The Future is Coming Sooner than Expected.

 

It’s 2016.  The new year means a lot of different things for real estate professionals:  it’s a time to send out all your “happy new year” emails, brush up on market trends and stats, and check predictions for the new year.  One thing we didn’t expect:  It’s a time to brush up on real estate tech.

Imagine waking up in bed and hitting the alarm.  After peaking out your window, it’s looking a little gloomy outside.  You yell out loud “Amy, is it going to rain today?” A voice replies “Yes, rain is expected in your city today; average temperature in your area will be 61 degrees.”  Pretty informative:  but “Amy” isn’t the name of your wife or daughter; it’s the name (which you can change) you’ve given your smart house, a Siri-like technology built into your ceilings and walls, created to streamline how we live at home.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate polled 4,000+ Americans last year, revealing that just about half of Americans plan to purchase some form of smart home technology in 2016, or own smart home tech already.  The survey also showed that if they were planning on selling their homes, more than 50% of Americans would purchase and install smart home tech in their home if they thought it would help them sell faster.

 

 

What Do Smart Homes Do?

 

The term “smart home” covers a variety of technologies.  Smart home entertainment systems, like speakers and televisions, are usually voice activated throughout your home.  By simply saying aloud “Amy, play christmas music”, your home would be filled with sounds of Jingle Bell Rock, with wireless speakers in every room.  The second most popular forms of smart home technologies are smart home security systems and heating systems, tied at around 30%.  After calling aloud “Amy, set the temperature at 70 degrees”, you would hear the shifting sounds of cool air blowing throughout your home soon after.  Smart home security technology systems allow you to lock your doors with your voice or your smart phone, and some even include camera systems that activate when they detecting movement, and can send the video feed straight to your phone, wherever you are.

Smart home technology ISN’T just for the younger generation either.  Of smart home owners, about 40% of homeowners over age 65 have smart temperature products, while only 25% of millennial smart home owners do.  And out of everyone who buys smart home technology, apparently most are enjoying it: of those who bought smart home products in 2015, over 70% plan to buy more smart home technology in the coming year.

 

 

But What Really IS a “Smart Home”?

 

More than 75% of Americans feel that having just one of these features in your house isn’t enough for your home to be considered smart.  The term doesn’t refer to products from a single company or brand, and it doesn’t refer to a specific set of technology or features people may have built in to their houses.  It’s more of a blanket term, meaning that the house in question has had modern technology built or integrated in to make it’s occupants lives easier.

If you work in real estate, you can keep up with the latest smart home products with a quick check on sites like SmartHome.com, or Best Buy’s Smarthome page. It doesn’t cost a lot to own some of these products, either: some of all-encompassing smart home systems, including things like light-switch control and motion detection are going for as little as $50.

 

Related Posts:
How Technology is Changing Real Estate: Don’t be Left Behind.

 

 

[source]  #treagroup #realestate