Our concepts of home and community are constantly evolving. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the rapid expansion of domestic opportunities and configurations as presented via property technology.
People can personalize their home surroundings based on community preferences, environmental concerns, cost-efficiency, and convenience. Renters consider digital amenities as a necessity rather than a nice-to-have. Property technology (proptech) is revolutionizing the housing industry and optimizing multifamily communities. Truly innovative technology solves problems that impact the greatest number of people. Housing and our sense of home and community impact each of us. That is why I consider property technology and its solutions to be an essential element in creating a more democratized, eco-friendly housing landscape that improves living conditions for people and the planet.
PROPTECH POSITIVELY IMPACTS THE LIVES OF RESIDENTS AND OPERATORS
Property technology can impact people involved in multifamily communities at all levels: residents, property staff, leasing professionals, the neighborhood, and even general society. The proper implementation and use of smart home automation systems in an apartment community can drastically improve quality of life by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and providing customizable tools to suit lifestyle and budgetary preferences.
Proptech solutions to improve residential well-being include:
Managed Wi-Fi Connections
People in every phase of life need access to the internet as a matter of necessity. Wi-Fi is a critical player in connecting people with jobs, education, and, subsequently, their livelihoods. Managed Wi-Fi prioritizes affordable digital access for everyone, providing residents with move-in-ready internet service at significant savings over individual retail rates (and without the installation headaches).
Smart Thermostats
Smart thermostats are operated from user smartphones, allowing residents to adjust or program their HVAC system from wherever they are. For property staff, remote control of HVAC is useful when managing vacant units or units being renovated. Managing vacant units as a group has the potential to save significant energy costs over managing those units individually.
Smart Door Locks
Smart locks are an elegant form of technology that’s becoming more common in multifamily communities. A simple touch of an app screen controls and manages the apartment unit and common area access systems from anywhere, at any time. Remote access allows residents to manage scheduled access to guests for deliveries, house cleaning, home health aides, and other services. For property managers, the ability to remotely manage lock credentials for new or moving residents is a tremendous operational efficiency.
Integrated Smart Hubs And LPWAN Networks
Some smart apartment technologies use integrated smart hubs with patented connections to low-power-wide-area-networks like LoRaWAN to operate between smart apartment edge devices. Smart hubs streamline operations for property staff and improve the resident experience. By reducing cost and hardware, these solutions make real the democratization for existing property retrofits of all classes, new construction, and burgeoning assets like Build-to-Rent.
PROPTECH CAN BE GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, TOO
Prioritization of clean energy production and sustainable practices is becoming increasingly top-of-mind for many residents and operators alike. Beyond improving multifamily communities, property tech has the power to positively impact the broader environment, as well.
A couple of ways property tech is supporting sustainability include:
Clean Energy Production
While this one is arguably in its adoption infancy where proptech is concerned, clean energy production could be the most crucial element in promoting a sustainable infrastructure within an apartment property. Solar panels that provide low-cost and renewable energy to the property, its residents, and environmental amenities (such as EV charging stations) will be a tremendous contributor to clean energy production. Those same alternative power source systems can add energy right back into the civilian power grids, further contributing to the broader community.
Reducing Water Waste
Did you know that more than 20% of all toilets are leaking and that they are the number one source of water waste on a multifamily property? Many in the multifamily industry focus on water damage mitigation by installing leak sensors. Property staff have a love-hate relationship with these devices because they tend to false alarm and burn through batteries. But there are significant environmental opportunities in this space, and the proptech innovators focused on the real issues have a major impact at the property level.
HOW CAN OPERATORS FURTHER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROPERTY TECHNOLOGY?
In my years working in real estate technology, never have I felt more hopeful about the real-world impact of technology within and around community dwellings. Greater access to more affordable, customizable, and sustainable living spaces is just around the corner, but there are still some tides that need to turn before we reach that point.
For property operators, I urge taking a genuine interest in residents and their feedback. It’s crucial to embed oneself in the industry one seeks to serve, and certain kinds of insight can only be gleaned through human connections.
It’s also well worth establishing rapport with perceived competitors in the apartment technology space and adopting a collaborative mentality that recognizes areas where pooling resources can strengthen solutions across the board. If we’re in the business of building out thriving communities, we ought to adopt a more neighborly approach on the operational side of things, keeping in mind that innovative solutions should serve the greatest number of people—not just the select few who can afford them.
EVERY HOUSE, A HOME; EVERY HOME, A WAY OF LIFE
“Home is where my habits have a habitat,” wrote the musician Fiona Apple. People are eager to see their personal lifestyle choices reflected in their homes—they want privacy, sustainability, and comfort. I believe that the widespread implementation of smart appliances, IoT, and property technology solutions will create a more equitable and sustainable definition of home and community for the betterment of all.
John McNelly serves as Chief Product + Marketing Officer at Quext, a cutting-edge apartment technology and software company.