What’s New from Apartments.com?

What Apartments.com Is Doing to Help You Attract Renters

Building on the insights from surveys and user behavior, Apartments.com has rolled out new ways to help you find renters and convert them into your next residents. Apartments.com’s Arjun Anandan, associate director of product, shared some of these latest strategies in a recent presentation at NAA Apartmentalize.

Showing off your neighborhoods

Choosing an apartment is more than just choosing a unit to live in.

“When renters are moving,” Anandan said, “they’re also making a big decision on their neighborhood, the lifestyle that the neighborhood may offer, the restaurants that they’ll get to frequent, the schools that their kids may get to attend.”

Based on historical data, about 40 percent of renters on Apartments.com conduct out-of-town searches for their next apartment. This makes it especially important to help renters get to know the local neighborhood.

To fill this gap, Apartments.com provides robust resources, such local neighborhood guides with photos, descriptions, and useful facts. The Apartments.com Network also features engaging walkthrough videos that highlight what’s unique about individual local areas.

An inside look into individual units

Renters want to visualize life in your apartments and community. With captivating photos, video walkthroughs, and immersive 3D tours, your listings can help them do that.

“Leave nothing to the imagination,” Anandan said. “Tell them everything they could possibly want to know.”

Don’t forget about unit-specific details, like whether a given apartment includes an in-unit washer and dryer, granite countertops, or keyless entry. You can also share photos of the views from a given unit, upload floor plans, and provide individual videos for each unit.

Detailed listings help renters imagine themselves in the apartment before — or without — even visiting in person.

Price transparency

Renters report that price is their top consideration when selecting an apartment, Anandan said. And the latest renter survey, conducted with 30,000 current and potential renters, reinforced this finding.

“We take that type of feedback very seriously here at Apartments.com,” he said.

That’s why Apartments.com listings let you offer a complete schedule of fees, from one-time administrative fees to monthly rent costs and situational expenses, like storage fees and pet rent.

The price transparency tools on Apartments.com also let renters compare costs by move-in date and lease length.

Easy-to-schedule touring

When renters reach out to communities they’re interested in, they expect to hear back quickly. But 40 percent of renters report not receiving a response within 48 hours.

To help renters take the next step with minimal back-and-forth, you can integrate tour scheduling directly into your listings. Tour scheduling is available for in-person, self-guided, and virtual tours.

Streamlined application with higher conversion

And once renters have made up their minds, it’s time to submit their applications. Apartments.com offers a way to apply directly from the listing. For communities who have enabled this functionality, the Apply Now option has shown increased conversion.

What’s more, it also gives you access to better data, revealing a more accurate picture of where leads are coming from.

One client study that tracked the renter journey showed that 80 percent of all completed applications came from Apartments.com. So did 84 percent of scheduled tours and 65 percent of renters who submitted a message through the community website.

But when you turn on the Apply Now button, you don’t need to guess or used specialized tracking — you can clearly attribute submitted leads from Apartments.com straight to their source.

Increased brand awareness

The majority of renters want to know the brand behind their apartment community. And 55 percent consider this information “extremely” or “very” important.

“Just as you may look for reputable, trusted brands when making a purchase,” Anandan said, “renters also deeply care about who manages their community.”

A new directory of property management companies, integrated into Apartments.com, lets renters find communities under your brand. It also helps them discover your property management company as a leading housing provider in their local area.

Coming soon: AI-powered descriptions

What’s on the horizon? Anandan offered a sneak peek at new capabilities coming soon to communities that advertise with Apartments.com.

Powered by AI, one new tool currently under works will let property managers craft a custom description of their communities and individual units, based on existing information like amenities, photos, and location.

Take a peek into the future:

Explore more Learning Lounge sessions

Whether you’re an owner or property manager, you’ll find sessions from the Apartmentology Learning Lounge that speak to your needs and interests. This year’s educational sessions cover market analysis, advertising strategies, social media success, renter trends, and data-driven marketing.

Start watching now:

• Market insights: Rent Growth: Winners and Losers
• Renter trends: How Today’s Renters Are Searching
• Market insights: 2024: The Year of Market Stabilization?

Stay tuned for more sessions coming soon.