No, it’s not the rental apocalypse. Market times are almost as bad as 2020 in the teeth of pandemic-induced lockdowns. However, let’s remember that while we were holding our collective breath through those months, the four horsemen never did come riding in. That’s the good news.
Did you know that ShowMojo has a Request a Feature page where you can add and vote on new features? It’s a list that matters. Our Mobile App for Showings used to be at the top of that list. That got done. Then there was Two-Way Text Messaging. Done. And the current occupant at the top of the list is (was) Text Message Current Occupants about Upcoming Showings.
There’s a reason everyone is talking about the medium-term rental strategy. That’s because investors everywhere can use this 30+ day stay model to enjoy increased cash flow and avoid crackdowns on short-term rental regulations.
At ShowMojo, we’re always looking to maximize your marketing dollar. Sometimes that’s with features (like Listing Boost and Max Listing Rotation) that straight-up address how expensive marketing can be. Sometimes that’s by Extending Our Dynamic Prospect Nurturing Two Years into the Future. Today, that’s by expanding our syndication activities beyond standard single family and multi-family rentals.
It’s been a year since we announced the permanent access code feature for the MojoLock G3. We still remember the stinging retort from several of our most diehard users: Can we have a second permanent access code, please? It’s been a year, because weaving hardware and software seamlessly together takes time. At last, here’s our rebuttal: You get four permanent access codes with each MojoLock G3. Starting today.
Yes, you read that right. Text messaging is supposed to be mobile. It just doesn’t make sense why so many business texting solutions force you, the user, to sit in front of a physical keyboard and old school monitor to use them. You’d think it was still 1995 or something. Now, with ShowMojo’s two-way text messaging feature, you and your team can message by text with prospects using the ShowMojo mobile app and get new message alerts right on your iPhone or Android device.
On 1pm EST, February 27th, we released a firmware update for all MojoBoxes. It completely resolves the Feb 26th exploit. You can immediately push this update to each of your MojoBoxes from your mobile app.
We’re doing something completely different with this week’s ShowMojo Newsletter. We have gobs of rental data in ShowMojo. We’re seeing a couple of major trends breaking. We feel compelled to share.
It is a hot job market, and we know property managers and investors are feeling the heat when it comes to hiring good help. Currently, there are twice as many job openings as there are people looking to work. Even awful help is expensive, which is really, well, awful.
We’re thrilled to announce the completion of a feature request that has been in our backlog for ten years. Yes, it’s been literally a decade. Some Great Things take time. (Just in case anyone is considering an over-the-hill birthday gift for yours truly.) So let’s just celebrate. ShowMojo™ is officially part of the AppFolio Stack™ Marketplace. That means never-before-seen integration capabilities.
Residential leasing is anything but predictable. Seasons shift and creak. Markets rocket and dive and roll and bounce. All the while people come and go only a whole lot faster right now. Looking for some predictability? Check Out the Unit-Based Plans. These plans have everything you could hope for, from full-featured do-it-for-you (Ultra) to just-get-it-done affordable (Classic). And, then, there’s the favorite mainstay (Pro) that puts all the ShowMojo features you know and love on a super-predictable budget.
If your team is doing the self-guided tour thing with All Security Processes and Settings Up to Snuff then this newsletter will just contribute to your holiday glee. If, however, your team is not 100 percent on the right self-showing security track? Well, we have no jolly way to put this. There’s a blizzard of self-show fraud out there and it’s worse than any holiday grinch.
You can now text message any prospect in ShowMojo on any leasing-related matter. This open beta is available to all accounts on a Live Answer Bundle and any account on an Annualized Units-Under-Management Plan. There are no additional charges for this feature. And, unlike some other glass-house-inhabiting, copy-cat knock-offs out there, ShowMojo’s text messaging does not include any hidden fees.
Now you can view, edit and create Showings right from the Mobile App. Need to download the app? Or make sure you’ve got the latest update? Click on one of the mobile app store icons and get the app now.
Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Mindless Consumeristic Rapture. Label it what you will. At ShowMojo, we call it Black Week because — duh — we run our sale for a week: MojoLock G3s for as little as $54 each and MojoBoxes for as little as $29 each. Get a discount on one. Or buy in bulk to get a discount on them all.
Smart Access is secure, affordable, and flexible access that fits exactly to your needs. Specifically: The MojoLock G3 Smartlock & The MojoBox Digital Lockbox. It’s not fair to call smart access the future of residential rentals. These devices are already being used by owners and managers of long-term residential rentals to speed turnovers, conduct self-guided tours, and enable keyless tenancies.
Are you getting that deja-what feeling like we’ve already been here and ShowMojo just dropped a feature out of beta? Well, that’s because we did. One week after the New Listings Gallery Rocketed Out of Beta we have a phenomenal chaser. Fully automated identity decisioning is a ground-breaking new layer of fraud protection.
Did you hear that? Just now? That was the sound of technological progress ripping past you in the fast lane. Did you get the license plate number? Not from that blur. ShowMojo’s new Listings Gallery has rocketed out of beta. It’s built for mobile devices. It looks great on cinema displays. And, as of today, it’s the standard gallery on all new ShowMojo accounts.
Did you know ShowMojo has a powerful applicant collection and screening system that picks right up after a successful showing? That includes: A best of breed rental application, Dead simple application fee collection and Instant-on Rental Applicant Screening. Need a rental application solution yesterday? Every one of these features is available immediately and on-demand. Better yet, they are free on most any ShowMojo account.
Did you know that, built right into ShowMojo, there is a completely free best-of-breed rental application? Say goodbye to half-completed applications — and having to do the Dwayne Johnson Rundown to secure supporting documentation.
It’s a double-sweet Thursday morning. We’re thrilled to announce new listing importers for both Rentvine and Rentec Direct. That’s in addition to the baker’s dozen of importers and integrations that ShowMojo already supported.
Mechanical lockboxes have been a boon to property management, real estate, construction and numerous other industries. They’re affordable, dependable and physically secure… until you hand out that one-and-never-changing access code to the wrong person. That’s when the bad things start to happen. MojoBox is a digital device specially designed and priced to replace mechanical lockboxes.
