How To Watch Your Investment Properties...

Managing all of your investment properties on a daily basis is A LOT of work. Part of property management includes:

No illegal deals are going down around your apartment building
Rental preventative maintenance monitoring
Keeping noise levels down in consideration of neighbors
Making sure your properties are treated properly by occupants

These are just some of the many tasks an investor juggles.

Not to mention the added stress of making sure your properties are safe from break-ins, criminals who try to damage your property, thieves looking to get valuable appliances or furniture…

These unwanted scenarios put your investment at risk.

If you could just be in two places at once, right?

Lower the Risk of Unwanted Damage in Your Investment Properties

Since being in two places at once isn’t possible… creative minds thought of a solution – hidden security cameras. This invention makes it easier for business owners and homeowners alike to monitor their affairs anytime, anywhere.

Disclaimer: Before installing any kind of security monitoring system, make sure you discuss with a lawyer what you can and cannot monitor, especially for your particular state. Privacy laws can result in large judgements against people who break them.

It’s hard to choose between thousands of security camera brands on the market today. But one of the top-tier cameras in the security camera world is NETGEAR’s Arlo camera lineup.

Arlo cameras are compact, easy to install and remove (think of flipping homes) and weather resistant.

For flipping, you will probably be interested in putting them both inside and outside the building... But for rental properties, would you want your landlord monitoring cameras in your home?

Yeah probably outside only is the way to go.

Here’s a quick overview on how each Arlo camera differs from one another:

	Arlo	Arlo Pro	Arlo Pro 2
HD Video	720p HD	720p HD	1080p HD
Power Source	4 CR123 batteries	A solar panel or rechargeable battery	A solar panel or rechargeable battery
Weather Resistant	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes	Yes	Yes
Storage Duration	7 days free	7 days free	7 days free
Night Vision	Yes	Yes	Yes
Plug-In Option	No	Yes	Yes
Field of View	110 degrees	130 degrees	130 degrees
Siren	No	Yes	Yes
Alerts	Motion	Motion and Audio	Motion and Audio
Activity Zones	No	No	Yes
Local Storage	No	Yes, USB drive option	Yes, USB drive option
Cord-Free	Yes	Yes	Yes
Price	$220 (two-camera kit)	$403 (two-camera kit)	$440 (two-camera kit)

Arlo

The basic camera has some nice features shared by all models. These include:

4- to 6-month battery life (the camera is motion activated, so high-traffic areas will reduce the life
100% wire-free – just mount it and go
7 days for free cloud storage for up to 5 cameras. Subscription plans include $9.99/month for 30 days of storage and up to 10 cameras or $14.99/month for up to 60 days and up to 20 cameras
The camera has the ability to recognize people movement rather than just swaying trees or other random motion.
Motion alerts sent directly to your mobile device so you don’t have to keep monitoring it. These alerts can be notifications that pop-up even when your smart phone is locked
The last two services require a subscription plan of $2.99/month
E911 services – the ability for emergency services to go to the location of the camera, rather than your monitoring location
Very good night vision for you to see when undesirables are snooping around your construction site late at night

Arlo Pro 2 and Arlo Pro

The Arlo Pro 2 is almost identical to the Arlo Pro…

But it wouldn’t be called ‘2’ if it weren’t for its additional features.

One of its most prominent features is the Activity Zone. Once you set up the Activity Zone of your Arlo Pro 2 cameras, it will automatically highlight certain areas of your camera’s view and it will notify you of any motion or sound happening within those areas. Confining those alerts to a certain area enhances battery life.

If you’re worried about getting spammed with notifications for every little thing that moves, here’s how you should do it...

If there are animals on the property, then only mark the upper portion of your camera. So it wouldn’t detect small animals or any unnecessary movement. The Arlo is very good at not notifying you when tree branches are swaying or other random motion comes into the field of view.

The Arlo Pro 2 also boasts a better HD view of your videos as it can record 1080p HD.

Plus, its voice control and home automation are similar to that of Amazon’s Alexa, Stringify, and IFTTT.

Arlo Pro 2 works like your regular security camera as well... if you like to use it indoors, you’ll just have to plug it in and it can record 24/7 nonstop videos.

Similar to Arlo, Arlo Pro still won’t let you capture the 1080p HD video. It still records 720p HD. Also, Arlo Pro may still not be compatible with different voice services and smart-home platforms compared to the Pro 2.

Not only that, you won’t have access to Activity Zones, as well as the 24/7 recording.

Both models also have a siren that goes off at 105 decibels. The siren is remotely controlled. You don’t want it scaring the renters or the neighbors by going off randomly. But if you see an intruder…

Are You Secure?

Do you use a certain type of monitoring system around your investment properties? Let all the Mogul members know in the comments below.

Consider installing a security system. Especially if your properties are in neighborhoods where crime may be a problem

Check on your properties. Contrary to what internet real estate gurus tell you, real estate is NOT passive income. You need to take care of your investments.

Be mindful of your social media posts. Don’t let undesirable people know that you run certain rental properties, then say you’re going on vacation.