Move-in, start to gate code: the checklist

Move-ins go sideways in the same three places every time: the lease, the payment method, and the gate code. Fix those three and the rest is walking. This is the version to print and tape to the desk.

Two paths in. Keep both.

Path A (default): The phone rings. The AI receptionist answers, quotes the live rate, places a real 48-hour hold on a real unit, and texts the caller a secure move-in link. They sign the lease and pay from their couch. Nobody at your facility touched anything.

Path B (fallback): A human walks in, or the internet is down, or they just want to talk to a person. Staff runs the checklist below by hand.

Path A handles the 2am callers. Path B handles everyone who distrusts links. Neither replaces the other.

Before the tenant arrives

• Unit swept. Door rolls. Latch works. Check this before the hold goes on, not after someone is standing in front of it.
• Lease queued for e-signature with the correct unit number.
• Price on the lease matches the price quoted. The voice agent quotes live rates; if staff manually overrode a rate, reconcile it now.
• Gate code generated but inactive until payment clears.
• Welcome text sent: facility hours, gate location, what to bring. What to bring is a short list: ID, and a lock unless you sell them.

Move-in day, staff path

1. ID. Scan or photograph. Name must match the lease. No exceptions for "it's for my brother."
2. Walk the unit together. Sixty seconds. Take one timestamped photo of the interior and attach it to the lease record. This photo ends a surprising number of arguments eleven months from now.
3. Sign. Any device. Theirs is fine.
4. Collect first month plus fees. Card on file is mandatory, not optional. StorageFlow can pass the card fee to the tenant, so 100% of the rent lands with you.
5. Ask for autopay right now. At the desk, with the card already out. An email next week converts a fraction of what a person standing in front of you converts.
6. Activate the gate code and watch them use it once. Not "here's your code, good luck." Once, while you watch.
7. Schedule the 48-hour follow-up text before they drive off. If it's not scheduled now, it doesn't happen.

After

1. 48-hour check-in text. One question: "Everything working?" A reply means a tenant; silence also means a tenant. Both are fine.
2. Payment reminders run automatically. Do not hand-send these.
3. Skip the newsletter unless you have something to say. You usually don't.

Numbers on the wall

Track three. Not ten. Three.

1. Inquiry to move-in. Target: under 48 hours. This is the whole reason the hold is 48 hours.
2. Reservation to signed lease. Every hold that expires unsigned is a unit you kept off the market for two days for nothing. Find out why.
3. Autopay adoption at move-in. Measure it at the desk, not in month three. Month three is where delinquency lives.

A hold that expires unsigned is a unit off the market for two days, for nothing.

StorageFlow's free tier covers a single facility; the rest of the pricing is on the pricing page. If you want to see Path A before trusting it, call the demo number on the homepage at 2am and book yourself a unit. The hold will be there in the morning.