Do you conduct self-showings? Then we have super news for you. The next generation of self-showing fraud protection is available in a ShowMojo Beta: Fully automated decisioning that incorporates Experian Precise ID. Precise ID is the same technology that banks use to verify a consumer before issuing a credit card or checking account.
Got MojoLock G3s? You can set and customize a permanent access code on each and every MojoLock G3. Pick any code from four digits (e.g. Kaprekar’s Constant) to ten digits (e.g. Elon Musk’s Cell).
Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, and Stephen Hawking all toyed with the notion that past, present, and future exist simultaneously. Somewhat frighteningly, they toyed about that notion the same way a bored house cat methodically dismembers a random, hapless daddy long leg spider. We can’t hold a candle to that. We’re just going to squash that daddy long leg into the patio door. Then nab a lolly for the screaming toddler. And, in the following three minutes of tranquility, we’re going to dash out this newsletter.
Self-showings — combined with true leasing automation — are a liberating paradigm shift for many managers and landlords. When done right, prospects can self-direct their leasing journey.
At ShowMojo, we know crazy. We’ve been bootstrapped and investment-free as copy-cat competitors gobble up other people’s money for more than a decade. And we still haven’t taken money. Gutsy? Admirable? Or shat-bit crazy? It’s anyone’s guess. But that lets us do things like this: Take an application before allowing the prospect to schedule a showing.
Well, really, the next level of self-show fraud protection is everywhere. If you use ShowMojo. And if you join the beta. This innovation has been a year in the making. Our journey has included: Intelligent ID Fraud Detection, Real Automated ID Approval, Last-Minute Auto-Decisioning and our destination? Fully automated decisioning that incorporates Experian Precise ID.
We admit it. Leasing automation software isn’t a term with the same internal redundancy as, say, jumbo shrimp, scented deodorant, or military intelligence. But at least those descriptors do accurately nail the thing they describe.
It’s more than just a major source of listing scams. Some managers and owners swear by Facebook Marketplace. They use it to attract many legitimate rental leads. That may be the case especially when your team is willing to put in the manual effort to post, top post, and top post a little more. Now, ShowMojo has made posting to Facebook Marketplace more than a little bit easier.
You know, a real talk. Something with substance, meaning, and a dash of candor, so we can get to the heart of the matter. It’s about the ShowMojo support team. They’re feeling a little unloved for all their hard labor. They work into each weekday evening to ensure a timely response on every (and we do mean every) support request received before 6pm Eastern time.
If you’re old enough to hear Billy Crystal intone that line, then, let’s be candid, the years have not been kind. Now here’s a weekday update to warm your heart. You can feel however you like, and your listings gallery will still look marvelous.
Leasing Automation means higher-quality leads, better showings, and more time to spend on meaningful things. We have made pre-showing qualification just a little smarter.
Would you believe that almost ten percent of ShowMojo accounts still use single-code mechanical lockboxes for self-showings? Well, if you’re one of those ten percent, you certainly believe it, but please do keep reading. MojoBox is a digital device specially designed and priced to replace mechanical lockboxes.
Nine months back ShowMojo launched our Automated Document Verification open beta. It included best-in-class identity document scanning bundled on nearly every ShowMojo account. Over those next several months we added: Intelligent ID Fraud Detection, Real Automated ID Approval and Last-Minute Auto-Decisioning. How can we top that? By ending the beta and enabling automated document scanning for every ShowMojo account.
We’ve got a great upgrade for every MojoLock G3 we’ve ever sold. You can now set and customize a permanent access code on each and every MojoLock G3. Pick any code from four digits (the kid’s birth year) to ten digits (your net worth).
Inflation, you say? Seems ShowMojo didn’t get the message. We just knocked ten dollars off the price of a shiny new MojoLock.
That’s right. MojoLocks are now only $69 per smartlock. And if you’re doing a major rollout you can buy in bulk for as little as $59 per smartlock.
Whether your prospective new residents complete their applications on an iDevice, an Android-thingy, a notebook, or an old-school desktop, ShowMojo’s got you covered with a spiffy, new, built-in signature pad.
For over a decade, ShowMojo has made in-person, multi-family showings a delightful experience for both renters and agents by:
Giving prospective residents the high-touch immediacy they expect, freeing leasing agents from the low-value monotony of phone-and-email coordination, so they can focus on what agents do best: selling and closing.
Which begs the question — what’s so special about today’s announcement? MojoLocks (and ShowMojo) don’t just get self-showings into the unit but through the entrance door as well.
We know stopping fraud and reviewing identity documents can be a royal pain in the reindeer.
That’s why we’re running so fast at fraud-based initiatives, including the hugely popular Document Verification Beta with Real Automated ID Approval and our new Enhanced Anti-Fraud Screen. Wow, that’s a mouthful.
Now, to help make the most of the upcoming holidays, we’ve added one more time-saving anti-fraud feature.
ShowMojo’s Live Answer Bundles are a helpful human voice for every prospect who wants one.
However, they’re also a lot more than just that.
We named ‘em bundles for a reason. They’re an amazing (and growing) do-it-for-you service tailored to you and your team.
Great news for nearly every VaultLOCKS eLockbox purchased in the last 18 months. You can now obtain two new access code types: Day Codes & Four Week Codes.
Does your company conduct self-showings? Then you likely already know that fraud is the primary pooper of the self-showing party. Our 2022 resolution at ShowMojo (albeit, made a month early) is to put an end to fraud.
Who needs Black Friday when you can simply take a big, fat Sharpie marker to the entire week.
Do you need more insight into your leasing funnel? Would you like to know which listings aren’t getting enough leads? And which listings are getting leads but not converting enough to showings?
With Leasing Automation you don’t need anyone (human, orangutan, nor Neptunian) answering the phone. But, hey, we know that’s not enough for every situation, nor every goal.
Does your team strive to keep market times low with an attentive, personal, 24/7 answer? That’s crazy simple.
Combine leasing automation for the heavy lifting with Live Answer for the high touch so absolutely every caller gets the service they expect and need.
Let’s ponder on some big announcements that have brought us to this moment. Four months ago ShowMojo launched the Document Verification Beta. Last month ShowMojo announced Real Automated ID Approval.
