Online Versus Print Leasing

Both traditional print leasing and online leasing have their pros and cons. Print offers a more personal form of salesmanship, while online leasing is often more efficient. If you’re looking at making the transition from print to online or vice versa, here are a few things to consider:

Print Leasing:

• How much face-to-face contact do you want to have in the leasing process? “Renting a place is an emotional thing,” says John Rosenberg, adjunct instructor of real estate at the University of Cincinnati. “If you’re simply wanting the efficiency of online leasing, you’ll lose the art of the sale. Sometimes you can cheat yourself by not having that ability to have human interaction and create the sale.”
• How much staff do you have to devote to sales? Are you running a one-person office, or do you have a staff of people who work well face-to-face? Assess your resources before deciding which route is best.
• How comfortable are you with technology? Print leasing is decidedly low-tech. If you’re not comfortable setting up a Web site or paying someone to set it up for you, it may be a better idea to stick with paper.
• Can you get a better “feel” on tenants while working through a paper lease? If a tenant is filling out information at home anonymously, they might not be as honest as they would be in person. “You can learn a lot about a residents from filling out applications with them,” says Rosenberg. In some cases, tenants may have to supply bank statements, W-2s, and tax returns, which would be difficult for the tenant to supply unless they have a scanner.

Online Leasing:

• Is time or staffing an issue? Online leasing can save you time in that you’re not having to read illegible writing on forms and then having to input the information into a computer yourself. “The renter fills it out, and the online service does a background check, credit check and generates a lease within minutes,” says Jake Harrington, Director of Business Development for On-Site.com, an online leasing company based in Mountain View, Calif. “An hour-long process is condensed to a few seconds.”
• Who are your tenants and what do they expect? You may be dealing with an older clientele who still expects to sit down and fill out multiple forms. However, if you’re renting to Generations X and Y, they probably will expect an online option. “Your potential renters can sit down at midnight and do this,” Harrington says. “Otherwise, they’re going to have to find you in your office between 10 and 5, and that probably isn’t convenient for them.”
• Will getting online make you more competitive? Many of today’s renters compare their “short list” of properties online. “By making your Web site more than just a glorified classified ad with phone numbers, you’ll have the competitive advantage,” says Harrington.

Harrington adds that in some cases using an online leasing service doesn’t have to cost landlords anything. “The fee comes out of the application fee from the renters,” he says.