Renters continue to become increasingly astute. The days of visiting an apartment community without having fully vetted it online are essentially over. 

That’s why the multifamily industry has made a concentrated push to include as much information as possible on community websites and other listings, so prospective residents can see amenities, location details and the types of homes available in the community. But now prospects want more. They want apartment information faster, tailored to their specific needs and don’t have time for unnecessary details. So how can leasing teams deliver?  

The answer is simple—visualization. 

As prospects search through comprehensive property information, they seldom have the opportunity to visualize their desired unit by location. But technology has made it possible to eradicate that barrier and enable renters to visually search for available homes within a property. 

In the pursuit to accumulate as much knowledge as possible before ever visiting a property, a visualization-enabled community will often jump to the top of a prospect’s list since they’ve already pictured themselves in that space. 

Onsite teams can experience the positive benefits of visualization, as well. Prospects equipped with the information they amassed on their own will focus on any additional details pertinent to their specific living situation when they first speak to a leasing agent. Supplied with this information, leasing agents are readily prepared to ask questions most pertinent to the individual renter and offer the information that matters to them. 

Childfree renters don’t particularly want to know about the playground, and pet-free residents won’t necessarily want a home adjacent to the dog park. But a snowboarding enthusiast who craves mountain views, or a local business owner who wants to view her boutique shop along the downtown street bordering the community certainly have stringent parameters.

When leasing agents possess this knowledge ahead of time, they can focus on closing the lease in rapid fashion as opposed to starting from the bottom layer and giving the prospect a 101-style rundown of the property. The time saved also enhances their role by enabling them to speak to significantly more prospects throughout the day.

The autonomy and self-guidance offered by a visualization platform caters to today’s digitally focused renter and supplements a community’s ability to provide them with an individualized renter journey. When an apartment community adds a visualization tool to its website, prospects can self-guide themselves throughout the property and set their parameters before they even speak to anyone onsite. 

In an intense apartment market, that truly qualifies as a competitive differentiator.