You didn’t think you could both combat fraud and free up time, did you? But that’s exactly what this super-feature team-up delivers.
At ShowMojo, our passion is to improve lives by saving time for more meaningful things. For any up-and-coming landlord or property manager, that means making powerful tools push-of-a-button simple.
MojoLocks can make life better for you, your team, your vendors, your residents, and even your resident’s dog-walker. But did you know that, if you conduct any short-term rental activity, MojoLocks improve that part of your business too?
The inevitable monetization of rental listings sites continues. In the latest move (announced earlier this month) Zumper has adjusted their pre-existing limits on free listings. There will now be a clear cap of five listings per company.
MojoLock is smart access for every door. And, starting today, ShowMojo has intuitive support for MojoLocks on practically any door that matters to you and your residents.
Does your team do self-shows? Then this is it. This is the newsletter you’ve been waiting for.
Do any of us pine for more voicemails? Or relish the vibrating hum of text messages sawing their way through the nightstand as they herald the earliest murmur of dawn? Our Italian might be a bit rusty, but wasn’t scheduling-by-email the bane of Dante’s tenth circle of hell? At ShowMojo We Pioneered Leasing Automation to cut through the dark imbroglio of email, phone, text and overly-wrought metaphor — getting prospective residents right to viewing the homes they want to rent.
All the way back in 2011, ShowMojo pioneered Leasing Automation to automatically respond to every phone call, every email, and every text message, allowing your prospective renters to self-qualify for and self-schedule showings without anyone in your office lifting a finger.
A little while back we did this thing called MojoLock…and we’re a little…well, OBSESSED.
It’s happened to the best of us. You’re doing everything you can to protect your listings, including Automatic Diagonal Watermarking your photos, but one of your listings has been fraudulently posted on Craigslist and Facebook.
And let’s be honest, there’s no way Craig or Zuck could possibly care less. You’re busy enough. How does your team have time to proactively stay on top of this?
It was getting a little tense before press time. Anxiety wafted into the office like a climate-change-induced heat wave…
Do you want the delightful efficiency of leasing automation along with a high-touch immediate response for those prospect renters who demand it? That’s what you get with Live Answer.
Are review sites your route to marketing nirvana or insufferable Billion Dollar Bullies? Whatever the answer, Reputation Boost is a new feature that leverages sites like Yelp, Facebook and Google Reviews without losing your lunch money.
MojoLock is a digital deadbolt focused on smart access. A MojoLock requires no additional equipment nor service. There’s no powered hub nor dedicated internet connection. It’s simple, secure and affordable access technology built right into your door.
Vaccines are widely available. Over sixty (yes, sixty) percent of the US has received a first shot.
We really hope we’re not getting ahead of ourselves on this one. Showing behavior can start to inch back to the old normal, can’t it?
ShowMojo is committed to helping protect renters, owners and property managers from Online Listing Fraud. Our latest automatic watermarking update is both visually appealing and more secure than anything currently available.
A MojoLock on Every Door. No, Herbert Hoover never said that. But he should have. And what’s the easiest way to make MojoLocks more ubiquitous? Make them even more affordable.
Online listing sites are changing. In many cases, the easy flow of free rental leads has all but dried up. So how do you make the most of your rental leads? And the most of your marketing spend?
We’ve been saying it to anyone who would listen (that’s more than a baker’s dozen and fewer than the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago) that MojoLocks are meant even more for residents than they are for prospective renter self-showings. And now, finally, we’ve put our mobile app where our mouth is.
We’ve got an amazing deal on the Original MojoLock that introduced so many ShowMojo customers to the smart access concept.
Just like all of you, we can’t wait to be out of this new normal, and back to the old normal. It couldn’t happen fast enough. Until then, ShowMojo has added another option to make showings safer and more convenient for everyone.
Yes, seriously, there is a Bluetooth fairy. Do you need proof? Well, if you ever purchased a VaultLOCKS eLockbox you already have the proof.
We’ve made Website SEO Integration setup even simpler. And now it’s only $19 a month.
Is it just us, or do Craigslist and Facebook produce as much Online Listing Fraud as they do leads? ShowMojo’s latest watermarking option makes your listing photos more obviously yours, while also making it harder for online scammers to steal your photos.
For every prospect with the undeterrable urge to speak to a human, Live Answer gives them their three minutes of fame, then channels their showing details directly through ShowMojo’s high touch automation. Easy peasy.
Our updated MojoLock G3 is new and even more affordable. It’s priced $10 less than the original. And that is before the volume discounts. Basically there’s nothing that beats that.
Does your ShowMojo account have multiple showing questionnaires? Then today is a great day for you and your team.
Our announcement in June for the new Flat Listing-Based Live Answer Pricing was a blowout success. So we’re at it again, by lowering the pricing for each tier, and adding a new 51-plus tier.
Leads don’t grow on trees like they used to. That’s why ShowMojo has dynamic prospect nurturing to help make the most of your current leads. But here’s a standout new feature for customers who have been with ShowMojo a year or longer.
In our new normal of social distancing, self-showings have become even more widespread. That’s great, as it helps everyone easily and safely carry on with residential leasing. So what’s the opposite of great? Self-show scammers are getting shockingly aggressive in their tactics.
Getting rental leads isn’t what it used to be. That is, paying thirty bucks for twenty words wedged at the bottom of the page 42 classifieds section.
Live Answer is an on-demand always-available service that answers the phone when (and only when) a prospect wants to speak to a live person.
We’re stuffing hundreds of new ideas about Leasing Automation into this one blog, tying it up in a bow, and gifting it to you.
Approaches to leasing are changing rapidly in our “new normal”. We are quickly updating ShowMojo to help everyone better adjust to these changes.
Sorry folks, but there’s no sales pitch this week. Instead, we hope to provide a little assist to our brick-and-mortar-business friends as you navigate the next couple months.
MojoLock is a reliable, affordable and secure smartlock that does not require an internet connection. If you are new to the Smart Access Revolution then this is the best time to give MojoLock a try.
Regardless of whether it is really new or just really important — we are stuffing it all into this week’s blog.
