06/04/23

 

Managing open inspections is a crucial part of a real estate agent's day as it can significantly impact securing tenants, buyers, and generating income for property owners and the real estate company. The agent must schedule appointments, drive back and forth to the inspection, prepare the property for inspection, conduct the inspection, and follow up with interested parties.

 

In addition to organizing inspections, real estate agents spend a considerable amount of time in their day driving around to open inspections, which can vary based on their location, the number of properties they manage, and the frequency and duration of the inspections. For instance, an agent managing a large number of properties across a wide geographical area could spend several hours each day driving between properties, while one managing a smaller number of properties in a more concentrated area might only spend a few hours each week driving to inspections.

​

As of September 2021, the National Association of Realtors reported that the inventory of homes for sale in the United States was 1.28 million homes. Also in September 2021, the United States Census Bureau reported that there were approximately 44.1 million rental housing units in the country with a vacancy rate of 5.5% meaning approximately 2.4 million properties are vacant.

 

Real estate agents also have a crucial responsibility to manage the keys for all their rental properties and houses for sale securely and efficiently. Common key management practices include the use of key lockboxes (around the size of your phone) that attach to the front doors of properties, outsourcing to professional key management services, and implementing internal key management systems involving large cabinets with rows of hooks to hold metal keys, and paper log systems to track key checkouts. Any loss or mishandling of keys, or duplication without permission, can lead to security breaches or property damage, so it is crucial for real estate agents to prioritize the safekeeping and management of keys for all their properties.

 

Real Estate agents are looking for more efficient key management and open inspection management practices to save them time and money. Or in other words, Real Estate agents do not want to physically be onsite for open inspections, and they are looking for a 'self-inspection system'.

 

​

Challenge

 

Smartlocks, which allow digital keys to replace traditional metal keys and be shared online to prospective tenants/buyers, are not a practical solution for Real Estate agencies trying to set up 'self inspection systems'.  This is due to several reasons. Firstly, Real Estate agencies only manage properties for a short period of time, and the responsibility for any improvements to the property such as paying for smartlocks and changing the properties existing metal key locks, lies with the homeowner. Additionally, most smartlocks require Wi-Fi and power to operate, which is often not available in empty properties that are up for sale or rent. Furthermore, in the case of apartment buildings, changing common door locks to smartlocks can also be difficult as approval and payments from a body corporate may be necessary. And not all people who need access to common doors may be comfortable with using digital keys and smartlocks.

 

Most current lockboxes used by Real Estate agents (which store metal keys to the property) only have one permanent code to unlock the mechanical combination lock on the box. This means that only the Real Estate Agent can unlock the box as this one and only code cannot be shared with prospective tenants or buyers for the self inspection for security reasons - anyone with the code can come back at anytime and unlock the box, get the metal key and let themselves into the property.

 

To address these issues, Digital Keys is working with a number of US Real Estate agencies to build a 5G IoT powered lockbox that can generate one-time PIN codes or time-sensitive digital keys that can be easily shared online with ‘already vetted’ prospective tenants or buyers. The 'self inspection system' must also ensure that the property is vacant and locked up when the prospective tenants or buyers leave without having to change the current locks.

​

​