With For Rent signs and Now Leasing banners generating fewer leads than ever these days, property managers need all the help they can get to boost their online marketing presence, without investing tons of time and effort.

Property managers around the world use zInspector to perform fully customizable inspections using their smartphone or tablet. Long before social distancing was a concern, zInspector’s innovative Tenant Move In feature allowed PMs to invite their tenants to perform their own move in inspections by smartphone for a more efficient and convenient check-in process. In March of 2020 when the pandemic brought life as we knew it to a halt, zInspector introduced Tenant Periodic Inspections and made them free for all users during the challenging times ahead. As a result, countless PMs have kept pace with with their inspection schedules by inviting their tenants to perform Tenant Move Ins and Tenant Periodic Inspections on an iOS or Android device.

zInspector’s tenant inspection app allows you to invite your tenants to perform their own Move In and mid-lease (Annual, Periodic, & Renewal) inspections, and much more.

With inspections well in hand, property managers can focus on other challenges.  A big one, we’ve mentioned, is residential rental property marketing in a primarily virtual marketplace. Now you can give your online presence a boost when your tenants perform their inspections using a simple strategy: embedded content in your tenant-completed inspection templates.

HOW IT WORKS:

1. Embed a video within your Tenant Move In template.
2. Invite new tenants to perform Tenant Move In inspections.
3. During their inspection, tenants tap to watch the video.
4. With each tap, tenants visit your website to view the video.
   

   Illustration: embedded video in the Tenant Move In template.

HOW YOU BENEFIT:

• Keep pace with your inspection schedule.
• Increase your website traffic with each view.
• Promote awareness of valuable lease add-ons.
• Enhance revenue opportunities for your business.
• Boost your Google search ranking—reach more prospects!

Google’s search bar is the primary public gateway into today’s residential rental market, and Google search ranking is the most powerful indicator of a business’s online presence in 2021. The higher your rank, the more likely prospective tenants will visit your site. Three key factors that determine ranking (the number of direct visits to your site, the amount of time a visitor spends there during a visit, and the presence of videos on the visited page) are all satisfied when you embed a Resident Benefits Package video within your Tenant Inspections by zInspector!

Ready to begin? Sign up if you’re new or Sign In to get started.

Wondering how it works? This article shows the steps.

Questions? Let us know!

Tenants who pay promptly, maintain adequately, and report appropriately are the lifeblood of a property management business. Relationships with these dependable tenants are typically well worth the effort, and lease renewal agreements are a great way to cement a longer-term relationship. 

Property management businesses profit from lease renewals in a variety of ways including avoidance of turnover costs and unnecessary vacancies. But the process of promoting and finalizing lease renewals isn’t always efficient and straightforward. Also, very few tenants inquire about a lease renewal proactively, and once they’ve gone month-to-month, even predominantly satisfied tenants become more likely to search for a new place to call home. 

Property managers can encourage tenant lease renewal in various ways, but the best thing they can do—aside from being a fair and responsive landlord—is to pop the question, “Are you interested in renewing your lease?”

zInspector’s Tenant Renewal Inspection empowers property managers to consistently ask this very question while simultaneously evaluating each respondent’s fitness as a long-term tenant in an easy-to-send and easy-to-fill in-app tenant-completed inspection template. 

This efficient and effective way to generate renewal-related feedback is one thing: organizing it into an actionable data set makes all the difference. With zInspector’s Document Compare tool, in a few clicks you can compile all your Tenant Renewal Inspection responses into a handy spreadsheet sure to benefit any team member tasked with facilitating renewal signings, associated maintenance actions, and other renewal-related tasks.

Ready to try? This article lays out the simple but powerful process.

Not yet a zInspector user? Sign up here: it only takes a minute.

Questions? Reach out to us any time.

Best-in-class property managers depend on stringent recordkeeping and thorough communication, especially with tenants. And traditionally run property management offices generate a monumental amount of paper. While some ends up as recyclable waste—not itself ideal—a bulk of this paper must actually be kept and—best of luck here—sufficiently organized for you to find and reference again later.

