get to know the team to let the community’s personality shine through. Most importantly, they keep you, the leasing team, at the center of the process making apartment hunting easier for prospects and closing leases easier for you.
Until next time…keep it real!
