Scout robot building plans. Aubrie Rice // Publicity Center
The Eastern Back is a yearly publication by the staff of the AS Review. Anything contained here probably isn’t true – unless it is… Happy April Fool’s week!
By Stella Harvey
As the lease-signing season grows closer, Bellingham’s rental companies devised a new way to show their properties in response to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus. Quality Living Real Estate Management will send small robots to live-stream house tours in order to adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s social distancing guidelines.
Amazon developed the self-driving robots, which are about two feet tall and have six wheels, to drop off small to medium-sized packages. Nicknamed Scout, the delivery machines will now take on the job of virtually showing houses to prospective tenants in Bellingham from April 6 until at least early May.
Glenn Gavinson, a manager at Quality Living Real Estate Management said that the idea came to him after he saw an advertisement for Scout on YouTube.
“I thought to myself, we’ve got to show these homes, and we can’t have our normal human realtors bring others in, so why don’t we just get those guys to live-stream the tours?” Gavinson said.
Here’s how it will work: Quality Living Real Estate Management will schedule their house tours, informing both prospective and current tenants. Then, they’ll deploy Scout across Bellingham, and the footage from Scout’s cameras will be sent to the company’s websites. Current tenants will let Scout in, and the robot will drive itself through the house, limiting itself to about 30 seconds per room, like a normal house tour. Scout will let itself out as long as the door is still open.
Tenants whose houses are being shown are advised to clear any objects from their front yard and floors that might be in Scout’s way, including empty beer cans, ping pong balls and pillow forts. If Scout needs assistance, a loud buzzer will sound for five to 10 seconds, or until the obstacle is removed. If Scout runs into larger objects like furniture, plants or house pets, it is automated to apologize to maintain a polite presence.
It’s always a tough decision between an affordable, state-of-the-art apartment complex and a more homey, well-kept historic house close to downtown Bellingham. But now, instead of gathering on the front lawns of High, Garden and Grant Street houses, prospective renters can tune in on the Quality Living Real Estate Management’s website from the comfort of their own home, six feet away from any other human being.
Second-year Western student Lacey McGratt said she’s looking forward to virtually viewing houses and apartments.
“It’s just another example of how we’ll never need to go outside again. I love staying in my room 24 hours a day,” McGratt said.
The change is one of a series of adjustments Bellingham’s well-loved rental companies are planning to accommodate people in response to COVID-19, a viral respiratory disease spreading rapidly across the world and in the U.S.
In addition to limiting the contact of current and prospective tenants, if the virus continues to spread into when leases begin in the summer, Gavinson said Quality Living Real Estate Management is prepared to offer remote-renting, so tenants can inhabit their new homes virtually to avoid the spread of the virus. Don’t worry, remote-renting will be free with the regular cost of rent and utilities.
Remote-renting will also come with customizable features, like changing the background of each video-chat so it looks like tenants are in their new homes. Remote-renting will only be available to households of four people or less. Quality Living Real Estate Management recommends that households of five or more create a system to share the available remote renting spots.
Happy April Fools!
