Topic: For apartment tours, do you show anyone who walks in before your closing time or have you established a “don’t show past” time?

I’m curious to know Property Managers protocol on appointments/touring when it’s close to closing time. Do you show anyone who walks in before your closing time or have you established a “don’t show past” time? I appreciate all feed back!

depends on property location and day light savings time. We would do summer tours till 7 pm when still light out. Safety is always first concern.

We cut it off at 15 minutes before closing to be consistent with all.

We show until dusk in the winter. In the summer, if someone walks in 1 minute to close, we show them.

Jason Schorr, it isn't safe to show after dark, how do you expect the prospect/ residents to feel safe?

Couldn't agree with you more but you can't promise a resident safety or security. Not every property is a class A and in a great area.

We will tour until the minute we close.

30 minutes before closing always.

Question: why is it less safe to show after dark if you have taken all other safety precautions? Why would this change anything?
On our contract leasing assignments we show up to closing time and often set appointments to show well after the official closing time. That is when it’s convenient for prospects to visit. Again, we take the same safety precautions. Photo ID and allow someone to know where we are going. I’m not sure the concern of showing after hours or when dark is justified.

I won’t schedule anything later than 30 minutes before closing, only because almost every prospect is 15 minutes late. If someone walks in the door as Im about to walk out and I don’t have somewhere else to be, I’ll show them. But if I have to go, I apologize and let them know I’m about to leave and offer other times they can come back

How would you feel, as a customer, if a store was open until 6pm, you rushed by after work to purchase something but they told you "sorry we close in 30 minutes. we don't have time to help you before we lock up."? Why do we still think like this in a customer driven business?!? TLC = Think Like a Customer!

My team stopped showing 30 mins before close but because that’s when residents come in with work orders, rent questions or looking for packages.

Totally depends on current occupancy!

For us it isn’t about occupancy but the property’s need. Every property is different. I’ve worked some where first thing in the morning is slammed with residents and some where 5 to close is the busiest. Residents come first

It's also a safety issue. We do not want our team members showing after hours when everyone else has left for the night. That's just not smart. I used to do this all of the time 20 years ago - when I didn't know any better. If you want to accommodate your customers' schedules then change your business hours but don't expect a lone team member to stay and show until 7:30 at night without anyone else there.

Last show is 30 minutes before sunset. Safety first, now showings in the dark

That’s a GREAT QUESTION! Most of the shops I have done says that everyone stops at 4 or 4:30.

We show even after our “closing time.” Our customers pay our salaries and I don’t let the team forget it. Customers come first.

Nichole Granquist employee safety comes before customers.

Yeah, I understand employee safety, but we run more like a brokerage, we make sure that we always have two people staffed and if the employee feels unsafe they can bring the other person with them. I’ve been doing this for over 10 years and never had any issues with safety. I don’t buy the mentality that things are immediately unsafe because it is night. You should take the same precautions whether it’s day or night. Also, my employees are salary and don’t get overtime and they are still willing to stay after hours to show a prospect. Customer service is the name of the game. It’s a shame that most in our industry don’t get that, but works out in our favor all the time because we provide our prospects a great experience. I would also add that this is all on the south side of Chicago and again, never had an issue.

The problem for many, is that they have obligations after work. Most of us sign contracts for our job duties, which includes a start and finish time. Some overtime is expected, sure. I always go above and beyond when I am able to. But what happens when you have to pick up kids, or have your kids recital, basketball practice so on so forth? Those additional 30-45 min can be valuable. I agree with the 30 min before closing time personally. However, there are always exceptions. Remember you work to live. Family is always first:

Nichole Granquist sounds like you’ve been given more resources than most in this business.
Most leasing specialists aren’t salary and a lot of communities close with one person. That’s wonderful that y’all are able to do that.

Jon Harvey I agree, I have kids and several agents have kids. I don’t force them to take after hours appointments, but if they want to, I’m not going to stop them either. We also have extended hours to accommodate prospects and that helps a lot. If they can’t stay they will reschedule or see if someone else on the team can. It’s a team effort.

