Registering for inspections - cutting out time wasters or limiting applicant pool?

I notice some agencies are starting to do this sort of thing on Rental listings. This one is in QLD but I saw similar thing on listings in WA recently too. What do you think? I can see the merits, agents can cancel open houses if there is no interest, and if peoople are really interested they will go to the effort of following the steps to register, etc...but I wonder how many potential people this could put off too because there are easier properties to apply for? Possibly where it is placed in the listing might have something to do with it also - this one was directly under the heading and had to be read through before you get to the property details, the WA ones were underneath the information so at least you knew if you were really interested by the time you got to it.


"To make an inspection to view this property, please click on the "Contact Agent" button and submit your details to register your interest.
Once you have registered your interest, you will be kept up to date with available inspection times.

Please note, you must be registered to attend inspections. If you are not registered we cannot notify you if there have been any changes or cancellations to inspection times."
 
Isn't it mostly to get names for their marketing database pool?
Quite possibly, hadn't thought of that one.

But why have this part in there?
Please note, you must be registered to attend inspections
If no one has registered then there is no need to hold any inspections as I'd assume no one would just turn up. How many people would actually bother to register just to go to an open house if there are other properties available?
 
We've recently been involved in this.
There are a whole stack of companies in Brisbane doing this.
The Benefit for the Agent/Company is huge, while marginal for the Owner.
We insisted that an open time was listed as well, Realestate.com.au has lot of functionality around open times.
The best benefit for an owner is if we drop the price, everyone on the potential tenant list who signed up gets notified.
 
It's valuable if you make the assumption that only seriously interested parties would register.
If nobody is registering it's likely either a) asking rent to too high or b) the advertisement is ineffective which is valuable information Cheers
 
It's valuable if you make the assumption that only seriously interested parties would register.
If nobody is registering it's likely either a) asking rent to too high or b) the advertisement is ineffective which is valuable information Cheers


Hi Lee, assuming can be costly.
For ours we had both options to register and open inspection time.
6 + couples through and no-one registered, 4 applications.
The average person is hesitant to give out their details willingly on a property that aren't 100% sure on.
Bottom line is it saves the agents time at the possible inconvenience of the tenant/owner.
 
...The best benefit for an owner is if we drop the price, everyone on the potential tenant list who signed up gets notified.

Great idea. However, I've found that several set listed times work best, and people still walk in off the street from signboards never seeing the advert for the property before !
 
I worked on Brisbane Southside and found I had so much enquiry on most properties that I supplied multiple open times during the week and channeled all enquiry to whichever time suited them.

However since working in Ipswich, we find easily 50% of people fail to turn up to inspections. I also find considerably less enquiry comes through, so turning up to inspections with no attendees is a real productivity killer. I personally SMS people to turn up soon before the inspection and will call them on site if they don't turn up. Requiring registration is totally understandable though.
 
Up until this week we would only do inspections if people were registered all we required was a name and phone number. Just incase we had to contact them and cancel or reschedule. Also we dont process an application if they do not view the property this helps in this instance. Also saves time at the open getting contact details off every person attending as our opens are only for 10 minutes. this also protects the letting agent as if anything happens at the property or to the agent we have contacts for all people who have attended. We are now trialling put on the net the inspection times and see how it goes. If you dont want to leave a name and number I ask what are you hiding. We dont do anything else with the names or numbers.:)
 
It isnt about hiding anything though. It's about the fact that as a tenant looking for a property if you can choose between rocking up to a property and having a look vs going through a sign up process before you have even seen the property then the standard inspection will win every time.

From my experience looking for properties to rent my time was wasted enough by inspecting properties that were horrible just because the photos were not good enough to see the flaws or because the description mentioned things that just weren't there. I have no intention to go and sign up first just for the privilege of being disappointed.
 
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