Inspections videos are a powerful communication tool to help your owners feel like they are well informed about their rental property’s condition.
We have used move-out inspection videos for years at my own property management company. When it comes to sharing media with owners, we have found it extremely powerful if it is done in a specific sequence – especially when seeking funds from an owner.
Recommended Rental Property Inspection Video Sequence
- While video taping the move-out inspection, speak directly to the owner as if they were walking the property with you. (no need to speak to the tenant, as they seldom will want to watch the video).
- At the beginning of the video, state a quick summary of the repairs you recommend. For example: “In this video I will show the house needs new carpet, complete interior paint job, a new refrigerator and a few other minor maintenance items” totaling approximately $3800.”
This compels the owner to watch the entire video to see if you’re wrong and can justify sending you less.
- Shoot the video in a way that compels the owner to agree with your recommendation. I created a training series on how I wanted my property managers to shoot these inspection videos every time. See our how to shoot inspection videos training.
- Use specific language when showing a defect the owner needs to pay to correct. Example: “This carpeting has reached the end of it’s serviceable life and must be replaced. We’ve tried to get GOOD tenants to rent a house with substandard flooring, and it doesn’t work”.
Now if the owner wants to argue, he has to acknowledge that he wants you to bring him substandard tenants.
- Quickly get written estimates from your vendors for aforementioned work. Our painter and handyman will frequently use our videos to bid the work, saving them a trip to the property while vastly reducing time needed to obtain bids.
- Send the owner an email with the video link right before you close for the day. State “I’m on my way out the door for appointments but wanted to get this out to you for you to watch tonight so we can hit the ground running in the morning. Please watch the video (link to the unlisted YouTube video) and authorize us to get started on the work so we can have your property market ready ASAP.”
- Provide funding options in the email. “You have $500 on account with us now, and we need $3300 more before work can commence. Please reply via email letting us know how you will fund your account.
- Draft your bank account on file using ACH and take the amount you authorize
- Send us a check (overnight or rush delivery recommended)
- Request a Paypal invoice you can pay via credit card with an additional $xx convenience fee included.”
This sequence produces results
70% of the time we do this, we arrive at the office the next morning to find an email reply from the owner authorizing us to immediately begin the work. We didn’t have beg, plead, or argue with the owner to get $3800. That’s worth the price and effort.
And the best part? The owner agreed to pay us $XX to shoot the video, and the tenant paid us $xxx dollars as well.
Tenants can easily be persuaded to pay $xxx for these videos using the following script during lease closing:
One of the biggest challenges we as property managers face is making fair and accurate refunds and claims against security deposits when tenants vacate. Many times an absentee landlord will want to make claims against the deposit that we don’t think are fair, so to prevent this we do a video inspection of the property before you move-in and again after you move out. This keeps us from making a claim for pre-existing conditions that were there when you moved in! We also send a copy to the property owner so they know we’re being fair with your refund.
In addition, we will host your move-out video on our company’s YouTube channel and give you a link to it. You can use this video when you are applying to rent other houses for years to come. Other landlords and property managers will see this video that to negotiate lower rent or deposit, or to be the one selected above all the others when several people are applying to rent the same house”
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