Could “smart home” technology — features such as network-connected thermostats, security devices, appliances and lighting — help you sell your home faster and for more?
Probably so, according to recent consumer-polling data plus anecdotal reports from appraisers and real estate agents. The key, though, is that the smart products need to be installed before you list your house, because most buyers in 2016 don’t want to have to install them on their own. They want things pretty much turnkey.
The latest in an ongoing series of research projects by Coldwell Banker Real Estate found that 71 percent of buyers out of a sample of 1,250 American adults want a “move-in ready” house and that 57 percent of those buyers looking at older houses would consider them updated — and more appealing as move-in ready — if they have smart home features already in place. Fifty-four percent say that if they had to choose between identical houses, one with smart home technology, the other without, they’d buy the smart home. Sixty-one percent of millennials would favor smart-tech homes, as would 59 percent of parents with children living in the house.
A massive survey of nearly 22,000 home shoppers by John Burns Real Estate Consulting earlier this year found that not only do prospective buyers rank smart technology high when they evaluate housing options, but they’re prepared to pay thousands of dollars for it. Sixty-five percent said they’d be willing to spend more for smart-home technology packages, and well over half would pay extra for interior and exterior security cameras, network connected appliances, smart door bells that send owners text alerts enabling them to check front-door security cameras, smart air filtration vents, and a variety of other high-tech items.