Each page from a lease agreement, posted notice, faxed, signed, or mailed document, and frequent inspection report, builds your connection with a tenant. Any one piece of paper could prove useful later should you need to resolve a disagreement, settle a dispute, or go to small claims court. And so, taken all together, this abundance of paper is the bread and butter of the property management industry: it promotes understanding, reduces confusion, and helps avoid and resolve disputes between PMs and their tenants. 

So traditional property management businesses hoard paper like dragons hoard gold: they don’t often use it, but they keep accumulating it, because—well—you never know. It’s understandable, but the result in most PM offices is an expansive file cabinet collection that turns valuable workspace into needlessly dead space. And this paper-hoarding tradition really was the only viable solution, until now.

zInspector understands that it isn’t the paper itself, but the information on it, that has real value. Freed from the limitations of the physical page, in fact, your property inspection data becomes more useful and valuable than ever. With zInspector you can customize, perform, distribute, save then search and instantly reference all these traditionally paper-based processes, and more. Imagine never again generating a sheet of paper for anything on this list (except, of course, as required by local law):

• Move In Inspection
• Periodic Inspection
• Annual Inspection
• Renewal Inspection
• Move Out Inspection
• Move In / Move Out Comparison
• Tenant-Led Inspection
• Due Diligence Inspection
• Notice to Enter
• Notice to Fix
• Notice to Vacate
• Info Request (e.g., HVAC filter sizing)
• Tenant Repair Request
• Team Task List
• Turnover Task List
• Vendor Task List

Eliminate copying, scanning, faxing, duplicating, triplicating, collating, filing, signing, mailing, physically posting, and subsequently searching for paper documents. Reserve staples, paperclips, and file folders for special occasions. And, while you’re at it, let go of the tedious digital-camera inspection photo process you may be holding onto from the early 2000s. 

You’ll save money and effort, spare trees, and free up precious office and home office spaces for actual working and living—one paperless inspection process at a time. 

See how to get started — perhaps the most valuable 15 minutes you’ll spend all year.

Sign up – no credit card required.

Questions? We’re here to help!

For property managers striving to bring their best game in 2021, zInspector is the smart pick. With so many inspection apps on the market, you may grab the first one that catches your eye or settle for the one that bundles with another software you use. And we get it: you’re busy, and comparison shopping takes time. But too many property management inspection solutions fumble the essentials in a big way—particularly when it comes to the all-important camera and photo experience.

zInspector actually began as an innovative system to manage inspection photos, itself a monumental undertaking. This commitment to facilitate effortless capture, storage, and retrieval of unlimited, crystal-clear inspection photos has never flagged. With its camera & photo prowess alone, zInspector surpasses the competition. You get:

• Increased freedom on the field. You can perform inspections and take photos without an internet connection; your data will remain safe until has a chance to upload. And iOS users never need limit themselves to a single camera lens: if your device sports multiple lenses, including wide-angle and selfie, zInspector 3 can use them—in addition to flash and timer options, for truly adaptive photo capture. (Some Android devices unfortunately don’t support multi-lens use: we wish they did!) More on zInspector 3.
• More control over settings. In addition to selecting the best lens for the shot, you can specify your preferred photo & video quality settings and customize data storage options to keep your device light on its feet and ready for the next down.  More on Settings.
• Professional, photo-packed reports. You can count on zInspector’s perfectly readable reports, readily printable and seamlessly shareable as a PDF or HTML link. The report photos—up to eight per page—can be viewed at full resolution by recipients when photo links are enabled, so everyone gets an up-close look at key inspection findings. Even tenants performing requested inspections for the first time create amazing reports. Check our analysis of an actual sample tenant report  or download the report PDF to see for yourself. (Used with permission!)
• A 360-extendable playbook. Whether you want to capture full photo coverage in minutes when onboarding a property, thoroughly document a residence between tenants, or easily create D.I.Y. virtual tours, zInspector’s compatibility with certain 360 cameras (purchased separately) gives you more options than ever with less cost and effort. More on 360.

The ability to capture clear and plentiful photos to document concerns, facilitate repairs, and settle disputes is the #1 goal of property management inspections today. And for property managers in the know, this alone makes zInspector a sure frontrunner for M.V.P.

Ready to start? Get the app.

Questions? Let us know.

