The Washington Post

By Michele Lerner
August 2

When you’ve got a full life — busy with work, errands, friends and perhaps a family — carving out time to search for an apartment can be difficult. A recent survey of 1,000 adults commissioned by Tour24 found that more than 40 percent of adults have searched for an apartment in the past two years but that 4 in 10 passed on an apartment because they couldn’t find time to see it.

Nearly 1 in 4 of those surveyed said the leasing agent didn’t show up for their confirmed appointment, and 1 in 5 said there were no appointments available on the days they wanted to tour an apartment. Another 30 percent stopped by an apartment’s leasing office to tour an apartment and found the office closed.

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To address the issue of time-constrained renters, Tour24 recently launched an on-demand platform to automate apartment tours. The technology allows prospective renters to take self-guided tours of apartments on their own schedule — at least in apartments where the owners have signed on with Tour24.

The smartphone app verifies the identity of the prospective renters to give them access to the apartment building and an on-site tour of the community and the apartments. The tech platform is initially launching in markets in the Northeast and will expand to other markets in early 2019.

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