I saw her point and after the call I started doing some research on what homebuyers are looking for in a Smart Home. Before diving into Smart Home advantages, I wanted to understand the market so I visited National Association of REALTORS® website looking at who is buying homes currently. Millennials that’s the generation of people born between early 1980’s and 1990’s make up the largest generational group of homebuyers so I decided to start there with what Millennials are looking for in a home. After reviewing a bunch of different surveys, I found the one common thing that falls into what I call Smart Home Technology, I strongly believe REALTORS® need some basic knowledge in the following areas of Smart Home Technology. Each buyer will have their own order of importance, here are my top 5 categories of Smart Home Technology:
#1 Energy Efficiency
This was on everybody’s list, using many of the Smart products a homebuyer can lower energy bills by a third. That could help close a deal when buyers consider long term cost of ownership. What are we talking about in this group, the leader is Smart Thermostats to control HVAC, appliances, lighting and other equipment. Pre-programing on an app so on your way out the door shuts down or limits appliances like water heaters until you get home hours later.
#2 Security
This is more than just a video doorbell which is a great for all of us online shoppers with packages showing up almost daily. Cameras monitoring your home inside and out, door locks that are controlled by an app on your phone to let people in, no more hidden keys which half the neighborhood knows about. Garage doors that alert you when left open and can be opened from your phone, handy when neighbor wants to borrow a ladder when not home. Window detectors, motion detectors and the list goes on. Before going to bed hit one button to activate security and lock the home down for the night. Smoke and Carbon Dioxide detectors fall into this category.
#3 Entertainment
How much money are you willing to spend? A bunch? Oh, I can help you? Looks like Wi-Fi is replacing Bluetooth for sound equipment, voice control and if I talk about anything else in this area it will be outdated in a week. I do like the direction all this is going but sad thing is how fast your investments are becoming outdated.
#4 Mood
Mood? Why would I make a category for mood? Simple fact many of us are stressed by the time we get home, work, commute, dealing with people has drained us and we need a relaxing wind down environment to recharge or vegetate. Maybe soft lighting, easy listening music, temperature all can be programmed for that special time we all need, sure some of you need hard rock! Oh, this is cool I just read there is a system that turns your lighting purple when it rains, thanks Prince!
#5 Hub or Convergence
All the above stuff needs a brain to operate and this is where you just need to nod your head and be quiet when somebody tells you they like Amazon, Samsung, Google or Apple. This week Samsung and Amazon are battling for best and a few startups I never heard before. Remember just nod, this could turn into a rabbit hole which you might be able to get out!
You don’t need to be or pretend to be an expert or a member of a Geek group to sell real estate BUT just like it’s important for you to know the basics about the community, shopping, schools and taxes it’s now important to have a basic understanding of Smart Home Technology. Highlight cost of ownership for most folks, saving a third on energy bills could help you close the deal!
Couple of notes, if you list a Smart Home understand all that stuff needs to be reprogrammed by new owners otherwise could lead to all kinds of problems. Instead of changing locks we now need to redo, reprogram and reassign a bunch of stuff. Hopefully the seller can help clean the system for the new owners, maybe even provide a cheat sheet, could help with selling of the home. Hey did you hear? Ikea is introducing new Smart blinds by the end of the year, what’s next?
