2024 Forecast- BiAnnual Report

Palm Property Management uses Showmojo for our Digital Lockbox Showings. This allow us to perform multiple showings including after hours and on the weekends. Showmojo also provides our team with data on showings, competitive sets, tracking, and feedback from Showings!



All graphs and data provided by our Partners at ShowMojo.

The market is slowing down from the exponential pace we saw in 2021 and 2022.

We were expecting a plateau, but we are seeing a downturn, particularly in areas of town where new apartments are opening.

Right now, nationwide market times are as long as they have been since tracking began in 2017. If you feel like things are taking longer, you are right. In October of 2023, market times almost doubled over the 2021 timelines.

We are also seeing that leads for the time online are lower than they have been in previous years.

This also means that when we start showings, that may be the only time we have that applicant's attention! Showing well is imperative, so if you are performing any of your own services, making sure that repairs are completed and the property is clean and ready for showings will make a big difference in 2024!



Clear Pet Policies

Allowing dogs can decrease market times, but allowing cats does not affect market times on average.

However, unclear Pet Policies can INCREASE market time by as much as five days. Allowing pets can help close rental windows, particularly in the single family home market.

It's your investment, so determining whether or not you want to allow pets is up to you! No matter what your pet policy is, make sure you communicate it clearly to our Team, so we can get that information out to potential Residents! (Let us know if you'd like to review your policies!

Descriptions

Our team works hard to provide descriptions on your investment property. Over the past two years, this has paid dividends. 

In 2022, ensuring a description with 400 words gave our average ad a three-day advantage. In 2023, this gave us a six day advantage. 

The more information we have about the property, amenities, and policies, the better! In 2024, expect to see more AI-generated descriptions, allowing our team to maximize SEO terms to syndication networks, ensuring the largest pool of applicants possible see your investment property. 

Details Matter

When providing details, we have to give just enough information without overwhelming potential applicants. The low end of the average is two amenities or details, and the max is ten.

Outside of those ranges generally results in a three day penalty.

3D Tours

3D Tours are shockingly ineffective, and actually can increase the market window by two days. 

When possible, our team records Youtube videos for your property as part of your marketing package, so potential applicants can still see homes in a way that feels more authentic to potential applicants.

At the end of the day, you are just better off investing money INSIDE the property, not on these generated Tours.

People Window Shop Every Day

While people look online seven days a week, they are still looking on the weekends.

Making sure we have a strong online presence every day is crucial in ensuring that we don't miss any potential applicants!

Your Palm Team has been preparing for these changes.

That's why you have seen the changes to the Phone System, so we can assist potential applicants 24 hours a day.

That's also why we work with companies like Showmojo, maximizing syndication of ads, so the largest number of folks see them, managing scheduling of showings 24 hours day, and allowing showings when people want to see homes!

Lead activity is 24 hours a day, and by leveraging tech, we make sure we don't miss a single lead!

Digital Lockbox Showings

At Palm Property Management, we switched to primarily using Digital Lockbox showings in 2020. We found these were an ideal solution to Covid-related challenges, and found that we could perform multiple showings at once, allowing us time to answer questions, market better, and process applications faster than ever.

What we see when we look at this data is that people want to see homes almost every day, and using Digital Lockboxes allows our team to meet that need every single day for any potential tenant, limiting friction and putting your investment property ahead in a busy market.

Showing Trends

Saturday 10AM to 2PM are the most valuable showing hours, with 11AM to Noon being the most popular single hour of the week. Again, the Palm Team leverages digital lockboxes to make sure that we can serve as many potential applicants as possible during this crucial window.

The weekday peak is 3PM-4PM. Even on weekdays, having people be able to schedule at two different properties on the opposite side of town is a huge advantage. Making sure people have options and flexibility provided by tech at this stage is crucial, and allows us to have humans available to assist later on, when they need practical answers to specific questions.

We target these timelines for maximum payoff.

Showing Preference

Even when looking at weekday showings, Renters prefer to book showings after work. While showings peak between 3PM-4PM, this is because so many showings are only done when people can schedule showings.

If you are not offering Digital Lockbox Showings, you are missing potential applicants, and making it harder for people to see your investment property. Outside of a home with a shared front door for multiple units, In Person Showings just are not what people are looking for in 2024.

Phone Calls and Robots

We were shocked to find that when there is a fully automated self-serve option, allowing traditional phone calls answered by humans can increase market times by EIGHT DAYS. (We know you thought that was not true, but it is! Over the past six years, human phone calls have consistently resulted in more days on the market.

This makes it clear, the goal is to get the Potential Applicant to become the actual applicant, allowing our team to guide them step-by-step, rather than having them lead our timeline.

Live Answer Options

While we do answer our phones using automated phone lines to direct calls to specific team members, and to place potential applicants and Residents into holding patterns, we also ensure that if an applicant is looking at a specific property, Live Answer solutions are in place to ensure that the phone is answered each time. Using ShowMojo's Live Answer, any potential applicant will have that call answered to ensure they schedule a showing, minimizing the market time.