Smart Access & Showings For Rental Property Managers-Is it worth it?

Hinton, WV · Member since 2026 · 1k+ posts · 373 votes

7mo

The tenant dashboard is smart - too many break-ins from copied keys or found spares. Start with tech-savvy tenants first, let them sell the others on it. Rolling out property by property or all at once?

1 Reply

Madelyn Felix
OP
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 60 posts · 10 votes
7mo
Quote from @Bo Smith:

The tenant dashboard is smart - too many break-ins from copied keys or found spares. Start with tech-savvy tenants first, let them sell the others on it. Rolling out property by property or all at once?
Hi Bo!

Thank you.
Property by property at the moment.

Smart locks also come with backup keys that we recommend leaving in a wall lock box on site as a backup. Backup keys are also a requirement in many states.

As a property management professional (20+ years) and investor stabilizing investments out of state with remote crews, I'm loving it so far.

But we're all different. I want to make sure we are addressing any perceived risks or setbacks for property managers and rental investors when it comes to using smart locks and software to centralize access for keyless operations.
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Michael K GallagherBusiness Member

Real Estate Agent · Columbus OH · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

7mo

@Madelyn Felix Great in concept, however, I've never been a fan of the "self showing" type setup. the access plan and all that I'm a fan of. but the self showing, Again while great in practice and widely used by "open door" I see too many security risks. Colleague of mine was in contract on an open door listing, went to do the inspection, and the locks had been changed and home had been listed for rent as part of a rental scam. this is reason number 1 in my mind that there is and never will be a substitute for in person showings.

[email protected]614-362-2231

1 Reply

Madelyn Felix
OP
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 60 posts · 10 votes
7mo
Quote from @Michael K Gallagher:

@Madelyn Felix Great in concept, however, I've never been a fan of the "self showing" type setup. the access plan and all that I'm a fan of. but the self showing, Again while great in practice and widely used by "open door" I see too many security risks. Colleague of mine was in contract on an open door listing, went to do the inspection, and the locks had been changed and home had been listed for rent as part of a rental scam. this is reason number 1 in my mind that there is and never will be a substitute for in person showings.

We've had scammers steal our photos from our rental listings and list properties for rent for way below fair market value rent to attract desperate renters to scam them.

I'm not a fan of completely unsupervised showings either. Seems like it wouldn't be difficult to prove negligence against licensed property managers if there was damage or squatters resulting from unsupervised showings.

Most scammers never have physical access. I wonder if Open Door ever changed the locks after taking possession and how many vendors had access to keys.

The self-guided showings that give out hard copy keys are twice as risky-in my opinion. Keys are easily duplicated with no way of knowing. Driving codeboxes from property to property doesn't make sense to me either.

We're using one-time codes that expire, ID verification and Zoom integration during showings to verify tenant's identity before access and the ability to supervise showings remotely. It's a hybrid option.

Most renters want to confirm availability and that they'll qualify before spending money on applications anyway, so adding the human touch to self-guided showings translates to quicker lease ups.

I see both sides of it. In-person showings can easily eat up an entire weekend and is a total pain when you have properties for lease on all sides of town.

Instead of picking one poison or the other when it comes to showings, our showing service is designed to faciliate supervised self-guided showings.

We're also working on integrations with cellular camera companys that will also work without Wi-Fi.

I'm curious about what happened with your colleague's listing. One of Open Door's legal team members is a good friend of our family, so I'm sure they'd love to figure out how that happened also. That is a huge liability.
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Don KonipolBusiness Member

Investor · The Woodlands TX / Avon, CT · Member since 2009 · 6k+ posts · 10k+ votes

7mo

Quote from @Madelyn Felix:

We're building software that makes access to scattered-site rental properties keyless and connects to all of the top-rated smart lock brands. Our company is the first to achieve patent protection for smart locks + scattered-site management + self-guided showings + access management in one secure ecosystem. Built by property managers-for property managers.

QUESTION: What would have to be true in order for you (landlord or property manager) to consider adopting keyless access software for the rental properties you manage?

Features:

-No Wi-Fi or bluetooth is necessary with some of the smart lock brands that we've integrated with.

-Tenants get codes during their tenancy and one-time codes for self-guided showings before they become tenants. Showing service is an optional add-on, and property managers do not need to change their showing service preference to benefit.

-Tenants get their own dashboards to issue one-time codes to guests, house-sitters and pet-sitters without hiding a key under a rock or welcome mat that can be, stolen, lost or duplicated. $5.99 mo

-Maintenance vendors get one-time passcodes for access with automated notifications to manager and occupying tenant when maintenance access events are scheduled.

-The service is only $1.99 per month for property management companies.

