In the beginning the word we used most often was coronavirus (before COVID and Pandemic). At that time the WILMOTH team realized the advent of “stay at home” orders was going to create many new challenges for property management. Over the last few months, we were in a great place to make slight pivots to adjust to the new normal. But, one project lingered on and on searching for a solution. The problem- how do we provide inspection of our owners properties in a COVID world?
Sure, we can use face masks and gloves. We could put on hazmat suits. The reality is there are still many people who do not wish to have people visit their homes. Particularly property managers who have been out running around the city all day. So, very early we hit on the idea of how could we create a virtual inspection system for our owners? Our owners want to know what is going on with their properties presented with pictures and reports. Unfortunately, in an occupied home those inspection reports are not able to be created any longer.
Introducing the Virtual Inspection Program
With much experimentation though, we have found the solution! This week we have launched our new virtual inspection service. We have created a simple system that utilizes tenants, their cell phones and a WILMOTH team member sitting in our office guiding them through a checklist of items about their property. But it does not end here. We are recording each virtual inspection and will be making a download available to our owners!
We are excited about this new service. What has been even more impressive is the very high response and acceptance rate from our tenants. We are giving each tenant the option to have an in-person inspection if the technology frightens them. As of this writing, every single tenant we have asked has chosen the virtual process.
An Inspection Easily Available To Owners
If you are a WILMOTH partner, look for a link to a virtual inspection download soon. You will receive the link in your registered inbox (not the owner portal-files are too large). These are not going to be high definition movies but whatever a tenant’s cell phone will deliver. Our initial testing using different types of phones left us optimistic.
We hope you will be also!
