We often cover the “how” and “why” of apartment renting tactics for consumers, but now we’re here to talk about the what.
That is, what do renters actually want to see during an apartment tour? And how does that affect the how and why?
With budget season underway, there’s no time to spend investing in strategies with ill effect. It’ll be key to target exactly what your apartment tour should include, and how that can be achieved.
Below we’ll discuss current renting statistics and how they relate to what renters really want to see on your apartment tour.
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An article written by HousingWire takes a deeper look into recent research regarding Google searches of modern day renters.
For starters, according to RENTCafé, a third of the terms people searched for in 2018 included the words “near me.” Although this may be obvious information, it actually tells us a lot. For instance, inquiring renters are utilizing mobile devices that register their location significantly during their search.
Since we can assume mobile devices are a large part of apartment touring, we then know that catering apartment websites to be mobile-friendly should be a necessity.
This can be significant information for both in person and virtual tours.
For starters, virtual tours that are embedded directly to a Google My Business listing not only help drive local searches, but they can also help sites stand out thanks to Google’s algorithm.
For both types of tours, what this entails is a site that is just as functional as on a desktop, resembles the original, and of course, is high quality. In regards to functionality, the mobile site should have similar internal linking, decent page speed, and hosting capabilities.
However, although being mobile-friendly is a large part of accessibility, FaceTime tours aren't necessarily the best alternative. See why below.
Adding on to popular searches by renters, Apartments.com released a report stating they found the term “furnished” along with general searches regarding amenities as pretty high on that list.
Knowing that visual and aesthetic features of an apartment are statistically some of the most important aspects to renters, multifamily marketers require the resources needed to provide tours that cater to that.
Below we’ll cover each search term as it relates to how it can be put into effect.
There are two ways to tour a furnished apartment: real staging and virtual staging. We’re not saying one is better than the other, but virtual staging is pretty ideal.
Bringing it back to what apartment renters really want to see on an apartment tour, studies have found that there’s a significant increase in positive reactions towards apartments that are furnished.
This is due to the fact that the ability to visualize oneself in an apartment unit actually increases by 81% when viewing a fully-furnished unit.
So why is virtual staging ideal?
For starters, it’s an option for not only class A communities, but B and C as well. That’s because virtual staging is a cost efficient solution in your marketing efforts, especially compared to real staging. In fact, even just the initial consultation is $0, whereas real staging could cost up to a couple hundred for a consult.
In addition, virtual staging is customizable. This makes it a great way to add a unique spin on your community to effectively reach your target market.
Overall, no one would have to settle for costly decor that they don’t even like. Sounds like a win win, right?
As we mentioned, in-person tours and virtual tours are both highly effective at showing off your amenities.
However, with modern day apartment hunting becoming almost completely digital, we’ll be discussing this section in terms of virtual tours.
Virtual tours are essentially an interactive 360 experience of a property produced using panoramic photos. So their ability to show off amenities in-depth is sure to appeal to apartment renters.
It doesn’t matter the scale or size of your community, either. All apartments have something unique they should be showing off that renters want to see. And while in person tours can easily show that off, it’s not always easy for renters to set aside time to stop in during your office hours.
Virtual tours don’t have that restriction, they work like a 24-hour open house. Because they’re digital, potential prospects have the ability to go back and view a unit as much as they please, unlike agent-led tours.
Research has shown that out of every possible aspect of a tour, renters care overwhelmingly about the actual layout of a unit over everything.
And although in-person tours can easily show this off, these types of tours aren’t always desired - or possible - for today’s renters. With that being said, the answer to the “what” mentioned at the top can be made easier for multifamily marketers everywhere with these consumer-friendly digital marketing tools.
To learn more about the how, click here.