2020 is history, but challenges remain. Many property managers continue to work from home, where juggling more often leads to accomplishing less. In some cases, sadly, property management teams are smaller this year, a consequence of belt-tightening in leaner times, though the task ahead will be greater than ever. But any PM can make the most of 2021, get help where it counts, and even carve out some extra downtime in the process with these automated tools from zInspector.

Auto-Report Emailing  Decide which team members, supervisors, virtual assistants and support staff should receive inspection reports—then move on. A copy of each completed inspection will email to these recipients automatically, keeping everyone effortlessly in the loop. Learn more…

Accounting Software Sync  For eligible PMs, this one’s a must. Simply set up an integration between a popular property accounting software like AppFolio or Propertyware and zInspector. Your relevant data—properties, tenants, and lease dates and statuses—stay up to date automatically. With your properties ready to inspect in the app and tenants available to invite to perform their own inspections and sign documents remotely, it couldn’t be easier. (And in the case of Rentec Direct and Rent Manager, a two-way integration uploads a copy of each completed inspection report automatically into the accounting software platform.) See how it works.

Security Deposit Return Calculator  Few tasks are more tedious for PMs than security deposit return calculations. But when you inspect with zInspector, items marked as Damaged auto-populate a security deposit return spreadsheet that calculates deductions automatically.  Add a cost for each damage (say, $150 for painting) and watch the spreadsheet do the math. The outbound tenant can reference the corresponding damage in the Move Out inspection report they receive. Reduce confusion and eliminate disputes over deposit return deductions with this one-two punch of inspection and automated security deposit return assistance. Check it out here.

Google Drive Sync  While zInspector’s storage of a wealth of inspection and property data remains super reliable and easy to access,  the new Google Drive sync feature, currently in beta, puts even more power in your hands. Automatically sync a custom Google spreadsheet of zInspector data and reference it any time,  whether you own a Google account or not! (Coming very soon—we’ll keep you posted.)

Questions? Let us know!

Ready to get started? Sign up.

Ready to carve out some free time? Sign in.

In this series, we cover key tools that zInspector users implemented in their unique turnover > inspection > leasing cycles to anticipate and avoid disruption in 2020; these solutions are sure to prove no less essential in the year ahead. In the first article, we broke down Move Ins Your Way. In the second, we discussed Tenant-Completed Inspections. 

A year ago, it was business as usual: you’d meet a prospective tenant at an available property, shake hands, and show them inside. You’d give a tour, up close and personal. You’d answer questions, offer next steps in the application process, shake hands again, and see them out. Then you’d repeat as needed.

These in-person property tours were easy come, easy go. They might even seem quaint now, the relic of a more casual era. But nostalgia aside, we can’t forget that in-person tours were also an inefficient waste of time, particularly when the prospective tenant had no real understanding of the property prior to walking in. A statement like “This room layout is weird” or “I hate cooking on electric coils” could effectively end a tour before it began, leaving everyone wondering, Then what are we even doing here?! This casualness was never ideal for property managers, but was understandable: tenants can be choosy when finding a place to call home. And that’s one reason why, post-2020, tenants simply must thoroughly preview a property virtually before touring it in person—for the sake of efficiency and safety alike. Super easy, super economical Virtual Tours by zInspector are ready to help. 

In tandem with a compatible 360 camera, zInspector users are creating engaging, exploration-friendly virtual tours that focus prospective tenants on the properties that really fit their needs before anyone takes the risk or goes to the trouble of an in-person walkthrough.  360-photo capture makes extremely quick work of inspection photography, to be sure: you can capture a high-quality view of an entire room in mere seconds and an entire residence in a few minutes. The real magic happens when these 360 photos are effortlessly pulled together into a virtual tour on the zInspector website and linked to a rental property listing in no time. An action link within the tour itself can circle tenants back to your listings page, to keep them from wandering off to the listings of a competitor.

A single professionally crafted virtual tour can cost hundreds of dollars, and the typical D.I.Y. alternative—a disconnected slideshow of standard photos—is often full of blind spots, creating more questions than answers. Virtual tours by zInspector are cost-effective, easy to create, and less prone to disruption than traditional open houses and in-person tours: they nurture real and immediate engagement, foster exploration, educate prospects on available properties, focus them on those properties that really suit them, and spark genuine interest before they’ve  even had a chance to reach out to request more info or book an in-person tour.

