When deciding on which properties to tour, most renters have a lot of options to choose from. To help them decide, they often start by comparing their wish list against the options available and filter out those communities that do not appear to meet their primary needs. As a part of the refining process, spot judgements are often made after reviewing a properties advertisements, driving by a property or visiting a property’s website. When it comes to the property’s website, live chat is a tool that opens up doors of opportunity at crucial points in the evaluation process.

Your Competitive Advantage

Rather than spending inordinate amounts of time sifting through property websites in the hopes of finding an answer, it is far easier for renters to click a button and instantly ask their questions. In this way, properties that have live chat on their website homepages have an advantage over those that don’t. Live chat opens up direct lines of communication with prospective renters that might have otherwise come and gone without ever contacting the leasing office.

How It Works

Recently, Carlos Dominguez of North Post Oak Lofts, a Southhampton Management community explained how his property is pulling opportunities away from nearby competitors. By offering live chat on their property website, it is easier and more convenient for apartment seekers to reach out to Carlos’ community first. In addition, property managers like Carlos get the chance to build rapport with renters at an early stage in the decision-making process, becoming a prospect’s first influence and source of information. These two factors are translating into more leasing appointments.

Another advantage for property managers like Carlos comes during the initial consultation. Say for instance, a prospective renter begins their search with a requirement for a 3 bedroom apartment on a certain side of town. A quick chat conversation can reveal that 2 bedrooms with an office niche and access to public transit is just as suitable. In this case and others, a live chat conversation turns a property which may have otherwise been ignored or crossed off the list into one that becomes a top contender.

Placing Property Chat on Your Website

To find out more about adding property chat to your apartment website, visit: www.apartmentchat.com

How quickly can you respond to a backed up toilet?

Toilet problems are among the most common maintenance requests residents chat about. In fact, many leasing offices are closed in the morning before residents head off to work. Calling from work is not appealing (and may even be prohibited by employers).  Besides, who wants to share this type of information with their coworkers in the cube farm? How about emailing the leasing office? Well, that typically involves a delay in response and certain uncertainty: “Did anyone actually receive my email?”

In the situation of a backed up toilet and many others, live apartment chat can help facilitate immediate resolutions to tenant issues. We all know that when there’s flooding in a unit, it’s important to respond quickly before the situation gets worse. With a printed copy of the chat transcript in hand, property supervisors can provide written permission to maintenance crews, allowing them to enter the apartment in time to save the day.

“About 20% of our chats are coming from residents. It is so much quicker to be able to chat about “I need this replaced in my apartment, or I need this to be looked at.” – Kim Small, Morgan Group

Using live chat, apartment communities can improve response times and the quality of service they provide to residents.

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