Perhaps you are a long-time spender on paid marketing. Or, quite unfortunately, you are a hapless unsuspecting newcomer who runs a single family property management company in Delaware, Illinois, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee – and got that Unhappy New Year’s call from you-know-who.
And that’s the theme of the week, folks. It’s all about making marketing and management of your listings easier.
Want to see your lead-to-conducted-showing ratio over time? Or average showings per listing per week? Our new Divide By option on the Trend Analysis Report makes this super simple.
MojoLock is the most secure, most affordable Smart Access solution out there. To that end, our first major round of updates is all about Smart Access.
What a month it’s been. We announced MojoLocks, a ShowMojo Mobile App, must-have SEO Website Integration, and the rollout of a Comprehensive Rental Application Feature-Set. No more moonshots this week. But we have some detail-oriented updates to help put a skip in your step and a grin on your face.
Got a third-party system to collect your application fees? Not anymore. Still taking checks? It’s almost 2020. Make and meet your New Year’s resolution now. Collect application fees directly within ShowMojo.
It’s Hallow-what? No, we didn’t see that coming. We were heads-down on a spectacular groundbreaking feature announcement. But since everyone’s busy attending to their little ghosts and ghouls – or just being ghoulish themselves – the spectacular groundbreaking feature announcement just got quantum-realmed into next week.
Our first mobile app is like almost every ShowMojo first – from ShowMojo PHONE, to Live Answer, to Lockbox Self-Show Insurance, to Autonomous Scheduling. It’s super simple to start, with enough functionality to add value. And upon that very solid foundation, we will build even greater things.
Have you ever considered a late-night, aisle-25, hardware store tryst between a digital lockbox and a mechanical deadbolt? And the resulting lovechild smartlock? Then you’re reading the right newsletter. And we’ve even given it a name: MojoLock.
Introducing Lockbox Self-Show Insurance with the only first-party insurance, it’s easier than ever to protect your properties.
Does your team pride itself on individual, in-person showings? Pride aside, are individual in-person showings just something you do? Or – even with group showings and self-showings – is your team just overwhelmed by the summer crush?
OK. There’s a disconnect here. The open metrics for the last blog on Daily Performance Alerts were the worst we’ve ever seen. A total downer. An ego emasculator. Like being flattened with a two-ton heavy thing. So what does one do in the face of such adversity? We double down on Daily Performance Alerts and try again.
We’re regularly updating ShowMojo’s Daily Performance Alerts. These alerts cover listing syndication, showing agent performance, and the very rentability of your units.
Good marketing is paramount to finding each of your tenants faster and easier. In this guide we’ll go over everything property managers need to know about marketing for new tenants, starting with how to write the perfect listing.
Research shows that multifamily home supply is nearing a 30-year high in 2019, making this the perfect time to start growing and scaling your property management business. In this blog, we?ll share three tried and true tips for scaling your business to help ensure your growth is as smooth and seamless as possible.
Automation is everywhere these days but implementing it into your workplace can seem intimidating. In this blog we’ll get past the buzzwords and help you understand the nitty gritty of what automation really means when it comes to property management and residential leasing and what it can do to improve your property.
Hopefully there’s no easy answer – because everyone is so great.
With ShowMojo, the answer is unquestionably and unequivocally no. You do not need to answer a single leasing call. That’s why there’s ShowMojo PHONE to automatically answer every single renter call. But we know you might choose to answer your leasing calls for an even higher touch experience.
Blizzard? Polar vortex? Flood? Hurricane Craig? Surprise visit from the mother-in-law? Whatever the emergency, with a few clicks you can now ask all showings during a given time period to reschedule.
Did you know ShowMojo PHONE automatically answers and resolves calls from prospects running late or prospects who arrive early to their showing? Well, ok, that’s like 2016-old news.
It happens to the best of us. Lost keys. Traffic jam. Coffee travel mug malfunction. One way or another, the day’s showing schedule crashes into a goat rodeo matinee. Until now. Thanks to our new one-click fix: Running Late.
You can now add customizable promo banners to your individual listing and gallery pages. You can even set custom colors for promo banners – and enable them listing-by-listing.
We have made it super simple to test-drive Autonomous Scheduling. And – in the highly improbable scenario that Autonomous Scheduling doesn’t save you time and gas-cash – you can effortlessly switch back to your old scheduling approach.
With Individual Agent Galleries, Sales Listings Galleries, Listing Group Galleries and even Multi-Account Galleries we would have thought the job was done. Alas. It seems there’s always more to do.
Wow, is ShowMojo sitting on a lot of data. So much so, it’s a bit shameful. It’s just that we shouldn’t keep all this data to ourselves. So here are a couple meaningful beta steps to give you (and only you) access to more of your data.
Think of these like your morning alarm – except the opposite. We want you in bed, sleeping soundly. Not worried about getting up to find out what you missed.
Three-quarters of all ShowMojo-scheduled showings are in-person showings – not lockbox-based self-showings. Our hats off to all the showing agents out there who make this possible. We know it’s not as good as gas money – but here’s a tank-full of features to make your lives easier.
Yes, we know Halloween was yesterday. We weren’t about to compete with all the yummy corn syrup and powdered-skim-milk products being flung from every doorway. So we chose to wait it out.
New listings – whether imported or ShowMojo-managed – go on the market all the time. And we know all-too-well that it’s a pain in the you-know-where to ensure each listing is configured correctly.
Are you an in-person showing hold out? You’re in good company. Three-quarters of all ShowMojo-scheduled showings are in-person showings (and not self-showings).
Our last blog was about game-changing updates to Live Answer. The one catch was that Live Answer costs extra. (We’re still puzzling out how to get call center agents to work for free.) This blog is about advanced-level updates to ShowMojo PHONE.
Live Answer is the one-and-only 24/7 on-demand call center that you can enable, disable and configure directly from your ShowMojo account. There’s no setup calls, minimum fees, nor contracts of any kind.
Does it feel like only three weeks ago that we announced the Drive-Time-Based Scheduling Beta?
If you use ShowMojo to automatically distribute weekly reports to your owners – or if you don’t but should – then we’ve got great news for you.
ShowMojo can now factor in traffic-aware drive times when scheduling alongside current showings. That’s in addition to ShowMojo’s existing, in-person scheduling features that already flex to your exact needs.
