Digital tools, especially artificial intelligence, are evolving faster than ever. Homeowners and rental property owners alike can take advantage of this burgeoning technology to simplify management tasks and save time.
If you own property, whether it’s a house, a cottage, a condo or a multiplex, here are three categories of AI and digital tools that you might find useful.
1. Home automation (smart homes)
The houses of the future will have more and more home automation systems. But what is home automation anyway? Home automation means all the technologies used to integrate a building’s electronic, IT and telecommunications systems in order to improve, for instance, energy management, security and comfort.
This category includes:
- Voice-activated assistants and intelligent hubs, such as Nest from Google and Alexa from Amazon, that allow voice control of music, lighting and heating. You can link in a security system, alarms, thermostats, light bulbs, locks and electrical outlets.
- Electricity consumption managers. In Québec, Hilo lets you save energy during peak consumption times and reduce your power bill. The Sense device is connected to your home’s electrical panel and monitors your electricity consumption. It even detects anomalies in the consumption of major appliances. Ecobee, a company from Toronto, and Sinopé, from Québec, combine thermostat management and security.
- Smart security systems. Water leak detectors, motion detection, remote surveillance, central control… Security systems boast a whole horde of functions to ease your peace of mind.
- Smart lighting and comfort devices, such as Philipps Hue and TP-Link Kasa, deal more specifically with lighting, electrical outlets and heating.
2. Maintenance and renovation
AI is just as valuable when maintaining and renovating a property. These applications are worth considering if you’re taking on a project!
- Magicplan captures room dimensions and uses augmented reality and AI to create 2D and 3D floor plans. You can add items, such as furniture and appliances.
- RenoMate automatically generates a full list of the materials you need for a renovation project and even helps you choose them. It has a to-do list and progress tracker to help you organize your project.
- Renovate AI lets you upload a photo of a room and transform it into a renovated version with suggested colours, furniture and layouts.
3. Exploring neighbourhoods
You’ve found your dream home, but you don’t know whether the neighbourhood meets your needs and your lifestyle? The AroundMe mobile application uses the GPS in your cellphone to identify nearby businesses and services, such as grocery stores, banks, hospitals, schools, etc. This is especially useful for exploring a neighbourhood before you invest in buying property there!
And a bonus tool: Edwix!
Edwix is a unique addition to this list. It will help you to manage the documents dealing with your house, to track your expenses and to manage payment and renewal deadlines like a champ.
Our web application saves you time by storing all your bills, warranties, user’s manuals, contracts and other paperwork where you can consult them securely from any device.
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