Tenants want technology!

[Jeff Takle]

The National Multi Housing council released the results of a survey last week of 1,000 renters and their preferences. Findings of NMHC’s Apartment Renter Technology Survey include:

* Lower-income renters are just as involved with technology and desire it just as much as upper-income residents. Service penetration rates and rankings of importance are almost identical no matter the income range.

* Residents want wireless access; 69 percent would like communities to offer wireless hotspots.

* While 94 percent say that they didn’t choose their current apartment home because of the technology amenities it offered, they report that high-speed Internet, good cell phone reception and a choice of service providers might be important factors in choosing where to live next.

Are you surprised at those numbers? What can we be doing as landlords to utilize this information, i.e. how does it impact what we should be doing? Are free prepaid cell phones a new renter incentive???

-Jeff