Here’s something that has been on a slow rollout since the beginning of summer. You might not have noticed it – but your prospective renters most certainly have!
Now you can restrict the total number of times a specific listing can be shown – per day and per week.
There’s only one outfit that can successfully pilot a newsletter about the joys of canceled showings. And, frankly, we know that’s not us.
No, not like the Boring Flamethrower. We are so insanely jealous of Boring. All we get to sell is digital lockboxes (and that’s only to the fraction of folks who don’t do in-person showings).
Some days – we know how it goes. The summer leasing season can feel like running a relay race, blindfolded, through a four-story bouncy castle, while tumbling downhill. And these are the days you still have your sense of humor about you.
We just rolled out a system-wide update to all listing (schedule-a-showing) pages. This is for desktop and notebook browsers, continuing the Mobile-Based Redesign that began last year.
ShowMojo pioneered automated showing notifications by email back in 2011. Yeah, we’re kind of old. It was a big deal back then. Quite suddenly, there was no need to call the tenant before every showing. The awkward “I’m not asking for your permission” moments were gone. Even further gone – and with very good riddance – was the random start-of-showing “I never got a voicemail” screed.
No, we are not proposing multi-family self-showings. That’d be all colors of crazy.
Seventy-five percent of showings scheduled through ShowMojo are accompanied, in-person showings. There’s no self-show lockbox or key-checkout involved. And that makes sense, since ShowMojo was built first to completely reinvent the in-person showing experience.
Do you need somewhere to answer common questions from prospective renters – somewhere that does not involve your voicemail or email inbox? And how about the ability to communicate directly to a prospective renter – apart from your owners or current tenants?
There’s no new setting here. Showings with no fraud markers get the normal scheduling experience. Showings with fraud markers get enhanced security. It is that automatic and that simple.
Rental application features are now available on all accounts. Here’s the skinny.
ShowMojo now sends Daily Performance Alerts about several risk factors on your account. This healthy helping of New Feature Nirvana arrives weekdayly (no, that’s not a word) starting Monday.
Let’s start with the New Feature Nirvana gold standard – something that adds value, is completely automatic, and requires no new setting.
When it comes to feature updates, some newsletters are a little more organized than others. This week – well – we basically stuffed everything we could into the business end of a blunderbuss. That’s a metaphor, of course, but you still might want to step back.
Hats off to those of you who manage properties across hundreds of miles. We couldn’t do it. Or, in cities where ten miles crawl like a hundred. We still couldn’t do it. Nonetheless, we are there for you.
It’s about time we drafted a blog exclusive to teams and all of you who do in-person showings — since 75 percent of all ShowMojo activity is in-person showings.
As we discussed back in November the growing popularity of lockbox-based self-showings is being matched by the rise of some decidedly disreputable and despicable folk. Now, to further frustrate fraudsters everywhere, ShowMojo has developed fraud auto-detection functionality for lockbox-based showings.
Introducing the Gallery and Branding Settings page – the start of a new chapter in ShowMojo’s epic, prospect-facing, beautification project.
By the time you read this, it’s a virtual certainty that six people already emailed us to prove that headline wrong. Fine then. They’re probably right. But let’s carry on with our bright-side, glass-half-full, TGIF mindset, shall we?
Today’s menu features an eclectic selection of value-packed morsels for the majority of our customers who import their listings from a property management (or other third-party) system.
At ShowMojo, over the last few months, we’ve observed an uptick in scammers and other less-than-reputable individuals targeting lockbox-based self-show listings. That’s in addition to the everyday (and everywhere) Craigslist faux-listing scammer.
Frankly, we just got tired of saying: “ShowMojo automates your leasing process from the moment you start marketing to the point each prospect applies.” You might as well try to repeat “Sally sells short sales by the sea shore.” three times fast.
We’ve been using the Showing Agent Feedback feature with ShowMojo demos and onboardings for more than a year. That’s right. We built it clandestine-like to collect feedback on all of you … and improve the ShowMojo platform at the same time.
Today, ShowMojo has added the Vault eLockbox to our digital access offerings. Why?
The ShowMojo management console just got rehabbed. Want to see? Log in, have a gander at your Dashboard, and prepare to be underwhelmed. But don’t sell us short on this update.
When you refer someone to ShowMojo, everyone should win.
This morning, ShowMojo rolled out the first and only on demand 24/7 live answer service for residential rentals.
Hey, we grew up cross-eyed, with a Teutonic resistance to tan skin, and an overbite befitting a kangaroo. We weren’t planning on winning any beauty pageants – ever.
Looking for individual ShowMojo PHONE numbers that automatically route live calls to the correct agent? Need a local phone number for each location where you have on-market listings?
If nothing else, you have to admit that subject line sounds so much better than Power Features for Listings.
More than two-thirds of ShowMojo accounts now use screening question restrictors to dynamically restrict scheduling on individual listings based on income, pets, move-in date, and many other criteria.
Fine. It’s not an emergency. It’s more of a creative disaster, but that would have made for a terrible subject line. The product development team has built all manner of new stuff, but we have not had time to draft a half-witty newsletter on any of it. So here’s just a taste.
If you’re a renter looking for a new place to rent, chances are you might have seen the ShowMojo name. Check out our blog to learn a little more about ShowMojo and how we help you find your new place faster and easier.
Before anyone calls us out, yes, technically, we have advertised a Yardi integration since 2013. That’s because we did – back in 2013. It was a youthful, baggage-free extended-weekend thing. But we always knew Yardi was a phone call away, and including Yardi in the marketing helped the sales team sleep better.
Wouldn’t it be really swell if all our favorite property managers, leasing agents, individual investors, institutional investors and multi-family operators (yes, all of you) could agree on something simple and the same for everyone. Just once? For fun? For us?
For those who might have wondered where our newsletters have gone, here’s the bittersweet truth. The ShowMojo creative team has been on a Lewis-and-Clark-like escapade unearthing and cataloging ever more content for KnowMojo, the one-stop-shop for at least half of everything you need to know about ShowMojo.
If you exclusively do in-person showings, we love you. You ARE the majority of our user base. But (sorry) this isn’t the blog for you.
