Renters Embrace Self-Guided Tours for Flexibility, Control Over Showing

In order to meet new social-distancing requirements, some apartment operators are turning to self-guided tours to allow potential renters the chance to see units in person. Though an agent is a valuable resource for inquiring parties, an overwhelming majority of renters would take a self-guided tour, according to a survey by RentCafe. The survey found 83 percent of respondents would be comfortable leading their own tour through an apartment while only 17 percent said that they would not. Besides allowing those who are touring to maintain social distancing requirements, respondents also said that they liked that it would give them control over the duration of the tour and the time slot.

Living in the time of a pandemic has pushed us into the digital realm faster than ever before, leading to an unprecedented boost in new tech solutions that allow us to continue to work and live while respecting social distancing norms and minimizing health risks.

For apartment dwellers, technology companies like Yardi Systems, our parent company, provide the software and equipment that support the full apartment life experience, from finding a home, leasing, to resident life with zero face-to-face interaction. On the apartment search side, the hottest new feature in apartment technology is self-guided touring, which enables digital scheduling and access to rental units so you can physically tour them without an agent, safely and at your own pace.

The need for social distancing is turning self-guided tours into mainstream apartment leasing technology overnight. To uncover how popular this new tool is among renters, we recently asked about 3,500 Americans searching for apartments on rentcafe.com what would generally make them more comfortable touring and leasing an apartment, and specifically how open would they be to visiting properties using self-guided tours.

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