Being a Leasing Agent can be Hard
There are many reasons Leasing Agent roles have such high turnover rates. We point out some of these in our blog post Reducing Employee Turnover in Multifamily Through PropTech.
In this post we are highlighting some statements from current and previous Leasing Agents, commenting anonymously about their roles, and what they like and dislike about them. Also, we are including a few comments from Prospects and Residents that additionally highlight some of the struggles.
A Leasing Agent says: “You’re always building the pipeline but the work can be pretty slow at times. What frustrated me was the amount of prospects that waste a lot of your time and never sign a deal. You have to get really good at reading people and figuring out which prospects are serious and worth your time."
This is a very common issue that causes a lot of burnout for leasing staff. Leads and Prospects who visit the office, make calls, take tours, and ultimately don’t rent. Leasing Chat helps solve this issue by being on the front-lines of lead communication, pre-qualifying prospects based on interest and ability to pay, and allowing Leasing Agents to focus on high-value and high-priority prospects, which increases prospect-to-lease ratios and results in happier on-site agents.
A Leasing Agent says: “You will spend half your time on property management stuff , updating contracts, renewals, scheduling maintenance and repair. You will probably be expected to work weekends. A good property manager will make your life much easier."
A good property manager and support team makes all the difference. Many Leasing Agents feel flustered by lack of structure, training, goals and expectations. If tools and procedures are in place to help agents handle their workload and feel supported, it has an enormous impact on morale and performance.
A Leasing Agent says: “If you can sell, you can lease. Everything else is just learning company policies and procedures."
An old leasing maxim. Leasing is sales. Agents are selling apartments to prospects, and they are selling the experience of living in the community. Leasing Agents with a proactive sales mindset are going to be vastly more successful than those who just check the boxes.
A Leasing Agent says: “Some companies will have you doing tours, assisting in the application, running the credit and draft the lease. Making sure apartments are ready for the move-in. Handling tenant issues. Marketing. Social Media. Housing fairs. Etc."
There are many hats a leasing agent wears over the course of a day. They have many responsibilities and roles. How Leasing Chat can help improve this is by reducing the tasks at hand and helping organize lead and prospect data, freeing agents to focus on high priority tasks coming across their desks. We also have extended services in maintenance management, lease auditing, and background check services.
A Leasing Agent says: “My main word of advice is to just listen. You are going to deal with numerous personality types and you will be asked every question you can imagine about the details of your community. Know your community. Know the floor plans, types of flooring, where each apartment is, what determines rent prices, etc."
Having the right answers in the right moment can be the difference between enticing a prospect to continue towards renting, or having them fall out of the leasing sales funnel. Our property data and details aggregation is second to none, making sure all leads and prospects have the information they need to make an informed decision.
A Leasing Agent says: “Rapport is huge, because once they move in you have to see them all the time!"
Exactly true! In the multifamily world, customers aren’t just faceless buyers, they are people you will see and interact with every single day. Having rapport with prospects is enormous and helps good prospects feel engaged with the staff, and feel engaged with the property. This results in residents who are also engaged and happy to be in a friendly community.
A Leasing Agent says: “Just make sure you’re prepared to have residents from time to time yell at you about any and everything."
Handling resident issues is a common complaint for onsite leasing staff. No matter how tightly run a property is, there will invariably be issues, and residents will invariably become upset. The most important way of handling any and all issues like this is having clear communication about the issue it hand, why it exists, and how it is going to be resolved. This communication channel needs to start early, because sometimes residents feel maligned or ignored in previous interactions, which will create a more heated complaint in the future. By focusing on prospect and resident communication, and building communication channels that are easy for everyone, issues will be minimized, and resolution will come faster.
An applicant says: “I think leasing agents are low paid, a lot people looking for the same thing. I submitted my application for an apartment May 10. They told me to wait a couple weeks . I just called today to check the status . The leasing agent never submitted my application, she didn’t give a shit."
Lack of systems and procedures can create all kinds of negative experiences for prospects and residents. Offices that implement PropTech and utilize their PMS and CRM systems in a methodical way will avoid problems like this. Leasing Chat helps by following well structured procedures, and working within the PropTech systems leasing offices already use. We also provide oversight and accountability because we track the prospect journey from start to finish and our data will show were issues are arising.
A previous Leasing Agent says: “They don’t care specifically about you, the potential tenant, because they see you more as a potential source of trouble than as a customer. The leasing agents and PM’s are not paid well and exist primarily as a middle man ….. Every day consists of trying to arrange for repairs by trades that want too much money for property owners that don’t want to pay for anything for tenants that expect that everything will always be immediate and perfect. “
A venting leasing agent highlights some of the struggles that often get swept under the rug when onsite teams are hiring. Agents often feel unimportant and undervalued, which is a problem with their incentive structure and management more than anything. Agents that have to fend for themselves, rather than having a strong supportive team, often leave their jobs feeling like it was futile and a losing battle.
CONCLUSIONS
This has been a brief look at just a handful of comments we have collected. There are no new issues here, and no complaints that management hasn’t already been aware of for years, but when an anonymous voice describes their experience it is somehow more urgent.
Multifamily owners and managers have a lot on their plates, and many wheels to keep spinning. The big differences on employee and customer experience appear to be directly tied to management, and proper procedures. When managers make life easier for their leasing agents, the leasing agents will be more productive, and everyone wins.