Consumers Are Responding to Smart Living

Michael Beckerman

Smart living is rapidly coming to multifamily properties, and landlords need to prepare. Owners should be asking what products are essential, which products drive occupancy and rents and understand the maintenance of technology products in the home. Some of the largest apartment owners in the country sat down at RealShare Apartments in Los Angeles to talk about how they are approaching technology in apartment living on the Landlords Leading The Way In Multifamily Tech panel, moderated by Michael Beckerman, CEO of CREtech, and with speakers Louis Schotsky, VP at Equity Residential; Peter Chmielewski, SVP of development at LMC; David Seiler, VP at Trinity Property Consultants; and Scott Wesson, SVP and chief information officer at UDR.

One of the biggest challenges in real estate companies adopting technology is simply that the industry isn’t a technology industry, which means that companies need to look externally for both tech products and tech information. Schotsky said that Equity Residential did just that when they began exploring and integrating technology into the space, particularly, the company began investing into real estate tech funds. This became a common theme among the panelist to both look for products and seek information outside of the real estate industry. “We remind ourselves that we are a real estate company not a tech start up, so we look at how the technology enhances that,” added Seiler.