With our massive dodgeball event and the advent of football season, we here at Property Solutions are filled with sports fever, so our most recent webinar, Curb Appeal vs. Web Appeal, took a page from ESPN’s show PTI (Pardon The Interruption). Our rules were simple: two industry experts, Ashley Wemmell, Marketing Coordinator at The Habitat Company, and Josh Mendenhall, Creative Director at Property Solutions would debate specific issues and then webinar attendees would vote for who was most convincing.

Round One

The debate started with the big question: what’s more important—web appeal or curb appeal. Josh argued for the web, saying that 60-80% of apartment searches begin online. Having a good looking website, with photos, floor plans, and useful information allows residents to begin to love your property before they ever come out to visit. That creates a more informed customer, and it cuts down on the sales cycle.

Ashley argued for curb appeal, saying that thousands of people drive past your property every day; they don’t have to search for you on the web, because their repeated views of your good looking property has already enticed them to come in. She also said that when a resident comes to your property they’re focused solely on you, not distracted by a hundred other things on the web.

Once the arguments were made, the attendees were polled and Ashley’s curb appeal soundly defeated Josh’s web appeal, 61% to 39%.

Round Two

The next debate was about functionality versus design. Ashley began, arguing that functionality was the whole point of a website. A well-functioning website makes things easier for the residents and the property staff. Josh, on the other hand, said that design is what makes people care about functionality. Photos are the most viewed part of website, he said, and if you don’t have attractive visuals that entice the residents to want to live there, they’ll never move forward in the process.

The results for this round weren’t surprising: an exact 50/50 split. Our attendees obviously saw the importance of both.

Round Three

This final round discussed custom sites versus template sites. Josh argued that custom is best, because you have full control of all aspects. You’re not tied to a more generic template, so you can get exactly what you want and no one else can replicate it. Ashley argued that templates still have plenty of customizable options, so you can maintain the look and feel of your brand. In fact, using the same theme across an entire portfolio and tweaking when necessary is beneficial to your brand, as it ties your properties together. And, of course, a template is cheaper.

And Ashley won again, 54% for templates, against 46% for custom.

Much more was discussed in this fun and engaging webinar, and we encourage you to watch the full video.