Do you use PropertyBoss? Then ShowMojo is about to make your business a little more magical. What else is there to say?
ShowMojo’s new Customer Knowledge Base is nearly 100 articles and growing daily. Finally.
Remember that Call Center Closed Beta that we’ve got running at a slow boil? Well, one of the most common prospect phone inquiries is “what’s the security deposit?” It’s not that ShowMojo didn’t already have functionality to track and display security deposits – it’s just that it clearly could be better.
Leasing automation needs to be as effortless as possible. You shouldn’t have to mallet prospects down your funnel, needle-nose them through the narrow end, tease out and discard the prickly ones, nor descale and regularly grease the entire chute. That’s our job. That’s why you leave your leasing automation to ShowMojo. So here’s what we’ve got for you this week.
We are fresh off a world-wind tradeshow tour and wow, do we have an image glitch. We hid the CodeBoxes behind the booth – even snuck out to the beach at 2am and buried the poor bastards in the sand – but folks still walked up and declared: “Hey, you’re that lockbox-show service. Y’know, I’m just not comfortable with that.”
When we first set out to build ShowMojo, we had a very ambitious mantra: Make the residential leasing process not suck – even for renters.
Multi-user scheduling is hard. No, not like Barbie in math class hard. Heck, even explaining why multi-user scheduling is hard is hard.
I’d like to give a prize to anyone who deals with college students for a living. Seriously, I could not do what you do. In an effort to make your life easier I present to you ShowMojo, an time-saving, annoyance-free way to get college students scheduled for showings of your private dorm.
For starters, a big mea culpa. We never announced that Rent Manager Listing Import graduated from the Beta Feature Club.
Perhaps we should be apologetic for our part in the upcoming Robot Revolution. But, wow, sometimes there’s things that robots just do better, saving us humans both our time and our sanity in the process.
Text-to-Access lets your staff and even vendors gain immediate and trackable access to any property with a CodeBox hung on it. And now it works without a listing assigned to the CodeBox! Read more for the details.
Let’s dig in! Lots of feature updates to read about.
What’s the only leasing-automation company in residential rentals think it’s doing by throwing people at the problem? For starters, a call center helps us learn to better automate everything.
We finally came up with a name for something that sounds cool. Thanks Uber.
One sure (albeit obnoxious) sign of success is phishing emails. Some ShowMojo customers have reported receiving emails with the subject line “ShowMojo Account Upgrade” earlier this week.
Did you get the email? We sent one yesterday — titled ShowMojo Weekly Activity Summary — to tell you about the important activity on your account in the previous week.
We have a long wind-up this week. If you are here for the features and not the banter, skip down to the sections highlighted in red.
Two weeks ago we announced the auto-addition of document verification on lockbox-specific showings. Did that leave you wanting more?
We’re back for another boring round of super and simple and make-your-life-easier updates.
Bad news for all of you who prefer your feature updates to come with four different setting-screen updates, two separate account check-in sessions, and a full-team briefing. So sorry. You’re going to have to wait until next week for another one of those.
Do you augment your full-time leasing staff with outside agents? Do you let your full-time agents pick up showings for other agents’ listings in their spare time?
Would you believe that 90 percent of all ShowMojo showings are self-scheduled by the prospect? Today we’re talking about the 10 percent of showings that are taken by phone or email and hand-entered via the ShowMojo Dashboard.
There’s no point in beating around the boxwood. Lead Claim has been the ugly, forgotten step-child at ShowMojo.
Screening Question Restrictors was a 2015 sleeper hit. For those not in the know, restrictors keep prospects from scheduling based on answers to certain screening questions.
Alas Postlets. No one could have predicted its sudden demise. Even Zillow seems uncharacteristically mum on the details. Not saying there was anything untoward — just saying.
We must confess that we really like Zillow. They have never been anything but gracious to us. That said, we were more than a little bewildered this morning when we learned that Zillow took Postlets back behind the barn and put it out of its misery.
Most of our existing plans remain unchanged. Your current billing plan and terms with ShowMojo stay the same. All current customer plans continue to be grandfathered in. There’s only good news here – read on!
Just a quick reminder – and an immediate letdown – there’s no Lightning Eureka here. Lightning features are just smaller updates done super fast.
We started with document verification. Then announced the worst-kept secret since Apple Watch (read: CodeBox). Hey, when there’s another company out there slinging mud at a product you haven’t even announced yet, you know you’re on to something. Check out all of our new features from the last year, to get ready for the new year!
On January 1st, 2016, our hosting provider, Linode, was hit with a massive distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack across all their datacenters. Read on to find out about our response.
Well this is new. We’re actually announcing something with the word “design” in it. Hey, it’s not that we don’t salivate and writhe in envy over great design.
One major purpose of ShowMojo is to keep you from having to answer the phone. Nonetheless, there’s always been that small percentage of prospects who want (or occasionally need) special treatment.
Do you have an overachieving prospect with an underachieving rental history? Are you receiving listing-site spam from someone fishing for leasing agent email addresses?
Oh what a wreck. Someone — apparently in a turkey-and-boxed-wine-induced stupor – thought ShowMojo product development wasn’t going fast enough. Staff was doubled. Productivity was quadrupled. Did someone say Ludicrous Speed? Yes, we ate too much, and then we built too much.
Yes, it’s another ShowMojo blog-post that has nothing to do with scheduling. Nor marketing. Nor even prospect nurturing.
Using RentManager? Planning to use RentManager? (We won’t tell.) Feel safe putting the words “ShowMojo” and “beta” in the same sentence? Get in on the RentManager Beta.
Here’s a gift to all you company accounts out there. Have you ever knocked your noggin demanding: “Who made this change to that showing?”
Well, uh, you see, when we first rolled out ShowMojo PHONE it was more of a fling. But we’ve reflected and reformed. Honest.
The party is already over. Outlook 365 Integration is out and available to everyone. Everyone who has a Business Office 365 subscription that is.
Even if you don’t use lockboxes for self-showings, hang in there for the answer to: “If I Don’t Do Lockbox Showings Why Should I Care?”
One thousand one hundred attendees and counting. The NARPM National Convention is set to pack the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.
