Google Nest vs. regular thermostat as a Landlord ?

[Martin D.]

Hello BP,

I've been dealing with a massive headache for the past 10 days and I'd like to get some of you guys' opinion about thermostats in rental properties and how you do it.

Obviously, our number #1 priority as landlords is to make managing our properties as seamless as possible in order to continue acquiring and growing our portfolio.

A couple months ago, the A/C in one my rental properties stopped working and I used that opportunity to swap out the old ugly thermostat for a "super cool" Google Nest thermostat that my electricity provider had been hammering me about. I installed it with the help of a technician over video and everything was working fine.

10 days ago, the thermostat said the batteries needed to be changed and my tenants decided to try on their own and ended up factory resetting the Google Nest. No big deal you would think...? Except they couldn't figure out how to set it up again and called me 2 days later saying they were out of heat at the house (it's starting to get pretty cold here at night).

I've gone a total of 3 times back to that property and spent over 6 hours on the phone with google customer service, and they even sent a replacement. Long story short, I have not been able–for the life of me–to make this Google Nest work at all.

And now it got me thinking, was that even a good idea to begin with? Do we really want Google Nests in rental properties? Do they make our life and the tenants' life easier or more complicated than it needs to?

At this point. I'm considering eating the loss and just calling an electrician to install a new "regular" thermostat again and call it a day.

What do you guys use for thermostats in your rental properties?

Thanks for the feedback my fellow landlords and Happy Thanksgiving!