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I lived in a UDR apartment property for the past 3+ yrs. They first had 2 full-time sales persons on site. That went down to one, then to zero. Now they lease b

I lived in a UDR apartment property for the past 3+ yrs. They first had 2 full-time sales persons on site. That went down to one, then to zero. Now they lease based on GOOD 3d drawings of apartments, virtual showings, and easy Docusign based lease agreements. You can check it out here: https://www.udr.com/washington-dc-apartments/arlington/crescent-falls-church/ https://www.udr.com/washington-dc-apartments/arlington/cresc... No value seems to have been lost in going from humans to software. Yes, vacancies are up, but that is probably due to the 15-20% rent increases and general migration away from the city. I'm sure they are also saving a mint on the two fewer on-site sales FTEs. Seems like a big win for both the tenant and landlord (hopefully the savings are being split.) EDIT: I dont think virtual showings are a replacement for a physical walk-thru. However, it is a great way to filter out obviously mismatching apartments and a way to not waste time visiting apartments way out of your requirements. For example, if I just want to see the size of closets (a big deciding factor for me), i can do that on a floorplan easily. I can easily filter out apartments w/o walk-in closets.

gfxgirl 5y ago
Virtual viewing is not a full solution for me. The plus is it helps me weed out places I'm sure I'm not interested in but I still need to see the real place before I rent. The virtual version of the place might not represent the actual place. There's no easy way to check noise levels, lighting, ambiance, etc. And further, it's far easier to scam people with virtual showings. I had one yesterday where they sent a matterport tour link and claimed I couldn't see the place for real because they had a son and 3 friends die from COVID so "please understand, no in person showings". After looking into details it became clear it was a scam.
jdavis703 5y ago
As a tenant I want to personally inspect the unit I’m renting. A 3D virtual tour won’t tell me if there’s low water pressure, a slow hot water heater, a stinky garbage bin outside the window or creaky floors.
ajcp 5y ago
I lived in DC and NOVA for 8+ years (including at UDRs Shirlington property) and never felt I needed a broker when apartment hunting. Now that was about 5 years ago, so the market might have changed.
brendoelfrendo 5y ago
Yes, but this highlights a very tenant-unfriendly side effect of "the algorithm" that I noticed during a recent apartment hunt: monthly rent estimates vary, sometimes wildly, day to day. It's really silly to me that selecting a move in date for next Friday results in a monthly rent $100/month cheaper than a move in date the following week. I mean, I understand some of the variables: length of vacancy, estimated market conditions at the end of the lease, etc, etc, could all contribute to slightly different market conditions or costs to the landlord that they want to pass on to the tenant. But it strikes me as intentionally opaque and hostile to renters.

gfxgirl 5y ago

Virtual viewing is not a full solution for me. The plus is it helps me weed out places I'm sure I'm not interested in but I still need to see the real place before I rent. The virtual version of the place might not represent the actual place. There's no easy way to check noise levels, lighting, ambiance, etc. And further, it's far easier to scam people with virtual showings. I had one yesterday where they sent a matterport tour link and claimed I couldn't see the place for real because they had a son and 3 friends die from COVID so "please understand, no in person showings". After looking into details it became clear it was a scam.

jdavis703 5y ago

As a tenant I want to personally inspect the unit I’m renting. A 3D virtual tour won’t tell me if there’s low water pressure, a slow hot water heater, a stinky garbage bin outside the window or creaky floors.

ajcp 5y ago

I lived in DC and NOVA for 8+ years (including at UDRs Shirlington property) and never felt I needed a broker when apartment hunting. Now that was about 5 years ago, so the market might have changed.

brendoelfrendo 5y ago

Yes, but this highlights a very tenant-unfriendly side effect of "the algorithm" that I noticed during a recent apartment hunt: monthly rent estimates vary, sometimes wildly, day to day. It's really silly to me that selecting a move in date for next Friday results in a monthly rent $100/month cheaper than a move in date the following week. I mean, I understand some of the variables: length of vacancy, estimated market conditions at the end of the lease, etc, etc, could all contribute to slightly different market conditions or costs to the landlord that they want to pass on to the tenant. But it strikes me as intentionally opaque and hostile to renters.