In this series, we cover key tools that zInspector users implemented in their unique turnover > inspection > leasing cycles to anticipate and avoid disruption in 2020; these solutions are sure to prove no less essential in the year ahead. In the first article, we broke down Move Ins Your Way. In the second, we discussed Tenant-Completed Inspections.
A year ago, it was business as usual: you’d meet a prospective tenant at an available property, shake hands, and show them inside. You’d give a tour, up close and personal. You’d answer questions, offer next steps in the application process, shake hands again, and see them out. Then you’d repeat as needed.
These in-person property tours were easy come, easy go. They might even seem quaint now, the relic of a more casual era. But nostalgia aside, we can’t forget that in-person tours were also an inefficient waste of time, particularly when the prospective tenant had no real understanding of the property prior to walking in. A statement like “This room layout is weird” or “I hate cooking on electric coils” could effectively end a tour before it began, leaving everyone wondering, Then what are we even doing here?! This casualness was never ideal for property managers, but was understandable: tenants can be choosy when finding a place to call home. And that’s one reason why, post-2020, tenants simply must thoroughly preview a property virtually before touring it in person—for the sake of efficiency and safety alike. Super easy, super economical Virtual Tours by zInspector are ready to help.
In tandem with a compatible 360 camera, zInspector users are creating engaging, exploration-friendly virtual tours that focus prospective tenants on the properties that really fit their needs before anyone takes the risk or goes to the trouble of an in-person walkthrough. 360-photo capture makes extremely quick work of inspection photography, to be sure: you can capture a high-quality view of an entire room in mere seconds and an entire residence in a few minutes. The real magic happens when these 360 photos are effortlessly pulled together into a virtual tour on the zInspector website and linked to a rental property listing in no time. An action link within the tour itself can circle tenants back to your listings page, to keep them from wandering off to the listings of a competitor.
A single professionally crafted virtual tour can cost hundreds of dollars, and the typical D.I.Y. alternative—a disconnected slideshow of standard photos—is often full of blind spots, creating more questions than answers. Virtual tours by zInspector are cost-effective, easy to create, and less prone to disruption than traditional open houses and in-person tours: they nurture real and immediate engagement, foster exploration, educate prospects on available properties, focus them on those properties that really suit them, and spark genuine interest before they’ve even had a chance to reach out to request more info or book an in-person tour.
In 2021, you can bridge the gap that has only widened during the pandemic between prospective tenants and their new homes, and for property management businesses of any size, zInspector’s virtual tours are the best place to begin.