Homeowners who want to add resale value to their homes happily pay for improvements that reflect the latest in residential “must-haves”.
During the 1980’s, multi-car garages won the homeowner’s popularity
poll, giving way to remodeled kitchens during the 1990’s. Additional
bedrooms and luxury bathrooms continue to add value, and over the last
five years, the great room has shown up in many remodel plans. What is
developing on the new frontier of value-added home improvement?
A brilliant way to increase your home’s resale value is by raising its
functional IQ with digital remodeling or going “high Tech”. By adding technology-based home improvements, you can convert your house into a “smart” home. According to a recent article I read in one of the real estate journals, the higher priced homes that are most likely to sell quickly in the US and around the world are now technology-enabled which is an excellent endorsement for digital remodeling.
“Smart” homes are equipped with programmable electronic devices that automatically perform a wide variety of household functions.
Electronic systems can be triggered by time, temperature, touch, sound
or physical movement. For example, lighting can be activated by a
motion sensor when someone enters a room. Windows and skylights can be preset to close when it’s about to rain. You can watch your children
playing in the pool from your desktop computer monitor. When you leave
a home with integrated wiring, the security and access settings can arm
the alarm system, close the drapes, lock the doors and set the
thermostat to the correct daytime temperature.
With structured wiring, basic components of your home’s “operating system”, such as telephone, video and Internet cable connections, originate from a centralized location. Control of these systems can be managed from various locations inside and outside the home. The basic home elements that can be integrated via structured wiring include audio-visual and entertainment systems, security and access systems, environmental control and energy management, voice and data communication and lighting and window treatments.
“Smart” homes accommodate the homeowner’s work and lifestyle routines in a seamless manner. A “smart” home will allow you to program the driveway and front door lights to come on as you drive up to the house, and interior lights and music to go on as you walk through each room. The oven has been preset to cook the evening meal to perfection, so you have time to relax in the dry sauna which you have programmed to be heated to the optimum temperature when you arrive.
The future is high tech remodeling and even though we are way behind our neighbors in the US, we have access to all of these modern ‘smart” improvements if you want them. I predict that you will start seeing many of these features on homes right here in Freeport in the near future as contractors become more familiar and comfortable with the new technology. Until next week… Good Luck to all the craw fishermen on August Monday.