-Membership includes a national savings partnership; where tenants, property managers and property owners all receive app discounts almost wherever they go for everyday purchases. (including 8% off off all online Home Depot purchases-and thousands of additional participating discounted retailers)

-Full support for installations and tenant inquiries regarding smart locks so managers and owners aren't adding tasks to their workflow when switching to keyless

We've designed the service to pay for itself and to reduce tenant and landlord churn.

Self guided showings will become “the norm” in all but the lower income economic areas. Physical Keys are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Private Mortgage Financing Partners, LLC

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Madelyn Felix
OP
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 60 posts · 10 votes
7mo
Quote from @Don Konipol:

Quote from @Madelyn Felix:

We're building software that makes access to scattered-site rental properties keyless and connects to all of the top-rated smart lock brands. Our company is the first to achieve patent protection for smart locks + scattered-site management + self-guided showings + access management in one secure ecosystem. Built by property managers-for property managers.

QUESTION: What would have to be true in order for you (landlord or property manager) to consider adopting keyless access software for the rental properties you manage?

Features:

-No Wi-Fi or bluetooth is necessary with some of the smart lock brands that we've integrated with.

-Tenants get codes during their tenancy and one-time codes for self-guided showings before they become tenants. Showing service is an optional add-on, and property managers do not need to change their showing service preference to benefit.

-Tenants get their own dashboards to issue one-time codes to guests, house-sitters and pet-sitters without hiding a key under a rock or welcome mat that can be, stolen, lost or duplicated. $5.99 mo

-Maintenance vendors get one-time passcodes for access with automated notifications to manager and occupying tenant when maintenance access events are scheduled.
-The service is only $1.99 per month for property management companies.

-Membership includes a national savings partnership; where tenants, property managers and property owners all receive app discounts almost wherever they go for everyday purchases. (including 8% off off all online Home Depot purchases-and thousands of additional participating discounted retailers)

-Full support for installations and tenant inquiries regarding smart locks so managers and owners aren't adding tasks to their workflow when switching to keyless

We've designed the service to pay for itself and to reduce tenant and landlord churn.

Self guided showings will become “the norm” in all but the lower income economic areas. Physical Keys are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Agreed.

The most common concern that I've heard about smart locks is around security and the perceived liability of tenants being locked out if power or technology fails, but I think it's more about the fear of the unknown for management teams that aren't yet keyless.

Many landlords and property managers don't know that smart locks come with jumpstart options if batteries die, alerts long before batteries die and that not all smart locks require Wi-Fi.
Most smart lock brands have built-in security features and we are adding additional security measures to help prevent hackers from obtaining access

I'd be more concerned about how easy it is for someone to pick a lock and the fact that other people might have keys if locks haven't been changed after using keys for self-guided tours.

Although it is rare, I'm not worried about firing a vendor that has access to properties anymore because I'm able to terminate their access code with a few clicks.

It is still a good idea to have a backup key on site, and required by law in some states now, but access to hard copy keys can be restricted to emergency access events.
1 Reply

Christian BlandBusiness Member

Real Estate Broker · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2022 · 7 posts · 1 vote

5mo

For us as long as we had a backup key there and if we could keep the cost relatively low for the owners, this could be a good solution. We've been discussing this as a team, and it seems the pain points we could think of have been resolved.

I guess the one thing I'm assuming from your post is that all the locks would be accessible on a single platform for the management side. If that's true, then I think it's mostly been resolved.

[email protected]806-401-4273

Christian Bland, Realtor 53 Reviews

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Ryan Stomel

Property Manager · Calabasas, CA · Member since 2026 · 141 posts · 67 votes

5mo

Coming from the commercial side (retail/industrial/office in SoCal), keyless access has been a big operational win for us, though the use case is a bit different than residential. On the commercial side the bigger headaches aren't tenant showings — it's vendor access management. HVAC contractor needs in at 6am, cleaning crew comes twice a week, a subtenant's employee has a situation after hours. Managing all of that with physical keys is a nightmare and a liability. One-time codes tied to scheduled work orders, auto-expiring, with an audit trail — that's what actually moves the needle for us. For showings, with commercial tenants I'm almost always doing those in person because the tenant needs to walk the space carefully and ask detailed questions about electrical capacity, HVAC tonnage, dock height, etc. The keyless piece is less critical there. The real ROI is on ongoing access management across a scattered portfolio where you can't be physically present. If your platform handles multi-unit commercial (not just residential scattered site), that's a conversation worth having.

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Richard F.

Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes

5mo

Of course if varies by locale, but absent some form of squatters law to be able to get them out instantly, it is far too easy to take actual possession. What safeguards are there for long term "prospects"? Evictions are costly as heck, and not getting cheaper or easier.

For that matter, what are stats on short term rentals fraud due to zero in-person contact?

