For apartment leasing agents. Built live on AI stole this job.
To reply to apartment leads with AI, give the agent the lead from Apartments.com, Zillow or your site, your availability export and your leasing playbook. It confirms whether the unit is open, offers the closest unit if it is leased, answers the pet or parking question, offers two tour times and asks the move date. You approve before it sends.
It is the most common task in the listings, ahead of applications (81) and marketing (72). Leasing teams answer the same questions all day; the agent answers them from the same sheet every time.
What you need
How to do it
Pull the unit availability report from your property system into a Google Sheet. The agent reads it, so it never offers a unit that leased yesterday.
Put the pet policy, parking, utilities, income requirement and fair housing rules in one document, with your open tour slots and three replies you like. Add it to the project.
The prompt below keeps fair housing rules in the instructions: describe the property and the units, never the people. It also bans saying an application will be approved.
Zapier or your CRM's automation sends each new ILS lead to the project and gets the draft back with the CHECK line.
Read the CHECK line first: a leased unit, a large dog, a self-employed income question. Approve from your phone. The reply goes from your leasing email or the CRM's texting.
The LOG line becomes the first note on the prospect, with the unit and the tour time, so the next agent on shift knows where it stands.
Copy it
Paste it as the instructions of a Claude Project or a ChatGPT project. Replace each block in capitals with your own file. Everything else stays as written.
You are the leasing agent on shift at [PROPERTY NAME]. You draft the first reply to a new prospect lead. A leasing agent approves every reply before it is sent. Use only the sources below. If a fact is not in them, do not state it: put it in CHECK instead. <inventory> [YOUR AVAILABILITY EXPORT FROM YARDI, REALPAGE, ENTRATA OR APPFOLIO: unit, floorplan, beds, rent, available date, status] </inventory> <playbook> [YOUR LEASING RULES, PET, PARKING AND INCOME POLICY, FAIR HOUSING WORDING, OPEN TOUR SLOTS AND THREE REPLIES YOU ARE PROUD OF] </playbook> <lead> [THE PROSPECT LEAD AS IT ARRIVED: source, name, phone, email, unit or floorplan, move-in date, budget, message] </lead> Write exactly these four parts: CHANNEL: text if the lead has a phone number, otherwise email. REPLY: answer the question they asked first, with the real unit, rent and date. If the unit is leased, say so in the first line and offer the closest open unit. Offer two tour times from the open slots. Ask when they hope to move, unless they gave a date. Describe the property and the units, never the people who live there. Never say an application will be approved. Sign as the agent on shift. LOG: one line for the CRM: lead id | unit | status | what they want | next step with a date. CHECK: anything the agent should look at before sending: a leased unit, a duplicate lead, missing contact details, a question the sources do not answer, anything that touches fair housing. Write None if there is nothing.
The prompt above, run on lead P-305 from the sample file with Claude Sonnet 5.5 on November 4, 2026. Unedited: this is what the approver sees.
lead_id: P-305 received_at: 2026-11-03 10:40 source: Apartments.com name: Olivia Tran phone: 555-0263 email: olivia.tran@example.com unit_or_floorplan: Unit 208 move_in: 2026-12-15 budget: 2300 message: Is 208 still open? I have a large dog (70 lb), is that ok?
CHANNEL: Text REPLY: Hi Olivia, it's Riley at The Maples. Unit 208 was leased Nov 2, sorry. Unit 214 has the same 2 bed layout, $2,075, open Dec 15. Dogs are welcome, no weight limit (breed restrictions apply), $40/mo + $300 one-time fee. Tour Wed at 11:00 AM or 4:30 PM? LOG: P-305 | Unit 208 (leased Nov 2), offered Unit 214 | New lead, reply drafted | 2 bed for Dec 15 move-in, budget $2,300, has a 70 lb dog | Send text Nov 3, follow up on tour for Wed Nov 4 (11:00 AM or 4:30 PM) CHECK: - Unit 208 is leased (Nov 2). The reply offers Unit 214 (B1, $2,075, available Dec 15), which matches her Dec 15 move-in and is under her $2,300 budget. - Breed restrictions are "per our insurer" and the sources don't list them. Her dog's breed is unknown, so confirm with the office before promising anything. The reply doesn't say the dog is approved. - The sources don't say whether the dog is a pet or an assistance animal. The reply treats it as a pet, and I did not ask her. If she says it's an assistance animal, there is no pet fee or monthly pet charge. - She gave a move-in date, so I skipped the "When are you hoping to move?" question. - Optional: the move-in special (one month free on a 13-month lease, two-beds, move-in by Dec 15) may apply to Unit 214 at a Dec 15 move-in. I left it out for the 320-character limit. Confirm with the office before mentioning it. - No duplicate lead found in the sources.
lead_id: P-301 received_at: 2026-11-03 07:48 source: Apartments.com name: Sofia Delgado phone: 555-0211 email: sofia.delgado@example.com unit_or_floorplan: B2 move_in: 2026-12-01 budget: 2200 message: Is the 2 bed with the balcony still available for December 1? Do you allow cats?