It was a dilemma right from the beginning. What to do when a listing has no available showtimes.
This wasn’t supposed to be a beta. Outlook 365 Integration was supposed to be our Labor Day surprise.
This week’s post is a shout out to all you in-person showing extraordinaires who tirelessly endeavor to orchestrate the optimal showing schedule. You know who you are.
Let’s be clear about something. We’d prefer that no ShowMojo account pays commission to outside agents. We do believe that one of ShowMojo’s big value propositions is that leasing can be executed much faster, better and more cost-efficient with your own staff.
As most educated citizens know, the Friday before a major holiday is reserved for announcements that corporations and governments hope to sneak out without notice.
Never want to be double-booked on the same showtimes on two different listings no matter how complicated your calendars may be? Now there’s a setting for that. Plus, two new features for Lockbox showings.
We tried Fred, Judy, Joe, and Buddy. But none of those names seemed to fit. So Dynamic Prospect Notifications is getting ejected from the ShowMojo Beta Feature Club and it’s not even getting a cool kid name.
Everybody has a favorite listing site. So, it stands to reason, everybody has a favorite listing site to vilify.
Do you remember the young upstart Google that we loved? The Google that got us excited about the web and discovering new things on the Internet?
And, we’re back. Wow, what a summer rental season! We hope ShowMojo is helping you make the most of it, while still getting a chance to live your life and enjoy summer. That really is the goal, isn’t it?
Yes, we did almost blow up the garage. But first, some house-keeping. Our Screening Question Restrictors are out of beta.
Let’s face it. No matter how finely we tune our leasing process, we’ve all got the properties in the back of the class that are busier tossing spitballs than getting rented. And the really tough part, of course, is snagging that property by the collar before an owner starts the daily dial.
Earlier this week we got a call on the black phone (ok, they’re all black, but that’s not important). The caller revealed that some ShowMojo lockbox customers actually answer the phone and enter showings through the ShowMojo Dashboard.
Sometimes we get shiny object syndrome. We admit it. We chase after things like ShowMojo PHONE, best-of-breed lockbox solutions, and document verification. You know, things that go beyond digital scheduling and marketing that no one – or few people, at best – asked us to do. It happens.
You wouldn’t believe the bumps that got us here. We’ve had product leaks the size of New Jersey. We pre-released hundreds of units to meet demand for a product we had yet to announce… And now we’re at journey’s end, and what do we have to show for it? Read on!
What’s a lightning feature? It’s a not-so-huge new thing we got done lightning quick. You were thinking lightning Eureka, weren’t you? Ah, were that only the case.
Here’s a long-standing feature request: “We don’t show to people who don’t meet our screening criteria. Can we keep them from scheduling showings?” Have you asked this question – or up-voted this feature request? Well, we have a beta for you.
Sorry for being gone so long. We’ve been ridiculously busy working on stuff that is as critical as it is mind-numbingly mundane.
Dr. Killjoy scored a major victory this week. After days of rumination we could come up with nothing silly, amusing, nor even mildly entertaining about a heatmap.
This afternoon we switched on Showing Feedback Surveys for all accounts! This isn’t a beta. And there are no hoops to jump through. After a showing is completed, the schedule-a-showing page automatically becomes a feedback survey. It just works.
Up to now, there was no good way to make sure a prospective renter secured the home after a lockbox showing. Well, as of today, ShowMojo is your first line of defense, no matter what lockbox you’re using.
Well, that subject line doesn’t easily roll off the tongue. But wedging document verification into an ordinary screening question was a half-marathon from easy – so an open beta is well deserved.
Great news. We just added two new features to better manage the days and times you and your team DON’T want to show, while still giving prospective renters the flexibility they’re looking for.
No famous, infamous nor anonymous person ever said that. But they should have. Well, now Pete just said it, and he does want credit if it becomes a big thing.
True story. Do you know why we added the leads filter to ShowMojo?
For an immediate answer to this headline, see Betteridge’s Law of Headlines. But we occasionally hear this feedback.
It wasn’t enough that Watermarking can now be set to a variety of options, including your ShowMojo PHONE number.
This blog post isn’t about any ordinary cancelled showing – ShowMojo already emails you or the appropriate showing agent about that. These new features notify you, showing agents, and current tenants when all the showings on a given showtime have cancelled.
Yes, we know. ShowMojo has spent years slaying the evil dragons of phone-tag and email-chain-hell. Now we’re going to let prospects propose showtimes? What could we be thinking?
Did you know that, at 10 cents a message, it’s cheaper for NASA to communicate with the Hubble Telescope than for you to text “I’ll be there in five”?
Who posts to a blog on Friday afternoon in the middle of summer? Someone with a feature too good to wait until Monday.
ShowMojo now lets you add listing-specific custom messages to both: the showing details email and the showing confirmation messaging. Need help imagining how you might use this functionality? Read on!
These aren’t your grandma’s watermarked photos. And this watermarking functionality is built into the core of ShowMojo.
We took a surgical scalpel to ShowMojo’s scheduling algorithm, and we are quite happy with the outcome. NOTE: This stuff is complicated — and there’s no way around that. Don’t try to read while driving between showings.
To lockbox, or not to lockbox: we keep hearing this question. Our answer? ShowMojo is there for you, regardless what you decide.
As we discussed back in April, Zillow has been testing out a new email anonymizer and auto-reply system. Zillow has been turning it on occasionally since the beginning of the year. This new system appears to now be Zillow’s approach to email moving forward.
This week we are announcing a couple great new updates to our screening questions.
We’re striking out into new territory this week. Specifically, we’re happy to announce our very first (and very modest) attempt at a renter-facing listing site: Schedule-a-Showing.com.
Last April it was just ShowMojo and our slick Craigslist templates. Then Craig and Pete had a falling out and Craig doesn’t reply to Pete’s emails anymore.
ShowMojo now supports lockbox-based scheduling. You can enable Lockbox Code Distribution on any Listing in the Options section.
Several customers have contacted us about odd activity from Zillow that occurred yesterday. Specifically, two related events.
Okay, so it was not the 2007 iPhone announcement. But the excitement around ShowMojo PHONE has surpassed any of our expectations.
