Switching to keyless entry deadbolts

[Mike A.]

As we continue to grow and manage our own rentals, I am thinking, that over the long run, I will save money and headaches by just switching out a traditional deadbolt lock, to one of those keyless locks. I have a few 5 unit buildings and two large complexes with 25 and 30 units. I cannot tell you how many times some of these knuckleheads also lose their keys. They are a little more expensive, where a deadbolt is around 15 bucks, to one of these keyless locks which is around 100 bucks. However, I do save on the headaches of a lost key, no re-keying and if/when I sell the buildings, I do not have to send over a janitorial key ring with dozens of keys.

I've also added ecobee thermostats and video doorbells to my nicer units, which tenants seem to appreciate and enjoy. They seem to like the convenience of these additions; not to mention the energy savings with the thermostat. I am pulling an additional $75.00 a month per unit by having and offering "smart apartments". Granted, these are A and B neighborhoods, not C or D.

What do you guys think?

[Mike A.]

Originally posted by @Tim Franklin:

Originally posted by @Mike A.:

Originally posted by @Will Triplett:

Mike A,

What brand did you decide on? Also, I did the ecobee thermostat thing on a B+ unit and that simple change made it more competitive in the rental market.

I set one building up on the Nest x Yale lock with Nest Thermostat e's.  I kind of cheated where my utility company was selling them for 29.00 a piece per account, so they were pretty cheap. I like the ability to control and monitor everything through the app. The tenants love the fact they can monitor everything in their apartment through an app too.

The other building I am trying to save a little and using Ring doorbells, ecobee and Yale YRD256 Assure Lock SL as a deadbolt.  

 Mike A,

Do your tenants pay for internet and you have your Ring doorbells, ecobee, etc.. connected to their network?

They have their own Internet.  Each building has it's own main Internet connection, so all the IOT's are connected to our main Internet connection and they just connect to an account we setup for them to access everything.