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Is Smart Home Technology a Wise Investment?
Is smart home technology a wise investment? When you’re thinking of selling your Sacramento home, you may be wondering if adding a bit of smart home technology will make your home more desirable. Likewise, when you’re thinking of buying, you may be dreaming of the convenience it would bring.
What is smart home technology?
Many things, as it turns out. The most basic and most wanted features are whole house WiFi, wireless security systems, programmable thermostats, lighting control systems, wireless home audio systems, and multi-zone HVAC systems.
But of course, that’s not the entire list. You can also purchase a smart refrigerator that will practically organize your whole life. Your doorbell can come with facial recognition, so you know whether or not to answer the door. With a “smart plug” you can use Alexa or Google home to turn the coffee pot on when you get out of bed, so coffee will be ready by the time you reach the kitchen. You can also use it to turn on devices with your phone when you’re on your way home.
One of the popular selling points for smart home technology is the ability to control the systems in your home from your phone when you’re away.
- What better way to fool would-be intruders into thinking someone is home than to turn lights on and off randomly, rather than at pre-set intervals? How about turning on some music when no one is home? And of course, you should draw the blinds when darkness falls.
- Wouldn’t it be nice to turn the heat or air conditioning on an hour before you arrive home?
- How about turning on the washing machine to do a load of laundry?
- Of course it would be convenient to take a peek inside your refrigerator or accessing its automatically generated shopping list to see if you need to stop at the supermarket on your way home from work?
Another popular feature is being able to look in on your home while you’re away.
Perhaps you want to check on the babysitter, hear what guests in your home are saying when you’re in another room, or interact with your dogs and cats via video while you’re away. Whatever your reason, being able to see and hear does bring a level of comfort.
Is all this convenience worth the price?
While some of these devices, such as home security systems, are not expensive, others are. For instance, programmable window blinds can cost several hundred dollars per window. On the other hand, smart refrigerators are now priced on par with any other top-of-the-line refrigerator.
Will your house sell for more if you install some of these devices? Will the house you buy today have greater resale value later if it has smart home technology? Only time will tell.
The drawbacks of smart home technology
Since the biggest selling feature is being able to control your whole house from your phone, it’s important to note that unless all of the technology in your home comes from the same manufacturer, you may need multiple apps. The systems are not known for their compatibility.
Next, learning to use the features is a demanding and time-consuming process. Worse, there is little support available. If you’re not innately techie, you may be sorry you invested. Perhaps most troubling is the vulnerability. These interconnected devices have an inherent risk of security breaches. Hackers can reach into them and thus gain access to your entire Internet system.
To learn more about purchasing a smart home or selling one, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
Buying a Home With a Video Camera on the Doorbell
When showing a home to buyers, approaching a home that sports a video camera on the doorbell is asking for trouble if you’re not careful. Buyers might not even notice the camera, so it is up to the buyer’s agent to have that conversation before coming close enough to the house to be recorded. It is very common nowadays to discover a video camera on the door bell.
When I listed a house in Natomas with the video camera, I asked the seller if it was working because it did not chime when I pressed the button. Sure enough, she had the original Ring Doorbell. Those batteries don’t last very long and their range of motion is such that it uses more energy than is necessary. But buyers should act as though all the video cameras on the doorbell work.
At our house in Hawaii, I had installed the Ring doorbell, and the battery issue was always pressing. Such a hassle to remove and charge. I thought I had solved it by installing a solar panel, but that did not charge the battery. You know why? Because the Ring Doorbell was not in the sun. Duh! Double duh! It needs full sun to charge a solar panel. Period sun or filtered sunlight won’t cut it. So I bought the upgraded version, the Video Ring Doorbell 2. Plus I bought an extra rechargeable battery for it, and so far that’s been working great.
Worked so great that when I looked at my Ring app the other day because it notified me when I was the gym, I saw a police officer standing there. Uh, oh, busted, what the hell have I done now? Turns out he wanted to know if I had a video of an intruder who broke into my neighbor’s unlocked car.
It picks up the sound of anybody approaching the house. When I listed another home in West Sacramento, the seller had a blast sitting back in his office chair and playing his videos of buyers. Buyers who gushed and oohed and ahhed over the house. At least they were saying complimentary things. Which is better than, Oh, my gawd, look at the flooring, absolutely atrocious.
Good thing none of those types wrote an offer because it would prejudice the seller. Sellers do not want to hear their house is a piece of crap and their decorating taste sucks.
Many sellers have security systems with cameras that record sound and movement inside the house as well. Don’t assume that you are not being watched. In fact, assume that you are.
Try not to linger outside of the house in full view of the video camera on the doorbell, too. Smart technology is everywhere, and everybody is listening. Even the television could be recording you.
