Smart home essentials for apartments

Coming up with the right balance of smart home essentials ultimately depends on the needs and preferences of the residents and the goals of the property owners and managers. However, there are some general considerations that can help find the optimal balance:

1. Determine the most pressing needs: Before implementing any smart technology, assess the most pressing needs of the residents and the property. This may include security, energy efficiency, convenience, or other factors.
2. Compatibility is Key: If multiple smart devices are being implemented, make sure they are compatible with each other and can integrate seamlessly.
3. Focus on user experience: Smart technology should be user-friendly and easy to use for residents of all ages and tech-savviness levels. Providing proper training and support can also improve the user experience.
4. Consider scalability: Consider the potential for future expansion and scalability of the smart technology being implemented. A smart technology platform will provide a foundation as you expand smart feature thoughout the community.
5. Balance cost and ROI: Smart technology can be costly to implement, so it’s important to balance the cost of implementation with the potential return on investment.

By considering these factors and working closely with residents and property owners/managers, it’s possible to find the right mix of smart home essentials that meet the needs of everyone involved.

One app controls these smart home essentials

A smart apartment app can control each of your smart home devices such as lighting, temperature, and apartment building access, all from your phone. Some popular examples of apps that can control smart home devices include: Smart thermostat, smart lock, smart light switches, and voice-controlled devices like Alexa.

A Keyless Way to Secure Your Apartment

Unlock that door and definitely throw away the key fobs. Apartment residents and property maintenance teams love smart locks. This keyless system allows property personnel to quickly access resident units to maintain them. Residents enjoy improved security because there is no need for physical keys, which can be duplicated.

Convenience and Cost Savings

Perhaps the top convenience is that smart access eliminates apartment lock change-outs and off-hours lock-outs. Changing out locks each time a new resident moves in is very time consuming.

A smart locks to not require a key tracking system which are very expensive.

When Smart locks are pared with a smart apartment system it allows for easy access and customizable permissions for management staff and third-party vendors. Maintenance technicians can complete their repairs faster and the 500+ hours’ labor saved annually adds up. This access for site inspections also results in a 33% faster rate.

Surveys show that residents love smart locks so much that they are willing to pay a bit extra in rent to have them.

Young Renters’ Preferences

A recent survey showed that Millennials, especially, are interested in home technology and are willing to pay more for smart upgrades – 86% of that group says it will pay about one-fifth more for a smart apartment – defined as one that includes automated or remotely controlled devices, such as a smart lock, automated thermostat, or lighting controls. The survey of 1,000 renters was conducted by Wakefield Research and Schlage.

And Gen Y wants apartments with increased security—61% are likely to rent an apartment specifically because of its electronic-access features, including keyless entry doors; and 55% are likely to pay more for an apartment that has “high-tech” door locks, the survey revealed.

Smart access control give residents access to community amenities like gyms and pools as well as the ability to share apartment access with family, cleaning services, and dog walkers alike.

Self-Guided Tours

Smart locks are also making self-guided tours possible. This new, booming trend means renter prospects can tour the apartment home whenever they like and property managers no longer have to plan their day around touring.

It also speeds up booking appointment time by providing the self-serve feature that consumers crave. Renters simply sign up, provide a copy of ID, then select the units they want to visit. Before the scheduled viewing, the prospect receives a unique access code to tour the property. No more worry about leasing hovering over your shoulder.

Improved Security

Once moved in, the residents enjoy improved security. Residents often want to share access with others when they are away: dog walkers, house cleaners, friends, and family. Guest codes provide a secure way of providing resident unit access. And only persons with the right credentials get access to resident units and property amenities. And even better, smart locks provide an audit trail. Always know who entered a unit and when they entered.

Smart Locks are in-demand, renters will pay more, and they make your property more competitive in the market. The increased retention rates and NOI drives up the value for your assets.

Greystar sees importance of controlled building access

Greystar has both recognized the necessity of offering competent smart-home technology and has discovered an interesting option in a growing field of emerging providers, said Andrew Livingstone, its Executive Managing Director.

“The pandemic created a large shift in how we operate, and it moved us forward a decade,” Livingstone said. “It changed how we think about operating apartments. It forced us, out of necessity, to think more futuristically, given the circumstances.

“It firmly created opportunities in apartment access technology and how we enter our apartment homes a fundamental cornerstone. We’re seeing unprecedented changes with access given recent transactions involving companies that offer this and to their valuations.”

10 Benefits of Smart Technology for Apartments according to Greystar:

1. Efficiency: Smart-home technology is generating greater efficiencies for apartment residents and our communities’ onsite teams. Innovation in this space has created a surplus of providers with a variety of solutions and price points.
   
2. Operations: The pandemic created a large shift in how we operate, and it moved us forward a decade. It changed how we think about operating apartments. It forced us, out of necessity, to think more futuristically.
3. No longer a ‘nice to have: Smart-home technology is now an absolute must have – not a nice-to-have amenity. It won’t just be in some apartment buildings; it has to be in all the buildings.
4. It’s Time to invest: We do not have as much smart-home technology in our portfolio as we would like. Our onsite teams realize we need to evolve to serve the needs of our residents, clients “and the ever-changing times we live in.”
5. Insist on integration: Look for smart-home technology platforms that integrate best with various components—such as thermostats, lights, utilities, access.
6. Don’t downplay this: Reliable, after-hours service and data security must be considered and should not be discounted, downplayed or taken for granted.
7. Dedicated Wi-Fi NOT required: Using the in-unit thermostat as the hub, which iApartments delivers, saves a great deal on installation costs. Dedicated Wi-Fi networks to support your smart-home technology is not required. These networks can cost from $600 to $1,000 per door – that’s a significant expense.
8. Find a Solution that Works Right, out of the box: Our provider’s product works well right out of the box and can be installed during retrofits and new development.
9. AaaS boosts NOI: AaaS stands for Amenity as a Service. Having software and equipment as a service that can be implemented at any time, regardless of the budget cycle, as we are doing with our smart-home system, allows us to begin generating ancillary income the moment this amenity is launched. We’re charging very modest fees for the added convenience the system offers our residents.
10. Owners want best-in-breed: It’s an exciting time as smart-home tech brands continue to innovate their services to establish themselves as leaders in this space. While some of our clients have adopted this technology earlier than others, every property owner wants to work with the best products. So do residents.

There are many players in the smart apartment community space.

We’re still looking to find out who’s going to be Coke and who’s going to be Pepsi. Greystar is mostly a third-party management company and we’re working with owners who want to try this. We’re the No. 1 third-party management company in the country, and right now we have little-to-none of this technology in our portfolio.

As we look around, we realize we need to evolve. We need to find out what smart-apartment technology integrates the best, what kind of battery life these systems allow, and which types of after-hours services we provide.