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Madelyn Felix
OP
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 60 posts · 10 votes
5mo
Quote from @Richard F.:

Of course if varies by locale, but absent some form of squatters law to be able to get them out instantly, it is far too easy to take actual possession. What safeguards are there for long term "prospects"? Evictions are costly as heck, and not getting cheaper or easier.
For that matter, what are stats on short term rentals fraud due to zero in-person contact?

Tenant Access includes Zoom guided tours and timed access. If showings are supervised via Zoom, and access codes are set to terminate fifteen minutes after a showing, I believe they're simply trespassing if they overstay their appointment, and the cops can be involved to remove them.

Including some type of live monitoring will greatly reduce the risk of squatters. I think this is what most showing service companies are missing.

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Ryan Stomel

Property Manager · Calabasas, CA · Member since 2026 · 141 posts · 67 votes

5mo

Richard raises a real issue — squatter risk in residential is a legitimate concern, especially in states where eviction timelines are brutal. The short-term rental fraud angle is also worth taking seriously.

That said, I'd push back slightly on framing this as a keyless access problem vs. a tenant screening problem. Squatters don't need a self-showing to take illegal possession — they're equally capable of breaking in or using a physical key from a traditional showing. The risk mitigation layer is really in the qualification pipeline upstream: ID verification, credit/background screening, and not issuing any access codes until a lease is signed and deposit cleared.

For the STR fraud stats — the honest answer is the data is murky, but Airbnb and VRBO have invested heavily in identity verification and damage deposits precisely because they had early fraud issues at scale. The peer-to-peer model without guardrails was the problem, not self-guided access per se.

On the commercial side we don't do residential showings at all so the squatter dynamic is different (commercial evictions are also generally faster in CA than residential), but the vendor access management use case I described doesn't touch this concern at all — it's pure operational efficiency for people already in valid leases.

Bottom line: keyless access shifts the security risk from "lock can be picked or key duplicated" to "platform can be compromised" — neither is zero-risk. The question is which risk is more manageable with the controls available.

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Andrew GlissonBusiness Member

Property Manager · Memphis · Member since 2026 · 135 posts · 95 votes

5mo

Fraud detection by far most important.

[email protected]832-477-1007

LPS Short and Long Term Property Management

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Drew SygitBusiness Member

Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes

5mo

We've been doing this for over 6 years.

We do weekly checkups on all published properties to verify status.

Not a lot of issues, even in Class C & D Neighborhoods.

[email protected]248-209-6824

Logical Property Management4.9451 Reviews

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Ryan Stomel

Property Manager · Calabasas, CA · Member since 2026 · 141 posts · 67 votes

5mo

Drew — 6 years of real-world data across Class C & D is about as good a validation as you can get. The weekly property checkups are a smart operating practice regardless of access method, but they also directly address the squatter concern that came up earlier in this thread. If you're already doing regular status verification, the theoretical risk of a bad actor gaming a self-showing drops considerably.

Curious what smart lock setups you've found most reliable across that kind of asset class mix — I'd imagine battery maintenance and connectivity in lower-income neighborhoods presents different challenges than Class A commercial, which is our lane.

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Madelyn Felix
OP
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 60 posts · 10 votes
5mo
Quote from @Ryan Stomel:

Drew — 6 years of real-world data across Class C & D is about as good a validation as you can get. The weekly property checkups are a smart operating practice regardless of access method, but they also directly address the squatter concern that came up earlier in this thread. If you're already doing regular status verification, the theoretical risk of a bad actor gaming a self-showing drops considerably.
Curious what smart lock setups you've found most reliable across that kind of asset class mix — I'd imagine battery maintenance and connectivity in lower-income neighborhoods presents different challenges than Class A commercial, which is our lane.
I've had squatters that came with properties I purchased-unknowingly, which is part of the reason why Tenant Access is planning on an integration with motion-activated cellular cameras by next quarter. For now, we'll have the Zoom integration for the ability to stay online with prospects.

We're use bank-level security and the same cellular routers that are used by financial institutions and ATMs. The routers come with backup batteries that keeps everything online in the event that the power is interrupted.

Battery maintenance is not much of an issue with real time monitoring and automated alerts when battery life is getting low. Batteries usually last six months to a year, and they're super easy to switch out.

Scheduling maintenance vendors with the use of Zoom and one-time codes is already built into the software.

As far as locks, we are lock brand agnostic and we've already integrated with most of the top rated smart lock brands.

Our goal is to help property managers/landlords automate access while increasing security and eliminating blind spots.

We also have one smart lock that works without the need for Wi-Fi at all, which is perfect for rural properties under management.

