Do you know what your prospects want in an apartment tour? Esther Bonardi, vice president of marketing at Yardi, hosted “OPTECH Express: The New Apartment Tour — Insights for Today’s Customer Preferences” as part of NMHC OPTECH 2020. The mini session gave insights into the latest renter preferences. Bonardi also offered actionable tasks to carry property managers into the future of touring. RentCafe.com surveys reveal what renters want To better understand renter preferences, Yardi issued two surveys. The May survey published by RentCafe.com revealed that 83% of renters would take a self-guided tour if it was offered to them. When asked why they would take a self-guided tour, the results were surprising. “About 63% of respondents said they wanted to tour at their own time and their own pace. That had nothing to do with social distancing,” observes Bonardi. “So we might say from that, it’s likely that people want this for other reasons, and it will continue to be important long beyond the pandemic.” Yardi focused on Gen Z and Millennial renters during the fall survey. Results reveal that 52% of respondents preferred a non-agent-led tour, included self-guided and virtual. Nearly 43% said they would still love to work with an agent. “These are important numbers to keep in mind,” says Bonardi. “Those numbers tell us that we have to offer options. One tour type is no longer enough to meet the changing demands of our customers. We need to let them decide what options they want to tour the apartment home.” Tips for offering new tour types “Don’t offer a new tour type just to check a box,” advises Bonardi. “Gather with your team and figure out how to make each tour feel as personal and connected as possible. After all, this...