Smart living is rapidly coming to multifamily properties, andlandlords need to prepare. Owners should be asking what productsare essential, which products drive occupancy and rents andunderstand the maintenance of technology products in the home. Someof the largest apartment owners in the country sat down atRealShare Apartments in Los Angeles to talk about how they areapproaching technology in apartment living on the Landlords LeadingThe Way In Multifamily Tech panel, moderated by MichaelBeckerman, CEO of CREtech, and withspeakers Louis Schotsky, VP at EquityResidential; Peter Chmielewski, SVP ofdevelopment at LMC; David Seiler, VP atTrinity Property Consultants; and ScottWesson, SVP and chief information officer atUDR.

One of the biggest challenges in real estate companies adoptingtechnology is simply that the industry isn't a technology industry,which means that companies need to look externally for both techproducts and tech information. Schotsky said that EquityResidential did just that when they began exploring and integratingtechnology into the space, particularly, the company beganinvesting into real estate tech funds. This became a common themeamong the panelist to both look for products and seek informationoutside of the real estate industry. “We remind ourselves that weare a real estate company not a tech start up, so we look at howthe technology enhances that,” added Seiler.