What are the Pros & Cons of Self-Showing Technology for Your Nashville Rental Property?

Lee Blackburn

Self-showings have become more relevant than ever. With the Covid-19 pandemic not coming to a close anytime soon, contact-free marketing, leasing, and property management in Nashville has become an important way to safely serve our owners and our potential tenants.

At Omni Property Management, we use Rently, a self-showing technology that has had some great results for us. We can still show a property in person if it’s requested, but we’ve found that most tenants prefer the convenience and flexibility of seeing homes on their own.

Benefits to Self-Showings and Nashville Property Management

Using this technology has increased the amount of interest we generate in vacant properties. It’s brought down vacancy rates and attracted a larger pool of tenants. The self-showing technology eliminates the time and resources required to schedule these walk-throughs.

Almost everything is on-demand these days, and this technology helps us meet that need. Sometimes, a prospective tenant is only in town for a day or two and has very limited availability. With this smart lock installed at the home, we can also provide digital access for maintenance vendors, and we don’t have to change the lock and rekey the property during every turnover.

Using this technology is efficient, convenient, safe, and it increases the number of tenants we have viewing our properties. It gets your home rented faster, and it keeps marketing costs low.

Managing the Challenges of Self-Showings

Providing this self-showing technology still makes some of our owners nervous, and we understand that. You may be concerned about open access to your property. Perhaps you’re worried about vandalism or theft. The technology carefully tracks who is coming and going, and access is time-limited. There has been zero increase in damaged or vandalized homes within our inventory since this type of self-touring capability was introduced to Nashville property management.

Some owners and tenants still prefer in-person viewings and showings. We can do that too. This technology isn’t meant to replace in-person showings; it’s simply an additional way to do it, capturing 100% of interest as opposed to only those that can/will tolerate scheduling with an agent. When we do show the property in-person, we maintain social distancing and wear masks. We ask prospective tenants and agents to limit what they touch as well.

How the Technology Works

To use the self-showing technology, we install an electronic lock on the door that’s controlled via an app. When someone wants to see the home, we ask them to upload their driver’s license and credit card information; then an identity check and rapid criminal background check occur. They’re also required to complete a form that pre-qualifies them. It includes questions like move-in date and income amount.

When a prospective tenant has had their information validated, the door is remotely unlocked for them to complete their walk-through. Pre-qualified prospective tenants can access the property at their convenience within minutes of contacting our provider on the app. We follow up once they’ve seen the property, and we’re available to answer any questions they have or provide additional information.

Part of maintaining high-quality Nashville property management services is remaining flexible and innovative. That’s why we appreciate the availability of self-showing technology. We hope you’ll agree it’s a good idea, and if you’d like to hear more about it and how it might work for your investment property, please contact us at Omni Property Management.