You’re rushing around the house in the morning, scrambling to make coffee and open the blinds as you get ready to head off to work. As you hurry out the door, you remind yourself not to forget to turn off the lights and lock the front door. For many busy homeowners, this is a daily occurrence. But what if you could control everything in your home with only the touch of a button?
Photo courtesy of Barry Grossman
While this once seemed like the distant future, the rise in smart home technology has made it a reality. It’s 2018, and nearly everything within the home can be controlled with your smartphone — from brewing coffee to adjusting the thermostat. Whether you’re home or not, clocks, speakers, lights, doorbells, windows and appliances can now be controlled automatically from the palm of your hands.
Using Savant Smart Home technology, residents at Residence 2680 can control lighting, climate and security. Meanwhile, the Biometric entry systems allows keyless, fingerprint entry. Residents can even watch TV while showering, as the bathrooms are equipped with in-shower Seura Mirror TVs.
Increasingly, homebuyers are demanding homes with smart technology. Devices like Google Home, Alexa and Amazon Echo are becoming essential household items, which has only increased the movement toward smart homes. In fact, Zion Market Research predicts the smart home market will reach $53.45 billion by 2022, according to Forbes.
At 285 West 110th Street, each resident will have his/her own Amazon Echo for the true feel of living in a smart-home environment. Features can be controlled remotely via a mobile app, including Insteon lighting switches to set the scene, music to greet homeowners when entering and blinds that can be controlled to open and close.
Common areas and residential units at Privé at Island Estates are also equipped with Savant technology, allowing for automated control through any Apple or Android device of all thermostats, audio, visual and window shades.
According to Forbes, 2018 will bring more integration that supports homeowners in 2018 such as an app that reminds you to turn off the lights or to lock the doors, and an alarm that can deactivate upon recognizing your face. Forbes also predicts that technology will become much more efficient, allowing homeowners to control everything from appliances to radio volume from one central location.
Residence 2680 brings the 21st century into the bathroom with an in-shower mirror with a waterproof TV screen.
Photo courtesy of Troon Pacific
By Camilla McLaughlin
Rapidly developing smart-home technology is leading to quickly changing capabilities and expectations. Coldwell Banker agents are educating themselves, and their clients.
Home automation has been around for decades as a pricey option in ultra-high-end properties. But innovations in both wireless protocols and networking that allow multiple devices to connect and interact have completely rewired technology for the home. The last 18 months have been especially pivotal, with the number of devices and apps almost exploding, and consumer acceptance reaching critical mass.
For luxury, technology is no longer a nice-to-have extra; instead it is an essential.Smart devices get attention, but what matters,as Michael Smith, vice president of sales for Lutron Electronics explains, “are the benefits these products bring and not how it gets done. Everybody wants it to be simple and easy.”
“If people buy a turnkey home, fully renovated, part of that turnkey idea is to have that smart-home technology. They are looking for smart-home technology the same way they want stainless steel appliances and other features,” says Danny Hertzberg of The Jills with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Miami. “People are starting to get more comfortable with smart-home technology. It’s becoming more of…
Click here for the full story as seen in the fall 2016 issue of Homes & Estates.
