Leasing Inquiry Response
Answer rental listing inquiries fast, pre-qualify prospects against the property's leasing criteria, and book showings through the scheduling tool API.
When to use
- A prospect emails or messages asking about a listed unit's availability, price, or amenities.
- A lead needs pre-qualification (move-in date, budget, income, pets, occupants) before a showing is booked.
- A prospect wants to schedule a showing and needs a confirmed time slot.
- A formal legal notice (late rent, eviction) or an emergency maintenance report arrives and must be routed to a human instead of answered directly.
Tools
http-getsend-emailsend-messagehttp-postschedule-task
Playbook
- Use
http-getto pull the listing record from the property management system, e.g.GET https://api.example-pm.com/v1/listings/{listing_id}, confirming current availability, rent, deposit, and pet policy. - Read the inbound inquiry and identify the prospect's stated move-in date, budget, household size, and pets.
- Compare those details against the listing's published leasing criteria (income-to-rent ratio, credit/background requirements, pet policy, occupancy limits) fetched in step 1.
- If the inquiry contains language indicating a legal notice (eviction, lease termination, non-payment dispute) or an emergency maintenance issue (gas leak, flooding, no heat, fire hazard), stop pre-qualification and use
send-messageto escalate immediately to the property manager, naming the prospect, unit, and issue type. Do not draft or send any legal notice yourself. - If the prospect clears the basic criteria, use
http-getto check open showing slots, e.g.GET https://api.example-scheduling.com/v1/availability?listing_id={listing_id}. - Use
http-postto reserve the chosen slot, e.g.POST https://api.example-scheduling.com/v1/bookingswith the prospect's contact details and listing ID. On 401/403 or a missing Integration for that host, stop and usesend-messageto alert a human, naming the service and required scopes. - Use
send-emailto confirm the booked showing time, address, and any entry instructions to the prospect, and usesend-messageto notify the leasing agent of the new appointment. - Use
schedule-taskto create a reminder to follow up with the prospect 24 hours before the showing and again if no response is received within 48 hours of the initial inquiry. - If the prospect does not meet leasing criteria, use
send-emailto reply with a polite, non-discriminatory response noting the unit does not currently match their stated requirements, and log the outcome viasend-messageto the leasing team.
Failure modes
- The listing API returns stale or missing availability data, causing a showing to be booked for a unit that is no longer on the market — always re-check availability at booking time, not just at intake.
- A prospect's message ambiguously mentions "eviction" or "emergency" in a non-urgent context (e.g. asking a general question); when in doubt, route to a human rather than guessing.
- The scheduling API returns a 401/403 due to an expired or missing Integration, silently failing to reserve the slot — never confirm a showing to the prospect until the booking call succeeds.
- Leasing criteria differ by listing or jurisdiction (fair housing rules vary), so criteria must always be pulled fresh from the listing record, never assumed or cached indefinitely.
Done when
- The prospect has received either a confirmed showing time or a clear, criteria-based response about why a showing was not booked.
- Any legal notice or emergency maintenance issue detected in the inquiry has been escalated to a human via
send-messageand not handled autonomously. - A follow-up reminder has been scheduled via
schedule-taskfor any prospect awaiting a response or showing.