Digital smart locks will be a high priority for the investment house. I have owned a Schlage Encode before when I part-time rented my house in Oklahoma City on Airbnb. This lock was truly the best for distance rental management of locks.
Schlage Encode
The Encode is an awesome digital smart lock with a Wi-Fi connection. I managed guest codes from an entirely different state! One advantage was assigning them a schedule for the code to start and stop. I could assign pertinent codes to people who regularly helped at my house and see when the lock was moved to the lock or unlock position and the current status. I would turn on notifications to see when they arrived then easily send a welcome message in real time.
One drawback is it does require 4 AA batteries for it to work properly and someone to change them every 4-6 months. Luckily for me, I had someone in my Oklahoma house to change them as required and I was able to return and check on the lock status so it worked out but since I’ll be unable to do that now my housekeeper will need to maintain that regularly. It does give battery status alerts so it will notify you when the batteries are low.
I plan on using this digital lock again! There is now an Encode Plus version that incorporates Bluetooth digital keys and other automated features which will probably not be required for what we want to do with the investment house.
Other Digital Smart Locks
There are several other options for digital locks. Here is one website that had many to choose from but I am very happy with my previous experience with the Schlage Encode Smart Lock so I will stick with it until something makes me change my mind.
