Virtual vs In Person Tours

[Alwaysgreener]

During the pandemic some of us switched to virtual tours. I personally found having the virtual tours to be a time saver and I am considering continuing using them. I tend to schedule them earlier, right after close, most times. My family can continue on with our night time routine while I am on zoom. Then if it is the right fit, they can come for a short visit before we sign. I can also schedule them back to back if needed. Plus I never had a no show.


In person, I schedule it later so my family can eat, and so that they do not arrive early while the last kids are leaving for the day.

So now that things are getting back to normalcy, somewhat, will you continue virtual or drop it?

[Cat Herder]

I will still do them in person because I am deciding if I will take them, not the other way around. The tour lets me see if our parenting styles and goals match. If we are on opposite sides of the spectrum, it simply won't work. I can't really do that with a virtual tour. What comes out of their mouths isn't as important to me as what I see in my environment.

[Blackcat31]

I do them in person for same reason as CH
I like to see a family in person to get a gut reaction etc…
They can see my physical environment via my website

[Gemma]

During the pandemic some of us switched to virtual tours. I personally found having the virtual tours to be a time saver and I am considering continuing using them. I tend to schedule them earlier, right after close, most times. My family can continue on with our night time routine while I am on zoom. Then if it is the right fit, they can come for a short visit before we sign. I can also schedule them back to back if needed. Plus I never had a no show.


In person, I schedule it later so my family can eat, and so that they do not arrive early while the last kids are leaving for the day.

So now that things are getting back to normalcy, somewhat, will you continue virtual or drop it?

I've never done virtual so I can't compare but I really don't mind in person tours, I don't have that many and I schedule them right after the last kid leaves (4:30pm), so they don't interfere with our family dinners

[e.j.]

I've never done virtual interviews but I have held a couple outside on our back patio. The way my house/day care areas are laid out makes it easy for me to show parents where their kids will be spending the day. My breezeway opens into my kitchen/dining area where the kids eat and do crafts and the back deck opens into my day care room so parents can peek into that room to see where the kids play and nap. The only room they can't see is my living room where infants sleep after they've been with me for 6 weeks. (They have to be within my sight at all times until they've been here that long.)

I plan to continue to do outdoor interviews for as long as it makes sense weather-wise and virus-wise. I want to see how well the vaccines work to fight off covid variants before I end them altogether.

[Pestle]

I do a phone interview first. At this point, the adults I am interviewing are vaccinated. Before, they came in wearing masks. Since I will be adding their unvaccinated child to my existing pool of unvaccinated children, I am fine with having them come for an in-person tour.

[Alwaysgreener]

I do a phone interview first. At this point, the adults I am interviewing are vaccinated. Before, they came in wearing masks. Since I will be adding their unvaccinated child to my existing pool of unvaccinated children, I am fine with having them come for an in-person tour.

You know that is basically what I do, instead of a phone call, I do a virtual call. Then if we hit it off, I offer for them to come to see my home and meet my family. (so technically that is my tour and not the zoom) It tends to weed out the number of people coming through my house and the number of times that my family has to alter their nighttime routine.