As far as squatters, it is important to stop them before they settle in and for assets under management not to be low hanging fruit. If a squatter knows that a property manager is monitoring a property, or using a system that monitors properties, they'll probably just move on to an easier target than risk being arrested.
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Drew SygitBusiness Member
Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
5mo
Quote from @Ryan Stomel:

Drew — 6 years of real-world data across Class C & D is about as good a validation as you can get. The weekly property checkups are a smart operating practice regardless of access method, but they also directly address the squatter concern that came up earlier in this thread. If you're already doing regular status verification, the theoretical risk of a bad actor gaming a self-showing drops considerably.
Curious what smart lock setups you've found most reliable across that kind of asset class mix — I'd imagine battery maintenance and connectivity in lower-income neighborhoods presents different challenges than Class A commercial, which is our lane.

We were using codeboxes, but keys kept coming up missing.

Pretty happy with newer keyless systems.

Waiting for a company to adapt wireless charging to electronic locks to avoid #1 issue of dead batteries.
[email protected]248-209-6824
Logical Property Management4.9451 Reviews
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Madelyn Felix
OP
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2024 · 60 posts · 10 votes
5mo
Quote from @Drew Sygit:

Quote from @Ryan Stomel:

Drew — 6 years of real-world data across Class C & D is about as good a validation as you can get. The weekly property checkups are a smart operating practice regardless of access method, but they also directly address the squatter concern that came up earlier in this thread. If you're already doing regular status verification, the theoretical risk of a bad actor gaming a self-showing drops considerably.
Curious what smart lock setups you've found most reliable across that kind of asset class mix — I'd imagine battery maintenance and connectivity in lower-income neighborhoods presents different challenges than Class A commercial, which is our lane.

We were using codeboxes, but keys kept coming up missing.

Pretty happy with newer keyless systems.

Waiting for a company to adapt wireless charging to electronic locks to avoid #1 issue of dead batteries.
Hi Drew,

Were you using the lithium batteries?

Michigan would see colder temperatures for longer periods, which may have caused batteries to drain faster. The lithium batteries with the housing/better seal would help tremendously. Which locks are you using? I'll do more research for you.
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Drew SygitBusiness Member
Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
5mo
Quote from @Madelyn Felix:

Quote from @Drew Sygit:

Quote from @Ryan Stomel:

Drew — 6 years of real-world data across Class C & D is about as good a validation as you can get. The weekly property checkups are a smart operating practice regardless of access method, but they also directly address the squatter concern that came up earlier in this thread. If you're already doing regular status verification, the theoretical risk of a bad actor gaming a self-showing drops considerably.
Curious what smart lock setups you've found most reliable across that kind of asset class mix — I'd imagine battery maintenance and connectivity in lower-income neighborhoods presents different challenges than Class A commercial, which is our lane.

We were using codeboxes, but keys kept coming up missing.

Pretty happy with newer keyless systems.

Waiting for a company to adapt wireless charging to electronic locks to avoid #1 issue of dead batteries.
Hi Drew,

Were you using the lithium batteries?

Michigan would see colder temperatures for longer periods, which may have caused batteries to drain faster. The lithium batteries with the housing/better seal would help tremendously. Which locks are you using? I'll do more research for you.

We use MojoLocks, so not sure what we can actually improve for cold weather.
If you'd like more specific feedback, please DM me.
[email protected]248-209-6824
Logical Property Management4.9451 Reviews
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Ryan Stomel

Property Manager · Calabasas, CA · Member since 2026 · 141 posts · 67 votes

5mo

Madelyn — that's a genuinely useful breakdown, especially the cellular router piece. Battery life on a 6-12 month cycle is much more manageable than I would have assumed, and the real-time alerts before failure change the maintenance calculus significantly.

On the squatter point — the Zoom-supervised hybrid approach actually addresses most of the concern. If someone is actively on video during the showing and you're logging the access event with an expiring code, the chain of custody is cleaner than a physical key showing where you hand someone a key at the door and hope they return it.

For Class A commercial the concern is less acute — we're mostly talking about established businesses with signed LOIs going through a decision process, not individuals who might overstay. But the vendor access use case (which is where I spend most of my time thinking about this) overlaps directly with what you're describing. One-time codes with Zoom accountability for after-hours maintenance access is essentially the same architecture.

The multi-unit commercial piece would be the deciding factor for us. If the platform handles access across a retail strip with individual tenant spaces, common areas, and vendor entry points from a single dashboard, that's a different conversation than residential-only. Worth a DM to explore.

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Ryan Stomel

Property Manager · Calabasas, CA · Member since 2026 · 141 posts · 67 votes

5mo

Drew — that wireless charging idea is genuinely underrated. The battery swap is such a minor friction point in the grand scheme, but it's the one thing that keeps some managers from fully committing to keyless. Solar-assisted or wireless charging on the lock housing would close that last objection for a lot of people. Someone's going to crack it eventually.

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Smart Access & Showings For Rental Property Managers-Is it worth it?

Smart Access & Showings For Rental Property Managers-Is it worth it?

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