If you are a landlord who rents houses or apartments, you probably spend a lot of time answering phone inquiries and personally showing your units. People call first to get basic information and then they want to visit and see if it’s a place where they would like to live. You spend a lot of time conveying the same information over and over on the phone and even more time driving to the unit and showing it to the prospective tenant. And then they don’t rent because they don’t like what they see.

You can save a lot of time and trouble by including an interactive floor plan when you advertise your properties so prospective tenants can see the unit online before they even call you. Interactive floor plans allow viewers to see photos and descriptions of the rooms, understand how rooms relate to one another and see what the view is from the street or out the window. The interactive floor plan can also display useful information such as rent, terms, and contact information like your phone number.

After looking at an interactive floor plan online, most people can tell within a few minutes if they are interested enough to call you for a showing. If they don’t like what they see, they don’t take up your time. The people who do call have a good feel for the property because they\’ve already walked through it online. And the chances of them renting when you take your valuable time to show the home in person are a lot higher than for people who are seeing the property for the first time.

Here are four reasons to use interactive floor plans in your online real estate listings or as links in classified ads. Interactive floor plans:

1. Give potential buyers or renters a real sense of place

Interactive floor plans are the next best thing to being there. Combine floor plans with photos and text to give viewers a sense of place and perspective. Buyers can explore interiors, landscapes, and neighborhoods as they mouse around.

2. Make your listing stand out from the rest

Interactive floor plans are in a class by themselves. They set your listings apart from other listings that only show photos and slide shows.

3. Better than 360