Your community apartment tour path checklist

Completing a tour path inspection of your apartment community is essential to a successful leasing experience. Your apartment tour path should be the routine trip you take all prospects on when showing either a model or vacant apartment home and all the amenities your community has to offer. 

Your apartment tour path checklist

In order to give a good apartment tour, you’ll want your tour path to cover all the key aspects of your property. This is your community’s time to shine, so it’s important that your apartment tour path is: 

• A set specific route. Make sure you take the same apartment tour path every tour. Consistently changing a tour path without reason is both hard to keep up with for staff and can cause a Fair Housing concern. 
• Easy to navigate. All persons should be able to easily get from place to place, regardless of their physical abilities. Here are some ways you can ensure your apartment tour path is friendly to all types of people: 
• Take sidewalks or pavement options over grass or gravel.  
• Ensure tour path includes standard or larger width for all doors and hallways. 
• If there are stairs on your apartment tour path, ensure there is an accessible elevator. 
• All inclusive. Now is the time to show off your community and all your amenities. 
• Well-known. It’s important that your staff knows your apartment tour path by heart. All onsite team members should practice and review and the path multiple times. 

Do I need to conduct apartment tour path inspections?

Tour path inspections are incredibly important for your multifamily property and should be completed every day, first thing in the morning! If issues are found, all instances should be documented and addressed immediately. Once the problem is resolved, the path should be re-walked to ensure pristine condition.  

How do I make my apartment tour path look good?

When conducting your apartment tour path inspection, you’ll want to thoroughly examine every aspect of your path to ensure that it’s ready to be presented as a perfect example of your community at a moment’s notice. Here’s what you should look out for: 

Leasing Office / Welcome Center: The leasing office should appeal to all five senses of you and your prospects. Ensure everything looks aesthetically pleasing, there should be no mess, clutter, or trash. Any music should be appropriate for the environment and kept at a reasonable volume. The office should smell fresh and be free of any adverse smells. Ensure any areas dedicated for prospective residents are comfortable and tidy. If your office offers refreshments or snacks, these should be fully stocked and easily accessible.  

Walking Path: The walking path should not have obstacles, should be free of trash, and any landscaping should be cleared and not overgrown.  

Show / Vacant Apartment: The show apartment should be neat and tidy. There should be no ongoing construction or turn in progress. All lights should be turned on during the morning tour path inspection, then turned off at the end of the working day. The show apartment should follow suit with the leasing office, appealing to all five senses of you and your prospects. Every show apartment unit will be different, so it’s important to work with your team to ensure there is a standard practice for how your units should look. 

Amenities: When walking through the community amenities, you should check to make sure all are in working order and look nice. Of course, there should be no trash or other debris lying around. If there are accessories associated with the amenity, check that all items are in their place and stored appropriately. If there are cleaning supplies for residents to use, make sure they are stocked appropriately. As usual, all the lights should be turned on and should appeal to all five senses within reason. A cookie-scented candle might work well in your leasing office, but it probably gives off the wrong impression if placed in the community gym.  

IDEA: Consider bringing a “Sparkle Bucket” with you for your inspection. This would include trash bags, paper towels, cleaner, air freshener spray, etc. to take care of small jobs that need to be completed when inspecting versus relying on the maintenance team. 

Closing the tour path each evening at the end of touring hours is essential to maintaining a consistent standard. When closing the tour path, follow the same steps as the morning inspection, make sure all lights are turned off, ensure all doors, windows, and entryways are closed or locked per your community guidelines.  

Remember, consistent tour path inspections will make the leasing process much more effective and streamlined! Download a printable apartment tour path inspection guide so you can train your team easily. 

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