Many leads but not bookings on Furnished Finder - to to resolve

[Tod DuBois]

So I get 15-20 leads for each booking on Furnished Finder, which is a PITA because of all the manual follow-up and manual paperwork required vs AirBnB and others with instant booking and streamlined tenant approvals/payments. What do you suggest? These seem like good leads, but these nurses and doctors are busy people, and so am I. Neither have time for manual follow-up, paper Contracts, telephone interviews and other procedural steps typically required to complete a deposit and booking. What software do you use to allow almost instant booking for medium-term places and streamline leads from Furnished Finder?

[Nicole Heasley Beitenman]

What manual paperwork are you doing? They e-mail me their background check from the hospital, or I have them complete one through tenantbackgroundcheck.com. Leases are signed electronically (esign.com), and I set them up with RentRedi for deposit, cleaning fee, and rent payments. I recorded a virtual tour on my cell phone because I was getting tour requests I couldn't fulfill, but no one has asked to see the property since I made the recording. I think I've talked to maybe 2 tenants on the phone so far, and I didn't mind because there's a lot of scams online.

[Sarah Rosko]

Hi Tod, we use Furnished Finder to gather leads, and once we receive a truly interested lead, we have them complete an application through Buildium, our management software. Buildium streamlines the process by generating screening reports for us. Once the application is approved, we use Buildium to create a lease and email it to the tenant for electronic signing. After both parties sign the lease, the tenant receives an email prompting them to log in to their portal and pay their balance. This setup helps simplify the workflow while ensuring all necessary steps are covered efficiently.

[Zachary Deal]

Agreed with Nicole and Sarah here. Most of the vetting and signing up can easily be done through email and using website. There shouldn't be a real need to often get on the phone with the tenants so requiring this (i you are) may be hurting your ability to rent your place through FF.

[Miguel Del Mazo]

I agree with everyone above that there are more efficient ways to turn FF leads into residents.

We use Avail.co (not "dot com") to manage our rentals. After communicating with a prospective resident (Google Voice #, usually by text), with just a name, telephone number and email, the applicant can pay $55 to provide us with a background, eviction and credit check. Upon passing these checks, we can use a state-based lease template or re-use one we've already adapted with our specific lease requirements. Avail sends this to the resident, collects rent and deposits it into our account. I believe Buildium does all of these functions as well. 

While the vetting of residents is greater with FF over an Airbnb or similar platform, I think Airbnb overcharges for the increased convenience. 

[Tod DuBois]

Looks like everyone is using some software tools for various tasks, I'd not heard of most of them. RentRedi, Avail.co, tenantbackgroundcheck, all new to me. All cost money so add to overhead but it's time to do something. I did buy a website which was expensive and produced nothing, still trying to decide what to do with that sunk cost. I guess the question turns to which set of tools is optimized to medium term. I looked at Doorloop but zero integration with FF, AirBnB and VRBO where most of my leads come from. I would want to automate the marketing and channels - which would be where precisely? Craigslist, lol? How do you push your listing to multiple channels is the first job, then automating lead processing second. 

[Tod DuBois]

Hostaway appears to integrate with the multiple channels - but I hate to do a software setup and learn it's not a good place to do what I need to get done (which is work as little as possible and optimize my occupancy). Anyone outsource the work overseas with any luck?

[Miguel Del Mazo]

Quote from @Tod DuBois:

Looks like everyone is using some software tools for various tasks, I'd not heard of most of them. RentRedi, Avail.co, tenantbackgroundcheck, all new to me. All cost money so add to overhead but it's time to do something. I did buy a website which was expensive and produced nothing, still trying to decide what to do with that sunk cost. I guess the question turns to which set of tools is optimized to medium term. I looked at Doorloop but zero integration with FF, AirBnB and VRBO where most of my leads come from. I would want to automate the marketing and channels - which would be where precisely? Craigslist, lol? How do you push your listing to multiple channels is the first job, then automating lead processing second. 

Avail costs $9 a month per unit with no start up costs or annual contract which isn't bad. It will push out your listing to multiple sites in the apartments.com family, but those leads have always been very low yield for us. Most of those served there are looking for unfurnished LTR. 

While outsourcing overseas may be tempting, I would recommend nailing down your processes prior to teaching someone, or you'll wind up with their processes, at best. 

[Allen Duan]

Welcome to do the MTR business Tod! Furnished Finder is primarily a lead source. Just like if you were doing a marketing campaign for any other business type, you have a lead list and now you have to work it and see what you can sell.

Yes, its a lot of manual work. Closest thing I found to automating it is hiring an virtual assistant to work the list. Ultimately it's up to you if it's worth the work. You're either doing it yourself, spending a little money and hiring/managing someone else to do it, or you don't do it and let the leads rent from someone else.

[Allen Duan]

Quote from @Tod DuBois:

Hostaway appears to integrate with the multiple channels - but I hate to do a software setup and learn it's not a good place to do what I need to get done (which is work as little as possible and optimize my occupancy). Anyone outsource the work overseas with any luck?

This is a big challenge in the MTR space. Most property management apps are built for LTR or STR. Since MTR is similar to both in different ways, you'll need a custom tech stack to cover all your needs.

I agree with Miguel, build your system, then hire a virtual assistant and train them how to use it. This is what I've done. Happy to help you get started.

[Drew Sygit]

@Tod DuBois couple of thoughts:

1) If you're getting that many leads - raise your price!

2) You MUST screen these people before renting to them, but you can use FurnishedFinders screening tool

3) Otherwise, you can put your choice of screening link in your ad or include in a response template in FF.

[Bonnie Low]

One option I haven't heard anyone mention (because they're still fairly new) is MiniStays. I know the founder and know that they've set out to build a platform that takes the best features of sites like Furnished Finder and Airbnb and leaves out the clunkiness and annoying policies and practices. I think they've done a great job of building their product and if you already have a property listed on Airbnb, it's super easy to import to MiniStays (though it's not difficult to list your property there if you don't.) I personally think this is the direction booking sites need to go. It's much more fully integrated, which works well for guests and hosts. 

[Patrick Paige]

Thank you for the suggestion on MiniStays we'll check it out! @Bonnie Low

[Miguel Del Mazo]

@Bonnie Low I went to check out MiniStays a while back, and it seems like a good site. 

However, I got caught up during creating my listing because it looked like I needed to have another account (Stripe? I forget; it was payment processing related) that required me to have a website for the business. I don't have one. As a result, no MiniStays account for me. 

Am I just dense (a real possibility), or did I miss how to navigate account creation without a website for our business? 

Thanks