Smart Homes and How You Can Create One

31 Aug Smart Homes and How You Can Create One

Originally thought of as a gimmick, the Internet of Things (IoT) has proved to be anything but. This revolutionary new technology gave rise to the smart home, a new technology that is certainly finding its place with millennials. With our increasing dependence and obsession with technology, we’re not surprised that smart homes are the latest trend to explode onto the scene.

So what exactly is a smart home? It’s a home that’s equipped with technology that makes managing your electricity, security and everything in between possible remotely. Did you go on vacation and forget to shut the windows or turn off the lights? No problem! With smart homes, you can open an app on your smartphone (or computer) and simply push a button to close the windows and shut off the lights. Here are a few of our favorite smart home technologies.

Your Central Hub

Crucial to managing a smart home is an easy-to-use central hub. Why? A smart home can automate everything from your lights and door locks to laundry and air conditioning; do you want to manage all of these individually? We didn’t think so. The central hub of your smart home allows you to manage multiple smart devices (like your thermostat and lights) in one place: the hub. If you’re going to build a smart home, you can’t do without the central hub.

Lock it Down

With daily distractions and the chaos of everyday life, it’s easy to forget simple things like locking the door. Luckily, there are smart locks available for your home. They allow you to lock and unlock the door with your smartphone and don’t require a key. Because they simply require you push a button in the app, users can let guests in when they’re not home as well. It’s important to note that you will need to fit your door with a new handle that includes the smart technology.

While not necessarily a smart feature per se, video doorbells are nice to have in addition to smart locks. Bobvila.com describes their abilities: “It’s like caller ID for your front porch! [It] allows you to screen—and even video chat with—visitors before you answer the door.” If you’re not home, it saves pictures of who came to your door. Pretty cool, eh?

On, Off or Dimmed, Schedule it!

One of our favorite smart technologies is connected lighting. It is also one of the more popular preferences. As implied by the name, smart lights are connected to the central hub and can be be programmed to meet your needs.

If you’re an early riser but want the lights to come on gradually, there’s a light for that. Want to create a schedule to turn the lights off and on while you’re on vacation? Done. These smart lights are easily programmable and can save you lots of green come utility bills time. According to smartFX, simply dimming the lights 25 percent can save you 25% on your bill.

Appliances of the Future

Who would have thought that we’d see the day when appliances scheduled when they would run! Smart appliances such as washers and dryers, dishwashers and refrigerators are making household chores much more bearable. LG created a washer and dryer that detects when the best time is to run a load based on energy consumption (to save you money) and Waterpebble has a product that helps automate your shower! You heard right—it uses a series of lights to tell you when you should finish your shower to save water.

One of the more commonly installed smart features is the thermostat. Made popular by Nest, smart thermostats learn your schedule and program heating and cooling based off that to save you almost 20 percent on utility bills. If you blast the air every day after work, the thermostat will begin to learn this and automatically adjust it for you.

Ready Make Your New Home Smart?

Now that you’ve done your research and are excited to make your next home a smart one, it’s time to find a new home. If you’re looking an incredible home capable of being a smart home, contact us to learn more about our beautiful homes. We’d love to show you what our homes have to offer and why we’re known for being one of the best!