The Smart Home - R We Really That Outdated?

Question

You walk into your house, the door is connected to the T.V., the dishwasher can be run by your phone. You can have a discussion via text with your waterbed.

What does it all spell out? A smart home!

R developers and rehabbers really that far behind the times? Do people looking to buy or even rent, really want all these options?

How much does it add to the cost of building or remodeling? Then, how much do you pad the price to sell or rent?

The bottom line here is, we are moving into a new generation of better homes and more comfortable surroundings.  There will be and is a price to pay. Soon many things in the home will be outdated and antiquated.

Long gone will be the days, you manually opened your window in the morning to bring in fresh air - it will be set on a timer, much like your instant coffer maker is set today.

Are we really ready for this? Is the market strong in this arena? Who are the big players here, builders, developers or rehabbers?

Just a few thoughts to ponder! Any views and opinions are warmly welcome and taken! Have Fun!

Account Closed · Answer

@Nick Sabat

I like the fact that you're thinking about "smart home" updates as it shows you're looking to make your rentals and or flips stand out from the crowd.

I want to start out by saying you can go as big as one can imagine or as small as one smart device plus hub.

So the cost of implementation could be as low as $200 for a Schlage Sense (Apple Home Kit compatible) or Connect (Wink or any Z-Wave hub) door lock plus an additional $150 for either of the operating hubs that work with the door locks to allow the door to be locked or unlocked from anywhere in one has an internet connection. My personal experience with both of these locks are very positive, you can add up to 30 individual user codes which could eliminate the use of a lock box while under renovation or for sale. The best part is you can view the logs for when the door was locked and unlocked by a specific user code, this could be useful for a number of reasons.

In addition to the keyless entry devices the Wifi and Z-Wave Thermostats are a great way to give a renter/ access to the latest and greatest technology while promoting the money savings that can be achieved from the learn functions that the Google Nest and Honeywell's Lyric both offer. Many podcasts mention helping tenants save money on their energy bills which will ensure they have more money to pay the rent.

Also these are features that add some value with out breaking the bank as these don't require any special installation other then ensuring the HVAC has a (C) Wire for consistent power and if your upgrading the HVAC that should be expected. If it's an after add the wires are typically in the wall and can be connected at the furnace in less time then it takes to brew a cup of coffee.

Another favorite is the added value and piece of mind knowing you closed your garage when you drove off in a rush on auto pilot, rather then worrying about it all day or calling a neighbor you just look at your smart device and it will show you if the garage door is open or closed. The chamberlain MyQ can be added to existing units with a few simple upgrades one device connects to the garage door opener and a gateway that connects to the home router.

Another inexpensive upgrade could be a Z-Wave switch that controls the interior or exterior lights that could increase ones sense of safety when getting home late.

Also the Ring Door bell is a great value and safety add plus when combined with the door locks or garage door you could use it to screen deliveries or contractors and let people in on the fly while sitting in traffic on the 405 or a Highway near you.

So with these basic smart home upgrades that almost any handyman or contractor could install rather the alternatives for little to no additional expense other then the materials.

As far as padding the price or getting a return that is going to very from market to market and your renter/buyer. As far as rent increase I'm not sure exactly how to calculate that but i'd be comfortable paying $10-$40 rent increase for these features. On the other hand if you never have to get a call from a tenant who is locked out and have to coordinate getting them access or your property manager getting them access and assessing them the fee it could be priceless, especially in a multi family unit.

When it comes to selling maybe it doesn't increase the sale price by more then a couple hundred dollars but it helps make the house that much more memorable to a potential buyer and it entices them to make an offer that much sooner.

These are all basic "smart home" upgrades that any house of any price point could have but you can also get much more fancy with automated blinds and music that plays when you walk in the door and other stuff like that but I feel like those are very unique to specific buyers and may not have any impact on the bottom line.

As far as knowing who is ready, it's hard to say some people are hesitant and fear their smart devices being "hacked". I would say the "smart home" market has been pretty good on the custom home side of things and is now recently become more accessible to the average home owner as the original systems were wired and had very expensive hardware needed to operate the gadgets.

That's all for now.

Thank you all for reading I hope this helps and isn't to redundant from what others have said.

