Smart home devices make life easier, and smart home technology is experiencing explosive growth. The Consumer Technology Association found in a 2020 survey that 70% of US households have at least one smart device, and 11% have three or more. What is primary reason so much is being invested into smart home technology? It's convenience.

We have found this to be true in our own home.  From simple tasks like "Alexa, turn on the lamp" or "Alexa, play beach sounds" (a soothing white noise for better sleep) to more complex devices like smart thermostats, garage door gateways, and video doorbells, they all make our life easier. Plus, the icing on the cake is being able to also control them from my Android smartphone no matter where I am.

We are fans of Amazon's Alexa family of products and have several devices to help us out. They offer a variety of products and are easy to set up, and we are eagerly awaiting the release of the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen).

Google Home is also a great platform that many others embrace.

There are many applications and devices out there. Here are some of our favorites.

The Nest thermostat. This clever device helps reduce its owner's energy costs by an average of 10%. It is a smart device. It is able to learn the patterns of your family and raise and lower the temperature without sacrificing your comfort when you are home and awake. In the winter, if we leave home for a period of time during the day it will lower the temperature and because of the app on my smartphone it knows when I get home and turns the furnace on as I come in the door! If we are traveling, I can set it to an Away mode that lowers it further to my preset preferences of 50 degrees in the winter and up to 80 degrees in the summer. This is all done within the app on my phone.

Our garage door opener is wifi enabled. This allowed us to install a gateway product and use the myQ app on my smartphone to control and monitor the garage door. The app enables my phone to open and close the garage door from anywhere, anytime. It will give me alerts based on my preferences if the door stays open for a period of time. This is incredibly useful as my husband is notorious for coming home and leaving the garage door open. It makes my life easier.

The Ring Pro doorbell. This is the second Ring doorbell we have owned, and we love it! When someone rings the bell the video feed automatically comes to our Echo Show. It does have two-way voice communication capabilities. More importantly, during this time of increased online shopping and deliveries it captures video of movement in front of the door, based on parameters I have set. It records that video in the Ring cloud, and alerts me via the app on my phone.

There are many other smart home applications that offer things like entertainment, home security, and remote monitoring.

A prominent real estate brokerage found in a survey of REALTORS® and brokers that 78% of buyers are willing to pay more for smart homes. According to Consumer Reports 77% of homebuyers want a smart thermostat, 75% want a smart smoke detector, 66% want security cameras, and 63% want smart locks.

Are you looking to buy, sell, or invest in real estate? Wondering how smart home technology may impact your sale? Give us a call today!