Our Property Management Insights

Contactless rental property showings are trending upward, especially during the pandemic. This is a trend that’s here to stay, even post-COVID. If your property management company hasn’t adopted self-showings as a preferred option, you’ll find it more and more difficult to compete with other properties and to fill your vacancies fast.

Whenever you start a new year, it can be valuable to take a look back at the previous year to gain perspective and set your expectations for the days ahead. As we looked back on the property management headlines from 2021, it only took a hot minute to see how much the coronavirus pandemic loomed over the landscape of the rental industry.

Tenant Turner’s Open Doors giveaway began in 2018 as a way for property managers to help deserving renters who had fallen on hard times. The momentum has grown, and this year, over 200 property managers came forward to nominate people in their communities. In partnership with our friends at Rent Manager, we were able to double our impact this year, helping four families with $1,500 toward January rent. Two more families received a $250 Amazon gift card for holiday gifts.

In the traditional way of showing a rental property, a leasing agent meets a prospective tenant at the rental property and escorts them through the rooms. A self showing, or contactless showing, allows prospects to view the property on their own, at their convenience, without an agent.

Rental property showings are one of those things that everybody thinks they’ve mastered, but few truly do well. It takes more than a friendly agent with a magical personal touch to make a property visit successful. You might be surprised how much faster you can fill a vacancy by making some key adjustments to your property showings.

Showing a rental property can be risky. Agents are sometimes targeted by criminals that see rental showings as opportunities. At a showing, there’s usually only one person and an empty property, creating a prime scenario to take advantage of that person or the property.

When I first started as a landlord, I remember being surprised how empty and dirty and dusty a vacant home is. It highlighted the feeling of risk of not having someone in there, and the worry about paying the mortgage. What if the hot water heater breaks while the house is vacant and I don’t know about it? New floors aren't cheap!