Apartment and home shops

I've done a couple of apartment shops for an MSC that specializes in them, and I really like the company and doing the shops. I would love to do more, and they pay well with bonuses, but I find them stressful (even for a non-targeted shop) because it's so hard to plan my week when I commit to the shop, not knowing when the leasing agent will be available. I generally try to schedule 2-3 retail/food shops together in the same vicinity and like to plan ahead by a few days. I can't fathom how anyone manages to plan a route of apartments, so I think I must be doing something wrong. Is there a way to streamline the process? At this point there is no way I would commit to more than one in a week, and then I need a few days to recover before I'm ready to take on another one.

Is there a company that schedules apartment shops where you can just show up and ask for a tour and shop that? Oh, and any suggestions for MSCs that shop other communities such as condos or new homes?

We are all here on earth to help others....What on earth the others are here for I don't know.

--W. H. Auden

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I do not do targeted apartment shops for the very reasons you mentioned, unless I'm doing it as a favor to a company that gives me a lot of work.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

But even with the non-targeted shops, you have to reach a person and you have to be able to come over when they have time for you.

We are all here on earth to help others....What on earth the others are here for I don't know.

--W. H. Auden

I've never seen a non-targeted apartment shop require a phone call, but I only do apartment video shops, not written.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

With this company, every shop I've seen requires a recorded phone call. That's one reason why I was asking about other companies in the field.

We are all here on earth to help others....What on earth the others are here for I don't know.

--W. H. Auden

I've had to do calls for non-targeted shops many times. Those are the easiest. Most of the time with those, the day I call is the day I can go out. They are usually eager. The targeted ones are obviously more difficult, but I usually have a day in mind that fits my schedule and ask for that time for the appointment. Guidelines don't say it has to be at their convenience, just an agreed upon time, so I like to call early and make the appointment for the day and time that suits me. So far, that has worked out very well.

That's encouraging, @Orrymain. Maybe I just got unlucky with my first two. The first one, I called on Tuesday and the only available appointment that week was Friday at 4:00, which meant I had to cram the report into an already-packed weekend. The second one, I planned to do it on Thursday or Friday, but couldn't reach anyone until the following Tuesday.

The rental market in Portland is insane at the moment, so they may not be as eager here as some markets. I think our vacancy rate is approximately 0% downtown and 3% in the metro area.

We are all here on earth to help others....What on earth the others are here for I don't know.

--W. H. Auden

One potential tip. When you get your assignment, start calling right away and document any unsuccessful attempts. Some MSCs are very responsive if you've done your due diligence and have a hard time reaching the target. Sometimes the guidelines will even say something like making the first convenient appointment for both parties. You could make the appointment for the first convenient time and then notify the scheduler of what happened. "Target didn't have an availability until Friday at 4 PM which was not possible for me, so we made an appointment for Monday at 2." Most MSCs that I have dealt with understand the target difficulties and will extend your deadline appropriately. If reaching the target was an issue, you add that, too, and let them now when you attempted to reach them.

I turned down 10 video apartment shops that paid $50 each. I could use the money, but they were 90 miles away and all were targeted. The odds of being able to catch each agent on the same day were stacked against me. also, the MSC requires that you apply for the job and wait for it to be assigned.

"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful." Edward R. Murrow

Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.--Branch Rickey

GMooneyhan, after all this time shopping you still wait to be assigned? Why aren't you contacting them to negotiate the route?

On long routes I have mostly had non-target, walk in shops When you have to knock out over 30 in five days across a couple of states there isn't time to screw around with phone calls. For my target shops I schedule them for whatever day works for me. I know one of the companies actually thinks we will call and visit the same the day, but I don't leave my schedule open that much.

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.

I did think about doing that, Lisa. Unfortunately, with my full-time job, I have had to relegate shopping to a part-time endeavor, and not having two days off in a row made the odds of being able to get all the targets in one day somewhere between slim and none.

Targeted shops are awful, and always seem to turn into a PITA for me, so I won't do them anymore.

Kona Kathie

Intouch Insight has 2 clients, both that I have done are non-targeted. They don't pay great but the report is pretty easy after you've done a few. You do need to save your phone call or the answers somewhere, because you can't save the report in progress. The last one I did I was able to get a bonus on, and they did not have any suites available. I was able to make the phone call at the playground with my kids. The scheduler was pleasantly surprised by that.

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