AI receptionist for apartment leasing

Why apartment leasing offices miss calls, and what an AI receptionist changes

Leasing calls bunch up around the dates people move. In late summer the September 1 crowd calls all at once: students, parents calling for students, newcomers arriving from overseas. Through the spring and early summer it's families timing a move to the school year. The leasing agent is usually out of the office walking someone through a unit on the eighth floor, and the phone in the rental office rings into an empty room.

A RealVoice AI receptionist works as the answering service for your leasing office. It tells callers which floor plans are coming up and when, the rent you've posted, whether utilities and parking are included, your pet rules down to the number of cats per suite, and what the application asks for. It books viewings and lease signings into the leasing schedule and texts the address, the buzzer number and where to park.

It doesn't approve anyone or guess at screening. During setup the team links it to your leasing software, so an applicant who calls asking where their application stands hears the status your office has entered: received, waiting on a document, in screening or approved. A question the status doesn't answer goes to the leasing office with their name and unit. Once an applicant is approved and ready to sign and plan their move-in, it warm-transfers them to the leasing agent. It never promises a specific unit is held until your office has confirmed it.

Example call, start to finish

1. CallerHi, I'm starting at Dalhousie in September. Do you have any one-bedrooms for September first?
2. AI receptionistThere are one-bedrooms opening September first in the Spring Garden building. Will it be just you, and do you have any pets?
3. CallerJust me and a cat. But I'm still in Lagos until mid-August, so I can't come and see it.
4. AI receptionistCats are welcome there, one per suite. For applicants who are out of the country, the leasing office does video viewings. I have Thursday at 9 a.m. Halifax time, which is 1 p.m. in Lagos. Would that work?
5. CallerYes. One more thing. I don't have any credit history in Canada. Is that a problem?
6. AI receptionistYou're not the only student in that spot. The application allows a guarantor or proof of funds instead, and Mireille will go over which fits you on Thursday's call. I've booked it and noted the cat and the credit question, and the video link is coming by text.

After the call: Mireille gets a text and an email with the applicant's name, the September 1 move-in, the cat and the credit history question, so the video viewing starts with answers instead of questions. The booking is in the leasing office's RealVoice schedule, the caller has the link by text, and the summary and recording are in the portal.

How it fits your day

The September 1 rush

From July on, the agent answers the wave of student and newcomer calls at once, tells them what's opening on the first, and fills the viewing schedule while the leasing team shows suites.

During showings

When the leasing agent is upstairs in a vacant suite, the next caller still hears about parking, laundry and the pet policy and gets a viewing time.

Application follow-ups

"Did you get my application?" calls get a real answer from the status in your leasing software, and anything more becomes a tidy note for the office with the applicant's name and the unit.

Evenings and weekends

Renters search after work. Enquiries at 10 p.m. are answered and booked for the next open viewing slot instead of waiting for Monday.

Your software

Today it books viewings and lease signings into the RealVoice schedule in the portal, saves each enquiry with its summary and recording there, and texts renters the time, the address and the parking instructions. If your leasing office runs Yardi RentCafe, Entrata, RealPage or Building Stack, the team can set up a connection to it; custom integrations are quoted separately.

What a missed call costs

Picture a $1,950 one-bedroom sitting empty. Every week it waits costs the building roughly $450 in rent, and the person who would have taken it already signed down the street because their call on Saturday wasn't answered. Over a twelve-month lease, that one renter is worth more than $23,000. If a 150-suite property turns over a few dozen suites a year and each one sits even a week longer than it should, the lost rent climbs fast. Plug your own rents and turnover into the missed-call calculator on our homepage.

Open the missed-call calculator · See RealVoice pricing

Questions apartment leasing offices ask