Please feel free to contact me with any additional questions as I love  technology and gadgets and if I don't know the answer I'll be more then happy to seek it out.

Derek

Roy N. · Answer

@Nick Sabat

My own home has many such features as I have tinkered and experimented over the years.

When it comes to retrofitting acquired properties to add to our rental portfolio, there are lots of thing you can incorporate relatively inexpensively depending on how deep you are going for your renovation.

We have a home-grown building monitoring system which is evolving all the time.  Originally the purpose was for sensors (humidity/moisture, temperature, electrical consumption, motion), but them we started to add control features (thermostat limits, electronic lock, etc), with the ability to delegate some access to the tenants.

While it doesn't increase our rent, it does make looking after our student houses easier and the "coolness" factor does seem to help with word-of-mouth marketing.

Bruce L. · Answer

It would be interesting to be able to monitor water usage, electric usage, temperature and outdoor cameras for each property in your portfolio.

I have also seen newer houses with heated driveways to melt the snow -- this could save on snow removal and also reduce the chance of injury on the property.

You could also control door locks to let service people in to do repairs etc.

As for creating a selling point for tenants I think offering the ability to control lights, temperature and shades can definitely add value. These systems are generally stable and require very little maintenance.

Henry Johnson · Answer

@Nick Sabat thanks for bringing up this topic, I have been wondering this as well. I own a Smart Home Automation company in NJ, we deal a lot with current homeowners wanting to improve their home but I have been wondering how do investors, flippers, etc feel about this trend so I love this thread. I personally believe it is coming and it is only a matter of time. My family recently sold our smart home and it took three days, I cannot speak to if it sold for more because of the features (no A/B testing etc) but it sold faster than pretty much any other home in the area which I think is how thigs will be moving forward.

In terms of a landlord paying utilities, there are a lot of things you can look at Nick. Thermostats are the most obvious and widely known but I would look into other things like automated shades, LED lights, etc as well. I wrote a blog post about it not too long ago, if you want to see some more places you can save money through smart home automation let me know, I will send it to you.

@Jason A. You make a good point in regard to Home Automation being as big as a washing machine in the future because in the past the washing machine was actually thought of as home automation but as things become common they lose their Home Automation tag.

Roy N. · Answer

@Nick Sabat

We still have to manually test smoke detectors twice a year (insurance purposes), but in bigger buildings are experimenting with being able to tie into the alarm and suppression system to get alerts and check status.

We may have a deep retrofit renovation ahead of us this summer (depends how things go at auction in a couple of weeks and our velocity with all the other projects) where I plan to install a "smart" panel which will allow us to remotely monitor and control individual circuits.

Nick Sabat · Answer

@Joey Barnett - I think the technical term is "home automation" in case you are looking things up associated with it.

@Jason A. I like the phrase "connected home" cool

@Roy N. yes I think humidity control, temperature control, safety features as electronic locks are all key features. When dealing with apartment settings and the landlord is paying for utilities, controlling those things from a remote location is going to be tantamount.

Knowing what the tenant is using as far as energy when it is costing you, is how you can readjust your rental fees. Smoke and fire alarms are also a good feature to have hooked up "connected" to the home network - knowing that they can be tested @ any given moment will allow someone to know if there is a faulty item in the system - that can be replaced immediately and without fail.

I think currently - smoke/fire alarms should be manually tested on a monthly basis to insure they work properly. But whatever the interval, if you have a large apartment house, this can be time consuming and exhausting physically. Having a smart system installed can save time, physical energy and money.

The electric companies are installing "smart meters" which the can control from remote locations. They can turn them off and on at a flick of a switch. They can tell where there is leakage, "excessive use of energy" and report to the property owner.

Much will come of a smart house - I would imagine the ideas are endless.

Jason A. · Answer

No doubt the "smart home" or "connected home" is the home of the future - existing homes will be upgraded with time and replacement of appliances, windows, AVAC, etc.  New homes will be built accordingly.  As landlords, we'll need to embrace this to keep relevant.

Home automation and the internet of things will be for tomorrow what a washing machine was yesterday.  Though personally I don't think we're there from a security perspective.

Google's NEST is one of the big players in the space.  There's also a number of startups of course.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/smartthings/

https://nest.com/

The Smart Home - R We Really That Outdated?

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