Real Estate Site Tours: Moving Investors Between Assets

A viewing day is a sequence of access windows

Property tours look like a series of addresses but behave like a series of appointments held by other people. A tenanted office can only be seen at a time the occupier has agreed, a building manager may hold the only key to a plant room, and a residential unit might be available for thirty minutes between viewings. Miss one window and it does not simply shift, it disappears, which is why the sequence matters far more than the individual journeys.

Sequencing assets across a city

The instinct is to order a tour by importance, showing the best asset first. Geography usually argues otherwise. Clustering by area, and accepting that the flagship building is seen third rather than first, produces a day with far less dead time and a much better chance of finishing on schedule. Where a portfolio spans north and south of the river, one crossing planned deliberately beats three crossings arranged by accident.

• Group assets by area before ordering them by interest
• Fix the appointments that cannot move, then build around them
• Allow for the walk from a set-down point to the actual entrance
• Identify which viewings can be dropped if the day slips

Development sites and what a car cannot do

An asset under construction is a different proposition from a finished building. Hoardings block the obvious frontage, the site entrance may be on a side street, there is nowhere to stop, and everyone entering needs boots and a hard hat. The workable plan is a set-down at the nearest safe point, a vehicle holding away from the site traffic, and time built in for the group to change into protective equipment and back again afterwards.

Investors, agents and who rides together

The conversation between viewings is often more valuable than the viewings themselves, because that is when an investor says what they actually think. Where the vendor's agent is travelling in the same vehicle, that conversation does not happen. Deciding in advance who rides with whom, and whether the buy side keeps a car of its own, is a small logistical choice with a real effect on how much a day achieves.

Occupier visits, fit-out and dilapidation inspections

Not every property day is investment-driven. Occupiers touring shortlisted offices, project teams inspecting a fit-out, and surveyors carrying out dilapidation inspections at lease end all generate the same pattern of short visits with fixed access. These often run outside normal hours because a building manager can only provide access early or late, and they frequently involve equipment, measuring gear and a number of people who did not all start in the same place.

Plan your chauffeur journey

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