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Maybe you’re new to all the “smart-home” technology. Perhaps it scares or overwhelms you? Welcome to the club, the Ostroms are right there with you … We’re in California, and sometimes we see a few things sooner in seller homes than the rest of the country, but there’s a good chance your clients know more about smart-home technology, so let’s get you on a quick start on the Smart-Home highway.

Smart-home items are showing up in homes for sale. There’s a lot of information out there, so we’re going to do our best to lay down in a blog post (or  two) … also if you’re about to sell your home, start thinking of your “smart-home” exit plan. Fixtures or items attached to the hhome are assumed to state and there’s been changes in recent years about smart-home devices being included in the sale.

Pro-tip: before beginning in the adventure of “smart-home” makeoversand putting a ton of time and money into a system, be sure your internet is fast enough to handle the load and talk to friends so you can learn from their experiences.

We started out small and I am not sure I would even qualify it as smart home devices, but we started small with light bulbs – and we thoroughly enjoy having it.  Our kids loved their speaker lightbulb to play their music to – and it was very easy to get it up and running. Not all devices are easy to get set-up as advance warning and some might even have safety warnings for your network.

So after I got back from “CES” (Consumer Electronics Show) with the Coldwell Banker crew and my good buddy, Roy Powell – I came back to my home in Roseville, with a smart-home fire in my heart and was ready to make the plunge into learning more about Smart-Home tools and slowly start adding items to our home system.

We started out with Amazon’s Alexa (which we had bought for ourselves at Christmas – and we have her dialed in for connection to our twinkle lights in the backyard, to ensuring that the front door can be locked, but be aware, Alexa cannot unlock the door for safety reasons).

• Pro-Tip with Alexa: “Go in the Amazon Alexa App” and play around. See what you can “sync” up with other devices so you can fully utilize all of the skills for maximum enjoyment. She can do SO much – I lurve her.
• Pro-tip with Alexa: If you have Amazon Prime, have fun with the music,
• Pro-tip with Alexa: With your iphone, if you want to just play your music on Alexa from your phone, go to “settings,” then to your “bluetooth,” and then select your Amazon component (in our case, it’s “Echo”)
• Pro-tip with Alexa: Be sure to go into the app and play around the “Smart Home” option in the drop-down menu (see above) and “Skills” to really maximize the fun and usefulness of Alexa.

Our next piece we added was the “Ring” doorbell. Coming back in to revise and freshen up this post, doorbell cameras can be a contentious issue – so do thorough research for any and all cameras and doorbell systems.

Some questions that are good to consider:

1. What are their monthly subscriptions costs
2. Do the mutual cameras have any known connectivity issues
3. Do you need to get any modifications to your internet coverage for all cameras to work? Extenders, connectivity limitations of cameras that make it not worth it, etc.
4. How is the resolution during the day and night?
5. Hard wire, battery pack, and solar -pros and cons of cameras
6. Who can access this camera? IF your cameras are only outside, be aware there is speculation (only) about Ring cameras having third-party access* so if you have cameras in your house, things to think about … 
7. Do you need a bridge to get things to work together? 
8. Get on reddit or reviews to see the feedback on products and brands. I find the “best of the year” posts to be not fully trustworthy on feedback. 
9. Location of cameras should determine their power source, particularly on two-story or high access points for outdoor cameras (don’t ask me why I know now – ha!)
10. We loved ours when our kids were little (doorbell camera) and they had no phones – they would use it as a way to communicate with us since it’s a two-way microphone.

The next piece, is easily my favorite addition to the home, the Schlage Connect deadbolt (back to revise this post, not sure I would recommend it, but the battery life is solid, but their app is AWFUL), but the doorbell lock is my favorite still! We have three kids, our lives are busy, and we’re REALTORs, our lives are always at a fast pace. There are SO many options for keypad entry, but we went with the highest tier option with security in mind and it’s used in conjunction with a bridge (you gotta research this one, I don’t even know how to explain it). Be sure it’s fingerprint resistant if it’s a finger soft pad entry – that’s my only comment and I recommend having a back up key option (many don’t now and that stinks, IMO). It’s a good backup option in case the battery goes dead.

What’s really cool about the lock is that I have it paired with my Ring doorbell and it auto-locks if any movement is on the front porch and my kids forgot to lock a door (or husband). It’s so rad! It’s annoying though when you’re unloading groceries though I set it up through “routines” (which you can do on Alexa, most smart apps with these devices, or via IFFTT).

I do not recommend  “oil rubbed bronze look” for a lockhandle as it didn’t age well. 

• Pro-tip: 1. Pay your trusted locksmith to help install or just kick down for the professional installation on this one. You want the auto-lock option moving smoothly and clean. Unless you’re a superhuman tech savvy person. If I wasn’t tech-savvy, I would have paid the Amazon technician to install. In our case, we had our locksmith install the key pad/deadbolt.
• Pro-tip: 2. You’ll need to involve a locksmith if you buy online or if you know how to get the deadbolt keyed to your system.
• Pro-tip: 3. Stay with the brand of keys you already have in the home (whether Kwikset or Schlage) – so to stay on the same system, work with what you have … or talk to a locksmith before kicking down the big bucks
• Pro-tip: 4. The app is a bit rough … get a bridge piece that offers an app to house all your smart home pieces (see below)

Please always understand security or find a friend that gets it – it’s not worth it to have this in place as a security measure and it can be easily compromised whether from a network and bridge standpoint or using a third-party app that might not have the same security as door lock or camera system (products or apps). 

Our other product we love, but another awful app – our Honeywell smart thermostat. It was recommended to us and it’s great, but another rough functioning app (but better than Schlage).

Do know ALL the devices mentioned here – they’re all still going strong and still being used!

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