A way around this from a management companies side is to close the office 30 minutes earlier. This allows for that last minute walk in while on the clock and/or 30 minutes of admin: filing, closing traffic, getting ready for tomorrow, closing your models and vacants, etc. You can’t use other businesss taking care of customers until closing because most of them actually have their employees shifts end after closing; restaurants, retail, banks, etc. this allows them to clean, count the til, put everything away, etc. our industry does not account for that.

Our company does the best we can to prevent overtime so I do implement a firm “stop showing” 30 mins prior to close. We stay productive in the last 30 mins clearing leads, checking messages and following up on service request.

We stop showing 30 minutes before close

I think sometimes the confusion of after dark is traveling to a model, if you are walking or on a golf cart it is a safety concern and more of an ins. Liability. I would think Company policy would dictate the stop time based on number of employees, area, occupancy, location of model or vacants, to ensure the safety of staff with and fair housing.

We show during posted hours. Walk in at 5:30 no problem

If our door is unlocked when they get there, we show.

We show until we are closed!

I inform applicants, residents, etc that our office close at 5pm, but if you are coming to office to fill out paperwork, drop anything off, appt they will have to be at office at 4:30pm because we leave at 5pm sharp. I am strict with that and let them all know

Be consistent what ever you decide . Typically last shows are half hour before close . Create your standard and stick to it .

We show until closing and we flex out our time to prevent OT. (Stay 30 min late? Take 30 min longer on your lunch break the next day.) We are a mid-rise so our model is inside the same building as our office, so it also doesn’t matter if it’s dark or raining.

30 minutes prior to showing

We do not show after dark

We close at 5 and always take our last appointment at 4:30.

I always kept showing until the time our office closed. We post these hours and we should honor that for our customers.

We stop showing 30 minutes before close.

I show apartments until they stop walking in the door. If I’m walking out and their walking in, I show and rent !

If they are there, always show. It could be a deciding factor for them based on how they are treated by you at that moment. Same goes for when it’s raining!

Dusk dark is the standard in my state. It's for safety reasons during the winter hours. We show until closing in the summer hours.

We have a huge property that really requires us to drive the golf cart to show in it's entirety and really give someone the entire experience our community has to offer. Unfortunately our golf cart does not have headlights, therefore is not safe to be driving past dark, which is why we have the "not past dark" rule. In the summer we show until we put up the golf cart, which is typically around 545 so we can get back to the office and lock up.

15 minutes before closing we stop showing. We do advise anyone who calls.

My community is “By Appointment Only” however I have not been following this rule since I need to lease out 5 apartments

We show up until the time we close.

We stop touring 30 mins prior to closing

We stop touring when they stop showing up :)
Always make a great customer service impressions.
This may be the difference of them leasing with you over a comp

we typically tour up until close. but if im alone, i stop at about 5-10 til close depending on light and weather.

I shut down the model about 10-15 before closing

Honestly I do. And most of the time or results in a lease. Typically they feel bad, I reassure them it is my job and make she they know my job is also keeping their best interest in mind. I never try to rush them. It seems to make a difference.

15 min before closing....this way when the agent gets back at least someone is still in the office.
My safety of the staff comes first.

I require my team to tour until closing time during the Spring and Summer. When the time changes we stop touring at 5:30 when it gets dark outside earlier.

We close at 6 and tour until that time. If tour can't start by 6 (that means all info recorded prior to touring) then we will reschedule.

I truly am somewhat confused with those that stop touring early, hand out brochures and ask people to set up future appointments. Do you have a sign on your door with specific office hours that are different than touring hours? Because if you don’t, this is a problem. If I were to walk in your community and you gave me a brochure, I would simply ask if this is what you did with every person that came to your office for a tour today. If you answer me yes then no fault, no foul but, if there is no sign specifying different hours for office and touring, and you did in fact tour people you are violating fair housing. Ps, I’ve also now left your community and gone to another community that will tour me and where, most likely, I will lease.