Forward any listing inquiry email from any prospect that came from anywhere, and ShowMojo will reply to it just like an inquiry from one our syndication partner sites.
At ShowMojo, we believe your data should be free. (Free as in speech, that is. Not free beer.)
Some people just love to pick up the phone — just as much as Craigslist hates the hyperlink.
That’s right, after dozens of you emailed telling us we had to do it, we finally listened. This morning we rolled out listing-level reporting to all ShowMojo accounts.
Okay. That’s probably our most boring headline ever. But it makes the point. And we’re not just bringing on great new partners like ApartmentList, Apartable and Walkscore. We’re also improving our feeds to existing partners.
But does anyone really care? Well, if you’re using Postlets, and you haven’t taken the time to dig into what these changes mean for you, then you had better keep reading.
At ShowMojo, we’ve been fielding a torrent of inquiries regarding the changes to Craigslist.
Hurricane Craig swung through to deliver a second round of punishment late in the day yesterday. What he took away from Craigslist this time was, basically, the last and most precious thing to take – clickable links.
We only just finished our Hurricane Craig Tracker in time to watch the bitter end.
We’re starting off the week with bad news for Texas. It appears Hurricane Craig hit the real estate classifieds across the whole state on Friday. Our thoughts are with all the Texas rental and real estate professionals now stuck cleaning up the mess.
South Florida and Orlando, we’re there for you!
Oh the tragedy. And unnecessary carnage. Craig Newmark is at again.
Wow, we here at ShowMojo believe we are on the cusp of something huge. This summer, we looked into our data on prospect behavior — relating to the time of day prospective renters search for listings, when they submit their showing appointments, and the device they use for these activities. We found some pretty surprising trends.
The results are now in from this summer’s survey of prospects who scheduled their showings online via ShowMojo clients. We are ecstatic about the results, and quick to announce that it seems like we’re onto something real.
We’re thrilled to announce a whole new service that we have added to ShowMojo.
ShowMojo includes a handy activity-tracking feature — accessible directly from the Dashboard — that tells you the number of button and page views for each listing you have on the market.
Buckle up, because we’ve got a bundle of new productivity-boosting features to talk about today.
I called on a Beastie Boys reference in order to open with something as cool as this pie chart I’m about to explain.
As a new marketing initiative, I’ve been conducting randomized surveys on prospects’ experiences using ShowMojo.
You’ve got business-critical software that already contains all your listing information and updates. That data needs to automatically flow into your Online Scheduling and Prospect Nurturing service. And that data needs to end up in the right place, to streamline your leasing process. Yes, we really get it.
It couldn’t be easier.
Pete and I are in a flurry of post-conference followups, which is to say we had a great reception at our NARPM conference debut in Chicago.
First Up, Buildium Integration. Seriously, we’re skipping the intros today because this is just HUGE. Are you using Buildium? Are you using ShowMojo? Prepare to be amazed.
Are you new to being a landlord? Or thinking of buying rental property? There are a few things to learn if you want to manage a building yourself. It’s not rocket science. But one of the most important things a new landlord should know is how to set the right rent.
We’re hard at work here at ShowMojo on some big new features. These aren’t them. Instead, here are three smaller, but incredibly useful, new features to help you get more out of ShowMojo.
If you are posting on Craigslist with either AppFolio or Buildium templates, you don’t upload photos, but you give address information to Craigslist, the ShowMojo schedule-a-showing button fits perfectly in place without disturbing your posting.
All of ShowMojo’s big features packed into an easy-to-digest video.
Last week, several customers inquired about how to configure ShowMojo’s calendar to handle group showings. And not the occasional group showing, but a schedule chock full of group showings. Check out the solution!
This is such a cool thing to watch, we had to wrap a video around it.
Even more important than providing a well-written description, it is necessary to have good pictures of your property.
You’ve got a great property. Good. But no matter how great the property, there’s no such thing as a unit that rents itself.
There are so many places your listing data needs to go, you shouldn’t have to enter it over and over again.
We just released some great new features to ShowMojo, including two very big ones.
Woody Allen once said, “80 percent of success is showing up.” In today’s world that quote could be split up to say “40 percent of success is showing up and 40 percent is following up.”
For the leasing agent of a private dorm building, spring and summer can be the best times of year and the worst times of year.
Last weekend, I spent some time on the cold city streets, trying to take some artsy photos. I must say, despite some friendly comments on my Facebook posts, I don’t think I quite have what it takes to make it in the art world. Real estate photography, on the other hand, doesn’t require any innate sense of art, just an understanding of a few basic principals.
While I’m sure no landlord cherishes the thought of having to show a unit multiple times to find new renters, current tenants who are laid back about the process can certainly make things easier on a landlord.
At ShowMojo we appreciate people who like to do things the old-fashioned way. Still hand-write letters instead of emailing? We think we’d like you. Using a good old-fashioned day planner instead of an online calendar? Right on.
Craigslist is up to its old tricks again. In what we assume is an effort to poke Zillow in the eye (and perhaps reduce over-posting) they’re ghosting legitimate posts in high-population areas en mass.
No-shows are the bane of many industries’ existences. In the world of residential rentals, where most landlords and leasing agents aren’t onsite, no-shows are not only annoying, but a huge waste of time. How many times have you gone to an out-of-way-showing and then waited and waited for a potential renter who never comes?
In the age of Craigslist rental spamming, it’s important to have a headline that stands out.
There’s a lot of advice out there on the internet about what should go into a rental listing. Some of it good, some of it questionable. At ShowMojo, we’ve got both renters and landlords on staff. After a bit of back and forth, here’s what we decided were the most important things to include in a rental listing.
As a leasing agent, how many leads do you lose to missed phone calls? Or because there’s no one to respond to emails at 2 am? And how many hours a week do you spend on confirmation calls and no-shows?
We have added two new game-changing features to ShowMojo.
We know that’s not a good excuse. But it was worth it…. Really. We added so many new features over the last several months. If we listed everything here we’d crash the NSA’s email reader. And nobody wants to end up on that list. Instead, we’ll keep it brief and tell you about the three BIGGEST features we’ve added to ShowMojo.
