Doing a lot of apartment shops, I realized I was writing basically the same things over and over again. So, I just took those parts and made a few generic examples that I saved in a Word document. I made that document into my template. Now, when I write a report, I just open my template and I find about 80% of the time, I just need to modify my generic examples to fit the specific shop. I have examples covering every section of the report.
For example: "When I entered the leasing office, a male/female staff member was sitting at a desk. He/She looked up, smiled and said hi. I said I had an appointment with XXXX. He/She said that was him/her, stood up and shook my hand."
Instead of typing that out every single time, i just edit the words that need to be changed. About 20% of the time, something happens that I don't have an example for, and then I write something new. Overall, I've found this technique helps to get the narrative done quickly and makes sure I've covered everything that is going to be asked in the report. I spend a little time touching up the whole narrative, then just copy and paste into the report. Then I go through and answer all the Yes/No questions based on my narrative. I can complete most apartment shop reports in about 30 minutes.
You know how a restaurant shop should go. You know what to expect when you walk in, get seated, when the waiter comes by, etc. You know what you're going to be asked about in the report, so why not make a template that covers all of that?