During 2020, it appeared that apartment leasing was headed toward a future free of human involvement.
Technology advanced rapidly during the pandemic, with many believing we were moving toward a completely virtual leasing experience using artificial intelligence. Residents would be able to self-tour, get answers to their questions, complete the necessary paperwork, and move in without human help.
While the technology exists to make this possible, it was a misconception to think that humans would be phased out of the leasing process, at least anytime soon.
The truth is that human-to-human contact is crucial to building the trust needed to make a prospect comfortable enough to sign a lease.
In this post, we’ll go over five other myths around AI leasing and the facts behind each one.
Myth #1: AI leasing will kill Multifamily jobs.
Fact: It would be more accurate to say that AI will phase out some jobs and transform others. Just as robotization and automation made it possible to eliminate repetitive manual tasks across many industries, AI makes it possible to do away with repetitive intellectual tasks—answering the same questions over and over, conducting in-person tours, and so on—creating more capacity to work in a more strategic way.
Myth #2: AI was necessary during COVID-19, but it will be diminished now that the pandemic is waning.
Fact: In many instances, AI technology did the heavy lifting during the pandemic while Multifamily employees were in lockdown. But contrary to the belief that AI will step aside now that people are vaccinated and back at work, AI has proven its worth. It’s helping to generate revenue, improving prospect interactions, analyzing data more quickly, and allowing human employees to focus on higher-level work.
Myth #3: An AI leasing assistant is too technologically complex for the average Multifamily team.
Fact: While there may be training needed for the team to get the most out of an AI leasing agent, the learning curve will be less intimidating than expected. Advancements in technology have made AI more user-friendly and easier to implement, and resources are available to help your team understand what the AI leasing agent can do and how it should be integrated into your leasing strategy.
Myth #4: Prospects will be turned off because people don’t like communicating with artificial intelligence.
Fact: We’re already surrounded by AI, from customer service chatbots to virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, and it’s become a normal part of our lives. Not only that, AI leasing agents can provide straightforward answers to prospects’ questions without the hassle of speaking to someone on the phone or composing an email.
Myth #5: An AI leasing agent can overtake and outpace human intelligence.
Fact: This conjures up sci-fi scenarios that don’t have much basis in reality. Intelligence can be measured in many different ways, including speed of calculations and memory capacity, and computers already far outpace humans in these areas. But in others, such as emotional IQ, creativity, and strategic problem-solving, AI doesn’t stand a chance compared to human intelligence.
Conclusion
AI leasing was born out of necessity during the pandemic, but it’s proving its worth even as life is getting back to normal. With more and more apartment communities becoming aware of the power of AI leasing, we expect to see a gradual transformation in the leasing process that will benefit both residents and communities.
ResMate™ AI Leasing Agent is the newest addition to Respage’s leasing automation suite. ResMate automates lead nurturing from initial contact to application. His job is to move leads through the leasing process with the goal of submitting a rental application – freeing up leasing agents to focus on relationships and handle more complex issues. Drawing on years of NLP training through millions of conversations, ResMate has an edge over his competition, providing superior accuracy, flexibility & effectiveness. Leasing teams also have increased visibility through a dashboard, with access to real-time lead funnel data, lead attribution, and prospect communications to manage pipelines, prioritize opportunities, and make smart decisions. Lastly, adding ResMate to leasing teams results in greater efficiencies – exponential decreases in average response time, 50% reduction in lead-to-lease time – and significant results impacting the bottom line – doubled lead-to-tour conversation rates, increased occupancy rates, stronger rent rolls, and higher NOI.
Here’s a quick highlight of ResMate on the job.
Talk to us about how ResMate can help you maximize leasing results while minimizing time and spend.