In 2021, you can bridge the gap that has only widened during the pandemic between prospective tenants and their new homes, and for property management businesses of any size, zInspector’s virtual tours are the best place to begin.

SIGN UP

SIGN IN

LEARN MORE

QUESTIONS?

In this series, we cover key tools that zInspector users implemented in their unique turnover > inspection > leasing cycles to anticipate and avoid disruption in 2020; these solutions are sure to prove no less essential in the year ahead. In case you missed the previous article, you can check it out here. 

In this series, we cover key tools that zInspector users implemented in their unique turnover > inspection > leasing cycles to anticipate and avoid disruption in 2020; these solutions are sure to prove no less essential in the year ahead. The next article will drop in a few days.

Every property management team takes its own approach to the all-important Move In inspection, and zInspector has excellent options for every property manager—even when faced with demand for contactless services, stay-at-home recommendations, and mandated lockdowns.

Classic In-Person Walkthrough: Property manager and tenant inspect the property together, PM captures findings and photos in the mobile app, and both parties sign on the device. zInspector has been facilitating these for a long time—with fantastic results. But for many businesses, this method simply isn’t doable in the face of pandemic response restrictions; for others, sending an inspector out to meet with a tenant in person is just an inefficient use of resources during lean times.

Pre-Move In, Remotely Signed: The PM performs a solo pre-Move In inspection, documenting the state of the property using the mobile app then, from the website, sends the inspection report to the new tenant for their review and signature from a computer or mobile device. General comments, photos, and even specific line-by-line comments let the tenant make clear their own view of the property conditions, putting both parties on the same page from the start of the lease.

Move Out, Converted to a Move In: When a property has been well-maintained and needs few repairs during turnover, the PM easily converts the Move Out inspection into a Move In, applies any necessary necessary changes to property conditions right from their desk, then sends it to the incoming tenant for review and remote signature.

Tenant Move In: This game-changer proved truly indispensable in 2020. Most PM’s who give this a try never go back. Within minutes, PM invites tenant to perform their own Move In inspection on their smartphone, at their convenience during their first days of occupancy. No one-form-fits-all checklist, the standard or fully customized Tenant Move In template walks the tenant through the property as it actually is, room by room, and one detail at a time, and can only be submitted when it’s been completed properly. The submitted inspection report uploads to the PM’s zInspector account for later side by side comparison with the eventual Move Out inspection, and the tenant receives a copy by email.

SIGN UP here—no cc required.

LEARN MORE here.

QUESTIONS? Let us know!

• Tenant-Completed Move In Inspections
• Tenant-Completed Periodic & Renewal Inspections
• Remote Signature + Tenant Feedback 

Why Now?

More than any year ever, 2020 has accelerated the trend toward smarter, greener, and more connected tools. Traditional property management processes—like an in-person paper inspection for every occasion—simply can’t keep up.

With zInspector’s Tenant-Completed Inspections, you can easily invite tenants to perform their own Move In, Periodic, and Annual Inspections (and more) on their smartphone or tablet. These extremely valuable tools are currently available free to all zInspector users as COVID Resources, in support of essential workers in the property management profession.

See why people around the world are turning to zInspector for inspection tools that are robust, responsive, and implementable by any property management business. Tenants are submitting thousands of tenant-completed inspections every week to their property managers: it’s a truly remarkable way for property managers to optimize their process, reduce the possibility of the kind of disruption experienced industry-wide in 2020, and keep a close watch on the properties in their care while helping keep everyone safe.

What next?

• See how well these work! Check out a real tenant-completed Periodic Inspection report (used with permission).
• Learn more about the quick tenant inspection invitation process for free accounts and those not integrated with a property accounting software.
• Learn more about the quicker tenant inspection invitation process for accounts that are integrated with a property accounting software.*
• Learn more about remote signatures and enhanced tenant feedback options for PM-completed inspections.

*Rentec Direct, AppFolio, Propertyware, and Rent Manager syncs are available at specific plan levels.

Ready to create an account? Sign up is quick and free!

Already have an account? Sign in here!

Questions? Contact us any time.