Technology is moving at an incredibly rapid pace, and for smart property managers looking to keep up with the times, we all need to upgrade our technology. However, a lot of people shy away from technology upgrades because of the default assumption that they will all be incredibly expensive. Fortunately, there are plenty of small technology upgrades that are very attractive to renters but are also incredibly affordable for property managers. Here are four cheap technologies to consider adding to your rentals:

Smart Locks

Smart locks are a great way to upgrade your space but also never have to deal with the hassle of a renter calling you in the middle of the night because they lost their keys. Smarts locks use keypads or touchscreens to lock the doors. They are a pretty stiff initial investment of $200, but not only are they an exciting and attractive feature, they will pay for themselves because you will not have to pay to replace the door locks every time you have a new renter. With smart locks, you can change the code yourself, often times remotely.

Smart Outlets

Smart outlets are incredibly inexpensive, costing only about $30 a piece. With smart outlets you can control how and when things are powered remotely. They are an impressive feature but can also save a lot of money on electricity. Plus, some smart outlets link to smart home hubs.

Smart Home Hubs

Smart home hubs are the latest in home based technology. Hubs like Next, Amazon Echo, or Google’s Alexa are devices that act as a command center for the home. They can do everything from play music to provide recipe instructions. They can also help your renters manage their other smart devices. For example, a smart home hub can be set so that when the smart locks are activated they turn the smart thermostats on to your preferred temperature or when the morning alarm goes off they also plug into a smart coffee maker. There are a ton of possibilities of how to integrate a smart home hub into your rentals. Plus they are really affordable, typically costing less than $200.

Smart Thermostats

Smart thermostats work a number of different ways. They can be programmed to have different temperatures at different times of day. They can use geolocation where they only turn on when there is movement in the rental. Smart thermostats also can be controlled remotely so if a resident is coming home and the weather has changed, they can make adjustments to the indoor temperature before even stepping foot into their place.

Adding these affordable technologies can really make your rentals attractive. For other ideas on how to make your rentals more attractive for less, check out our blog at Occupancy Solutions.