showing property

It is a very interesting title and one which most if not all agents reading this would love to do. How to save time showing property? How I hear you say? Well it is all about qualification of your customer (the tenant or the buyer), the very first step in any sales process should be qualification. If you are trying to sell ( or rent) anything to somebody they need to qualify to be a prospect.

Strategies

In a previous post I discussed Strategies agencies use when marketing a property , a really quick overview of this blog would be the more information given on a property will result in a smaller number of enquiries. That’s bad isn’t it? Well its only bad if you don’t value your time or your agents employed within your agencies time.

The feedback on the blog above was significant with many agents agreeing and arguing the strategies they use and why. So rather than just go by assumptions I conducted a case study on a property. I contacted a number of agents who use the Rentview software and asked would they take part in a case study on How to save time showing property. I found one who had two similar properties to rent and about to come on to the market.

The strategy I am going to show you will decrease the number of viewings that you will do on a property but increase the % of viewings to offers.

Using Video Marketing Tours Case Study

In this case study I advertised two very similar properties to rent in the same building. The first property was advertised with images and description, the second property in the exact same way but when an enquiry came in I responded by giving a link to a property video tour. The only difference in the study was the time of year in which the units were advertised**, the findings were very interesting.**The first unit was advertised in March and the available stock levels in the area were 30% less then the second unit being advertised in June.With this information it could be argued that a vacant unit may be on the market slightly longer.

Case Study 1 – No Video being used.

The property was listed and it received 1806 ad views through the portal it was displayed on over 13 days. From this 35 enquiries were received and viewings took place within 48 hours of an enquiry, a total of 5 separate viewings took place before a tenant was secured.

Ad views	Enquiries	Showings	Vacant	Month	Viewing Time	Total Cost
1806	35	5	13 days	March	7hrs	€225*

*Cost of showing for an average agency based at €25 for an agent per hour along with €10 in travel expenses.

Case Study 2- Marketing Video being used.

The property was listed and received 3600 ad views and generated 43 enquiries through the portal. The difference from the above scenario was that the enquiry was then emailed across a link to view the property through a video tour. (The tour was a simple video which took no more then 2 minutes to record and a further 10 minutes to edit and upload to YouTube and you can see how to do this in my previous blog). The property was shown 2 times in total and took 21 days to rent out.

Ad views	Enquiries	Showings	Vacant	Month	Viewing Time	Total Cost
3621	43	2	21 days	June	2.5hrs	€90.00

Here is the property video tour which I provided as you can see is very basic

Case Study Findings

By using property video tours after an initial enquiry was made it saved the agency 60% of agents viewing times and costs associated with showing a unit. It did take a further 8 days to find a tenant but this could be argued by the fact that there was 30% more stock on the market along with the time of year.

There is also a number of other benefits.

It saved tenants time in viewing units which was greatly appreciated (see image below)
It provides an excellent opportunity to leverage the videos for SEO of your agency.
Increases the offering to landlords or vendors as an additional marketing service being provided

Your thoughts

So after reviewing the stats what are your thoughts on video marketing? Is this something that you have not provided to date but would now consider? It would be great to get your feedback and thoughts as a professional in the industry.

tenant viewing — A tenants text after viewing a marketing video

Showings are a key part of the rental process, they allow potential tenants to get a good feel of the property, which goes a long way in helping them decide whether to rent or not. They can also be a handy tenant screening process to find out which potential tenants match the landlord’s requirements. Showings are generally easier when the property is currently vacant as it gives more time to prepare. Try to arrange all showings for the same day so no time is wasted, but make sure the times are staggered so there’ll be no overlap. If the property is occupied then this may be more difficult.

Preparing a rental property

Before the showing: Make sure the property is in tip top shape. This will mean notifying the landlord of any damages/repairs needed, possibly arranging carpenters, plumbers etc. to fix problem areas. The property will need to be cleaned from top to bottom which the landlord may be happy to do, or they may require the services of a professional cleaning company. Freshen up the walls and floors if they’re looking dull with some new paint or a proper cleaning. Repainting can have the wonderful effect of re-energising a room and making it look brand new. Again, this will all need the go ahead from the landlord. Don’t forget to mention any problems with the exterior of the property or the garden.

If needs be, get in a professional cleaning company. There are lots of cleaning companies specialising in end of tenancy cleaning which will help in preparing a rental property for showing.

On the day of the showing: Do a last minute check to make sure everything is satisfactory. If there are any unpleasant smells, eradicate them with an air freshener spray or some incense. Make sure the property is well-lit; open curtains and turn on lights if necessary. Prepare to answer all questions to the best of your ability. This will mean knowing the property and the area inside out, as potential tenants are bound to have many questions for you.

If there are tenants currently living in the property: If you have built a good relationship with the tenants then there should be no problem in asking them to do a bit of cleaning and tidying before the showing. There should also be no problem in asking them to vacate the property to allow the showing to take place. This is the ideal, and we all know that tenants can be problematic. If they are letting you down during showings then you must talk to them. Explain why the property needs to look a certain way and politely ask them to make sure it’s that way in future. If there’s no improvement, provide some sort of incentive for them, like a voucher for a restaurant or a reduction in the last month’s rent. If that doesn’t work, it may be time to get the PRTB involved.

You might also be interested in the following blog – Choosing the right tenant and managing your rental payments

Please feel free to comment or add on preparing a rental property, tweet or follow us.

by Andreas Riha