The added value of home automation systems for property owners in the short term

It is our pleasure to present you an interview with an expert in the field of residential automation, Mr. Zdravko Donkov, founder of Smartity - a company specializing in the creation of intelligent systems for managing the residential environment. In our conversation, Mr. Zdravko Donkov will introduce us to the essence of home automation and how this technology can improve comfort, security and cost savings in your home, whether it is a personal home or a property you rent out.

What is home automation?

In short, it's a way you can manage the electronics in your home to get more comfort, more security and more cost savings. This management can be customized to the specific needs of the occupants. This applies to both your own home and a rental property.

When it comes to a home that is rented short-term, it is good to specify the purpose of this home and its use. More and more customers, both in Bulgaria and abroad, are looking for the convenience of home automation when renting out their homes short-term. We at Smartity always analyze from the point of view of, on the one hand, the system giving more added value to the landlords, and on the other hand, they have more control over what happens in their home. These amenities can be linked to remote start and stop of the water heater when there are no tenants. Checking that the door is locked when tenants have left. This is also very relevant for granting remote access to a building, apartment or the house that is rented out. Home automation is associated with high levels of comfort, cost and security for landlords.

This in a nutshell summarizes the advantages such a system would have for a rental property.

In fact, the most familiar function of automation is providing remote access. But what some people may not know is that this can also be linked to other systems - to control heating and lighting. Accordingly, when tenants leave the home, there can be automation that checks if anything has been left on, such as stoves, ovens or other electrical appliances. Before someone comes to clean, some time passes, and this function gives landlords even higher security.

From another perspective, automated verification saves headaches and money. Risks that can be avoided are even in some countries part of the insurance of the properties themselves. When there are such systems, the insurance has a more favorable premium for the owners, precisely because the risks are limited.

Here I would add information about not just one property, but multiple rental properties that can be fully digitally managed. Central management can be organized for the reservation units, which guarantees access of the tenants to each of the properties. This means remotely sending them an access code during the downtime period, but not outside of it. Access control is organized before, but not after. For this improved service, the least is that tenants will promote the properties that are rented out. They will tell and give good rating in online platforms. From the perspective of landlords, this gives security and peace of mind. And the cost savings is a great addition. The added value of home automation is extremely high. The system can be customized for any type of object. That's the beauty of these systems that you don't have a solution to conform to. The solution should be tailored directly to your needs.

Judging by the response of our clients in Bulgaria, to whom we have shown what they can do and the low investment required, they are always very pleasantly surprised by this ratio and even sometimes regret not having organized it at an earlier stage. As we mentioned before, some of these types of solutions are needed at the construction level, but there are also cases where landlords are willing to make the necessary repairs to ensure this amenity in the long term.

What investment is needed for home automation?

First of all, the size of the object is important. Second, the intended use of this home is important. Will this property be rented out or lived in? The type of management needed is different based on these two questions.

If we give an example of a 60 square meter apartment for short-term rental, the practical things that are needed are heating and air conditioning management. It is important to be able to control access to the apartment and various details that are related to security. Technically speaking, the systems are simple, but practically speaking, they are very complex and can do work entirely related to the effect we are looking for. Taking such an example into account, for an apartment with a living area and one/two bedrooms, it would cost between 10 and 12 thousand BGN. This includes all basic control modules. When we talk about a home that we use to live in, the controls of the systems are different and this also determines the required budget. The universal rule is that when you want to make this type of system in your home - the sooner the better. The earlier you anticipate this need, the better. This will determine the speed of implementation and the efficiency of the installation itself. It is always possible to add modules at a later stage, but again this determines the budget and the functionality of the system. to have tenant security and comfort, contact our team at Smartity to find a solution that works for you.