apartment shops

so how long is a typical tour? Is it easy to say you will just think about it, in order to leave, or is there a lot of pressure to sign up, put down a deposit, etc? I realize this second question varies according to the person. Are these worth doing? thanks,

Carol

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Apartment shops range from 10 to 45 minutes, but the typical shop is about 30 minutes. There's not any pressure to speak of. These are not used car sale folks.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

What she said

It's also a good idea to know what you want and then be flexible. You want a two-bedroom on the 1st floor and the only one available in your time frame is on the second floor, be ready to say you love it and maybe the second floor is best after all because the view is better or you don't have to worry about people walking around above you. There's no reason to go on a tour of multiple apartments, it's just a waste of time. They also get that people might want to sleep on it or think about it for a couple of days. Moving is a PITA and you are stuck with whatever you choose for at least a year.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Right, just did my first one this weekend and it was very pleasant. He even asked me if I just started looking, and when I said yes, it was like he understood I would need to look at several places.

Very nice, would not hesitate to do it again and I was leery...

I truly enjoy apartment shops, they are my favorites. I can knock out 3 a day, no problem. I do them for four different companies.

My on-site visits average about 30-40 minutes total. It's usually 10-15 minutes in the leasing agent office going over the basics of your needs/wants.

Be prepared to have some general needs: one or two bedrooms, upstairs/downstairs, by the pool, covered garage space.

Then there's a 10 minute tour of either a vacant apartment or a model apartment. This is fun for me; I like opening the closets, asking questions about BBQ grills, peering over to balcony to comment on the view.

Often you need to make an "objection" - one that the leasing agent can overcome. Think about it in advance. I usually worry that my furniture in a specific room won't fit.

Finally, there's a 10-15 minute "close" once you're back in the leasing agent's office. You shouldn't get a hard sell - but you should listen carefully to the leasing agent's closing and be ready to ask your Fair Housing question. Read your report beforehand - that will help a lot to understand the different types of closing.

My apartment reports take me about 45 minutes to write. They used to take over an hour when I first started. I try hard to write good narrative for all the sections.

Good luck!

If you love apartment shopping and can travel give video a shot. With video I've completed as many as 7 in a day and reports are usually much easier.

Wow, that's a lot of apartments to see in a day!

I've read that the reports for video apartment shops are tough - so they aren't that bad?

(of course, I've read that the reports for EVERY kind of shop are hard, even the ones I consider a piece o' cake - I should learn to take this with a grain of salt when I read it, LOL)

As soon as I get a couple of slow-pay MS companies to fork over some hard-earned $$$ to me, I'll probably pony up for video equipment. At $50-70 per shop, it will pay for itself in a week or two

- or a day at your rate, Lisa

Missy,
When you say that you have heard that the reports for video shops are hard, I think that you must be referring to some of the long EPMS apartment shop reports. However, MOST other video companies have very, very short and simple reports for video apartment shops. AND, some of the EPMS clients are now using much shorter reports with video shops.

Also, with video comes the opportunity to do much higher paid shops for new homes, cars, fee plus reimbursement oil changes, assisted and independent living shops, and whatever else will be "going video" in the near future. And, most of those reports are also simple and may even include a bonus for distance traveled. I just did a 1200+ mile route of mostly video shops ranging from $60 to $180 pay.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

You do know that they check your credit history, and every check of it lowers your credit score?

One of the girls was telling me that the scheduler told her it was only a
"soft" credit check whatever that means.
But it turned out not to be so soft, and affected her husband and her credit score. She was going to speak to the company about it. Do enough shops where your credit is checked and you could affect your credit score going the wrong way.

I had the same problem with a car shop. I gave my former married name and discovered when they asked me if I had ever financed a Toyota (which I hadn't)
that they were running some kind of credit check without my knowledge, permission, or without asking me my SS number, etc.

It is against the law to run credit without your permission, BTW. So, I doubt that many apartment leasing agents would do that. Besides. most of the management companies strictly control the few people who can run credit, because of their legal liability. I check my credit frequently, do scores of apartment, new home and auto shops a year and have never found an unauthorized credit check that stemmed from a shop.

Not saying it never happens, but I can't see it happening frequently enough to affect credit score. My score is north of 700 and I guard it jealously.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

How are they going to check my credit if I'm using an alias like the apartment company wants me to, anyway?

Plus - I would never give my SSN and date of birth.

So far, I've done about 40 apartment shops and haven't once had to sign anything in order to look at a model or a vacant.

I have to leave my government ID, but that's to protect the rental agent in case I turn out to be a homicidal maniac.

A homicidal maniac who, of course, would never use a fake I.D. to go look at vacant apartments.....

Rats, I should have jumped at the two that were highly bonused. They are not in my neighborhood, but my daughter is in a hospital just a few blocks away. They were up to $73, and $54.

57carol Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rats, I should have jumped at the two that were
> highly bonused. They are not in my neighborhood,
> but my daughter is in a hospital just a few blocks
> away. They were up to $73, and $54.

I'd luv to know what company that was, the MSC I did it for was $17 - not worth the trouble and aggravation - so I wrote off doing apt shops.

A company that usually pays in peanuts.

I only do apartment shops for $45 or more.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Could anyone give me names of some companies that offer apartment shops? I used to do quite a few, then the companies that offered them just kind of faded away -- I don't know if another company picked up the apt. chains, or if the apartment company discontinued paying for apartment shops...

But I miss doing them, they were my favorite type of shop and were worthwhile in terms of pay.

Thank you.

Sorry Scooter, you should remember that we cannot share the companies. They are some of the basic ones however, so it shouldn't take you long to find out. Good luck,

Carol

I'm sorry Carol, I didn't realize that. I see people discussing companies, so I didn't think it was something that was not allowed.

So I just have to find out myself? But yet people can talk about how they don't like working for companies by name?

Doesn't make any sense to me.

Scooter

@Scooter....

The posting guidelines - beside the posting box at the bottom of every page:

"Do not reveal the clients of mystery shopping companies."

So - you can talk about the company - but you cannot name the *Client* - in the same threads.

If you use the search function on the forums, you can probably find quite a few threads where MSC's are named. Hope that helps somewhat.

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

Proud To Be A Soldier's Mom

Also - in the list of mystery shopping companies in this forum, there are general guidelines for the types of clients the MSCs service.

For example, XXXXX - specializes in high-end hotels and restaurants
YYYYY - telephone, on-site and video apartment shops

Good luck! I like to call searching the threads "gold mining," and I picture $50 bills floating through the posts

Oh, and the Google-powered Search box on the forum is much better (in my opinion) than the one just below it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2012 02:12AM by MissyH71.

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