The Right Mindset for Making It through the Pandemic

Six months after it began in the U.S., the coronavirus pandemic is still with us.
Hopefully, a vaccine is on the not-too-distant horizon, and things can return to something resembling normalcy. Until then, multifamily owners and operators will have to continue to adapt to a challenging market. 
One of the keys to successfully adapting to the pandemic is to realize that nothing has to be set up perfectly before implementation. Take self-guided tours, for example.
Self-guided tours were certainly becoming more common in multifamily before COVID-19. Now, with the need to practice social distancing, the adaption of them has accelerated. 
But perhaps you are hesitant to immediately invest for a full-blown, complete implementation of this technology. Do you really have to have all the associated hardware – such as smart locks – from the start? Do you have to go whole hog, or can you just do the bare minimum for now and grow as necessary? The answer to that last question is “yes.” 
You can offer a scaled-back, barebones version of a self-guided tour in which, for example, a prospect shows a driver’s license through the leasing office window and then an associate passes the prospect a FOB or a key through a slot. 
The reasons why an operator would want to implement self-guided tours in some form or fashion are obvious. For example, one apartment operator that began offering self-guided tours earlier this year has found that its prospects who complete a self-guided tour at any point in the leasi……