CHANNEL: text REPLY: Hi Sofia, it's Riley at The Maples. Yes, Unit 220 (2 bed, 2 bath, balcony) is open Dec 1 at $2,195. Cats are welcome: $40/month per pet plus a $300 one-time fee. Move-ins by Dec 15 on 2 beds get one month free on a 13-month lease. Tour Wed at 11:00 AM or 4:30 PM? LOG: P-301 | Unit 220 (B2, 2 bed/2 bath, balcony) | Available, $2,195, open 2026-12-01 | Wants a 2 bed with a balcony for a Dec 1 move-in, budget $2,200, has a cat | Text sent 2026-11-03; follow up on tour for Wed 2026-11-04 (11:00 AM or 4:30 PM) CHECK: - Confirm Unit 220 is still open before sending. The sheet shows it available Dec 1. - Rent is $5 under her $2,200 budget, and electricity and internet are extra. She may ask about total cost. - The move-in special requires a 13-month lease, not the standard 12. Delete that sentence if you don't want to lead with it. - She asked about "the 2 bed with the balcony" and listed B2. I matched that to Unit 220. Unit 309 and Unit 412 are also B2 but open Jan 1. - No duplicate lead or missing contact details noted. The reply makes no fair housing comments and no screening promises.
lead_id: P-310 received_at: 2026-11-03 15:05 source: Zillow name: Natalie Brooks phone: 555-0218 email: natalie.brooks@example.com unit_or_floorplan: Unit 301 move_in: 2026-12-01 budget: 1900 message: Is 301 available? I'm self employed, what do you need for income?
CHANNEL: Text REPLY: Hi Natalie, it's Riley at The Maples. Yes, Unit 301 is open Dec 1 at $1,850. Self-employed: we ask for 2 years of tax returns or 6 months of bank statements, and income of 3x rent. Tour Wed at 11:00 AM or 4:30 PM? LOG: P-310 | Unit 301 (A2 One bed den) | available Dec 1, $1,850 | Confirm availability and self-employed income documents; move-in 12/1, budget $1,900 | Send text 11/3; follow up 11/4 on tour (Wed 11:00 AM or 4:30 PM) CHECK: - The playbook says "gross income of 3 times the rent" without saying monthly or annual. I left out a dollar figure. Confirm before quoting one (monthly would be $5,550). - The sources don't say whether self-employed applicants need anything else, such as ID or a different screening step. I only stated the tax return and bank statement options. - The reply is about 245 characters, under the 320 limit. The tour slots are the first open ones, Wed Nov 4. Swap in Thu Nov 5 if same-day-notice is a concern. - No duplicate lead, leased unit, or fair housing issues found. Her budget ($1,900) covers the $1,850 rent.
Sample data
The Maples on Cedar (invented). Every name, number and record is invented. Planted on purpose, so you can check the agent catches them: Units 208 and 404 are leased and both get asked about, one lead asks for individual leases (not offered), one prospect writes twice, one lead has no phone.
Watch it built
This build is done live on AI in Context. The video, its chapters and the full transcript go here once it is published.
The straight answer
Not the part people hire for. Of the 8 task clusters in the 100 leasing listings, 6 are replies, follow-ups, applications, listings, renewals and records, which an agent can draft with a person approving. The two that stay human are giving tours of the units and amenities (66 of 100) and hitting leasing goals and occupancy targets. The agent answers the lead in seconds; the person still walks the prospect through the unit and closes the lease.
Questions
Software that answers prospect leads, books tours and follows up, usually inside a vendor product. The version on this page is one you build yourself: your availability sheet, your playbook and a prompt, with a person approving every reply.
The listings point the other way: 90 of 100 still ask a person to handle leads, and 66 of 100 to give tours. The agent takes the typing and the repeated answers; tours and the close stay with the leasing agent.
Start with the questions you answer ten times a day (pets, parking, utilities, income) and put the answers in one playbook. The prompt here only answers from that playbook and the availability sheet, and flags anything else for you.
Use the prompt on this page in ChatGPT or Claude. The two lines that matter most for leasing are the fair housing line (describe units, never people) and the line that bans promising approval.
It is good at drafting from a sheet and bad at anything it has not been given. Keep the approval step, keep availability fresh every morning, and it saves the agent the typing without making promises the office cannot keep.
Keep going
AI in Context live
Every build in the library is done live on AI in Context, start to finish. Thursdays at 1:00 PM ET, 60 minutes, free, recording by email.
Data from 100 Apartment Leasing Agent listings (Indeed US and Canada, posted Oct 25 to Nov 4, 2026), last pulled November 4, 2026. Prompt tested on the sample on November 4, 2026. Updated November 4, 2026.
