Smart Homes In The Marketplace – Is It Worth It?
October 25, 2022 | amandasearlerealtor
I’m sure many of you are hearing more and more about smart devices in homes. Smart home devices allow the remote monitor and control of home features and are a booming industry. Smart home devices allow a home owner to control and monitor systems and items in their home via a smart phone or tablet. Consumers who are most likely to purchase them do so for security and environmental monitoring. According to experts, the industry is expected to be worth $81,645 million by 2023.
But what counts as a smart device and should you install any in your home? We live in a world where we can program our lights to turn on when the sun goes down, switch the heating on as we walk in the door, and answer our endless questions with a virtual assistant. Smart locks, garage door monitoring, video security monitoring, and smart thermostats are part of our everyday experiences. But before adding them to your home, there are some factors to consider. What’s your budget? What’s most important to you and what devices best to fit those needs.
- Security and video are the fastest growning segment of Smart Home technoloy. For instance, smart doorbells allow you to check out who is at your door as a first line of defense against property theft, home invasion, and porch pirates. There are also devices, such as the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, the monitor movement outside of your home. Smart locks are also extremely popular. They let you monitor who is coming and going from your home with personalized lock codes and automatic lock and unlock settings.
- Entertainment devices are also very popular. These include smart TV’s and speakers. The first step in choosing one is deciding which voice assistance platform is the right fit for your home: Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri. All three support most major smart home device brands. They also serve as a sort of central command center, letting you control pretty much any other connected home gadget by voice. As another option, there are also smart screens. They offer not only a hands-free voice assistance feature, but you can also view live feeds from devices such as your smart doorbell or security device. Before buying any of these devices, however, you need to make sure that you are buying devices that are compatible.
- Another really popular device (and probably the one I see the most) is a smart thermostat. They allow you to turn your heating and air on and off from your phone so your home can be at a comfortable temperature when you arrive home saving you energy consumption. Some of them even learn your heating and cooling preferences throughout the day and night which can also save you energy expenses .
- There are also smart plugs that allow you to control when a connected device, such as a lamp or christmas tree or space heater, come on and off by your phone.
There are so many other devices on the market, such as smart light bulbs, that it is really hard to give a summary of them all but these are the most popular and the ones that I see the most in real estate.
Some additional things to consider is what will convey in your sale. Security devices and smart doorbells are most often the ones that can go or stay. If you are taking them with you then that needs to be clear up front and excluded personal property in a contract. If they are staying then be sure to list them in your advertising as well as the other smart items that convey – many buyers will like this.
Something else to consider is that in many states, you cannot video monitor or record audio while a buyer is in your home during a showing, inspections, etc. or at the least, it should be disclosed.
