Occupied units: scan them, still-photo them, or wait for the tenant to be gone

Question

I've been shooting turn units for a couple of small landlords and the occupied ones are where my process falls apart.

One owner wants media 30 days before lease end so he can pre-lease and skip the vacancy entirely. Tenant's furniture is in it, tenant's dishes are in the sink, and the tenant is legally entitled to notice and has said no twice. When I do get in, the stills are workable if I shoot tight and high, but the 3D scan is unusable. A scan captures everything, so it captures a tenant's laundry, and I'm not editing 4,000 square feet of point cloud.

The alternatives I see. Shoot stills only on occupied and offer the scan as a second visit after turnover, which means two mobilizations and I'd have to charge for both. Or refuse occupied entirely, shoot only vacant, and tell the owner his pre-leasing window is his problem. Or shoot occupied and lean on the fact that renters mostly want to see layout and light, and a slightly lived-in photo set does that fine.

The money side: my occupied shoots take about 40 percent longer for the same $195, and about one in four gets rescheduled at the door. That's the part I can't keep absorbing. The pre-leasing value is real for the owner, though, and if I can help him fill on day one instead of day 14 I'm worth more than $195 and should be saying so.

Curious what the PM side thinks, since you're the ones who need the media early.

nataliehsu · Answer

The reschedule rate is the number I'd fix first, before deciding anything about scans. One in four is you being dispatched on a maybe. If the owner's notice to the tenant isn't confirmed in writing before you leave the house, you're driving on hope, and the rules for entry notice and how much is required differ by state and sometimes by lease, so the owner has to get that right, not you.

Make confirmation a condition of booking and charge a trip fee if you arrive and can't shoot. That alone probably pays for itself faster than a scan upsell.

tonyv88 · Answer

We stopped scanning occupied units entirely and I don't regret it. Point cloud full of someone's belongings is worse than no scan, and I've had a tenant complain about it in a way that turned into a whole conversation I didn't need.

What we do instead: full stills plus a short handheld walkthrough video on the occupied visit, then the 3D scan at turnover if the unit is one we expect to re-lease repeatedly. The scan then lives in our files for the next three vacancies, which is where it finally pays. A scan of a unit we lease once every four years isn't worth two mobilizations. A scan of a floor plan we have 18 of in one building is worth it once and then it's free forever.

plumb, that's the pitch I'd make to your owner. He's not buying media per turn, he's buying a scan library per floor plan, and the price should look like it.

derekj19 · Answer

trellis's floor plan library idea is the only version in this thread where the second mobilization stops being a loss. It also changes who the customer is. You'd be selling to the owner with 18 identical units, not to the guy with four scattered houses.

So the answer to plumb's poll might depend entirely on which of those owners is calling.

Occupied units: scan them, still-photo them, or wait for the tenant to be gone

3 replies