How much rent premium are smart home features worth?

Question

I am noticing that smart home amenities for new construction apartments and homes are becoming common. For those of us who own older non-smart properties, I want to analyze cost benefit of retrofitting. It is possible to retrofit an apartment with a smart lock, video doorbell, smart thermostat, voice and app controlled lights, smart interconnected smoke alarms etc., How much rent premium will your tenants pay? Please pick closest number among these 3 options.

1) 0

2) 25

3) 50 or more

Any other ideas to increase rent with smart home features?

1) 0

2) 25

3) 50 or more

Any other ideas to increase rent with smart home features?

Billy Smith · Answer

Always keep it simple, I have found out the more that can go wrong the more likely it will go wrong. Unless the property is a top end then I would not install more gizmos.

I find this is true with appliances too the more electronics the more likely it will turn into a service call.

Justin M Christian · Answer

For everyone talking down on Smart Home amenities, Schlage did a national survey of renters and found millennial renters, who make up more than half of the renting population, are willing to pay up to 20% more for smart home amenities. Those numbers will vary by the extent that your units are retrofitted with these technologies, but the smart lock is the highest in the list of most desirable tech. I couldn't find the exact study, but found a PRNewswire article on it. Posted below: You can also update your property management platform with one that integrates with these devices, which gives your residents an app to control all the devices, pay rent, request maintenance, etc. I know I'd pay at least 50 more for something like that.https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/results-of-schlages-industry-insight-survey-reveals-what-millennial-renters-want-in-2017-300369197.html

Aaron K. · Answer

Zero, is the answer most of the time, the most important things are location, size, and condition.  Any "extras" add little to no value and the value is hard to quantify in a dollar number.

Bob Okenwa · Answer

For rent, I would say it isn't likely to make much of a difference if any at all. It's a nice feature to have, but as a renter, that is of lesser concern than the price of rent in relation to the competition. The renter's thought process being: "I can manually change the thermostat if it costs me $50 less each month" is something I would take into account before implementing smart hardware into a rental property. Focus on the aesthetic of the property before adding bells and whistles.

Jim Cummings · Answer

@Krishna Chava. Peephole Door Viewers are required by Texas Rental Code on all Exterior Doors and Door from interior of house to garage, unless there is sidelight or window in the door. Required on all Rental Properties. Occupant must be able to see who is on other side of the door.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

one of my buddies on high end rental units put I pod docks in now this was 10 years ago I dont even know what those really are I suspect maybe you put your phone in there or something then it plays music..

I can see combo locks could be good for PM's so they are not running around with 7,000 keys.

I put that on my Vegas place and i like that.

with the new construction we build we dont do any smart things.. and these are middle range to upper range unless we get a pre sale and the client wants to do it..  there just is no return on that for us..

just have cable in every room so they can hook a computer or TV.. thats really what they want..

Aaron K. · Answer

@Krishna Chava the requirement is that doors to the exterior need peepholes or other means of allowing the occupant to see who is at the door.  I know it is for SFR not sure about multifamily.

How much rent premium are smart home features worth?

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