I’m sure if you haven’t already heard that term “smart home” you will soon.  Last decade we were introduced to the term “green home”, or “eco-friendly home”.  Well now your home can not only be good for the environment, but it can be communicative as well.

So what exactly is a smart home?  Well there is probably a few ways to answer that questions, but essentially a smart home is a home with interment connected appliances and electronics that can communicate back and forth with the resident.  Basically, any device within your home that is ran off electricity can be connected to a home network and accessed remotely.  Access can be easily made through just about any smartphone, tablet, laptop, or remote internet connection.

Applications for this include lighting, home security, heating/cooling, entertainment, and more.  For instance, the automated lighting feature seems to be a top selling point for smart home buyers.  The ability to turn specific lights on and off from a smartphone is a fantastic feature for residents that travel a lot and are often away from their home for long periods.  This way the lights can be turned on from anywhere in the world to make the home appear to be occupied even when nobody is home.

Other examples include the automated temperature control via a connected thermostat.  Perhaps someone doesn’t have a routine work and social schedule.  Well nobody likes to walk into a cold house or a warm house.  With new smart home technology, it is possible to turn on your air conditioning or heating unit as you begin your drive home.  This way you can still save energy by keeping your HVAC off while you are away, but still walk into a perfectly room temperature home year-round upon arrival each evening.

But it doesn’t just end there.  Remote access to security cameras is being a popular home feature, and other in the works are as fancy as your refrigerator texting you when you are running low on milk, or voice activated stovetops and fireplaces.

As this technology becomes more readily available, we should see prices reductions and more affordability to the common homeowner.  More and more established tech companies are launching new smart home products.  CNN recently forecasted that the automated home systems industry could grow to $44 billion by 2017.

And where will all this smartness end?  Who knows!  Billionaires like Bill Gates have already invested in smart home type technologies years ago.  Gates mansion took seven years to build and a cost of $63 million.  Supposedly, Gates house is so smart that when a guest arrives, they are given some special pin that interacts with various sensors throughout the home.  Then depending on their preferences, different things within the home (like lighting, music, and temperature) change as they enter or leave a room.  Pretty ridiculous, right?!?!?!

So I guess the question is how smart do you want your house to be.  I’ll be sold on the idea once they make a smart bathroom that learns how to clean itself once a week, and always keep toilet paper and tissue accessible at all times.

Written by Eric Leach / eric@ResortPropertyRealty.com / 800-921-6520