How To Turn A “Dumb” Home Into A Smart Home

How To Turn A Dumb Home Into A Smart HomeHaving a “smart home” is a trend that is popular. What does it actually mean? Smart home technology improves energy-efficiency, increases security, and creates more convenience for the home’s occupants.

Innovative smart home technology improves with the deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G wireless broadband, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) programming. Many things that an owner and/or occupant of a home needs or wants may be done for them by smart home technology.

Energy-Efficiency

Green energy systems include installing energy-efficient windows and perhaps solar panels along with battery storage. Moreover, by managing micro-zones within a home, money is saved by not wasting it on heating or cooling when not needed.

Management of temperature control is possible with smart home technology that allows the heating and air-conditioning system to direct hot or cold air to the rooms that need it, only when occupied. These systems turn off the zone when the room is not in use.

Advanced systems learn the occupant’s typical home-use patterns and anticipate them. For example, if a person comes home around the same time each day, the house prepares the rooms for that person in advance of their arrival.

Advanced systems link vehicles with the home. For example, the climate control system may receive the GS location of the vehicle over the IoT. Then, the AI software of the house can determine the distance the car is from the home and the direction it is traveling. The AI guesses if the person is driving home and adjusts the home accordingly.

Increased Security

This is one of the best reasons to install smart home technology. Increased security may help to reduce risks of burglary, home invasion, and damage caused by unavoidable disasters.

Home security may use biometrics, such as facial recognition, fingerprints, iris scans, and others, to authorize entry for specific people and prevent unauthorized intruders.

Video surveillance of the property, inside and out, keeps a record of what is happening. Innovation in AI detects camera images that are not appropriate, such as someone trying to break into the home and alert the homeowners as well as law enforcement.

Alarms trigger for many things such as a break-in of a door or window or someone coming to the front porch to steal a delivered package.

Sensors, which are much more sophisticated than a basic smoke alarm, may warn of smoke, fire, natural gas leaks, carbon monoxide levels in a garage, and even plumbing problems. With nanny cams, monitoring of babies and children is helpful for their safety.

Convenience

Smart Home technology can respond to the occupants’ use automatically or be manually chosen. For example, the coffee maker can turn on automatically in the morning to have the perfect brew ready for those who wake up. The dog door can be unlocked from bed for the dog to go outside in the morning.

A real-time inventory, using the barcodes of foodstuffs, automates the re-ordering of regularly used items when depleted.

The car can be started remotely and warmed up or cool before the driver and passengers enter it. During wintertime, entry steps can be heated to melt ice and snow just in time for people’s arrival. A hot tub can be turned on remotely so that it is fully heated up and ready for use when the owner’s come home.

Summary

There are so many innovations in smart technology already available and more on the way. Homeowners who invest in this smart technology may not only get to enjoy their home more, they may save on energy bills, and might also get a higher resale value for the “smart” home when selling it. It’s worth considering.

If you are in the market for a new property or interested in refinancing !

4 Tips To Ensure A Successful Closing

4 Tips To Ensure A Successful ClosingAs you come up to the date of your closing, there’s time to reflect on everything that led to this step. Your real estate agent, mortgage broker, title company and others all work hard to ensure a successful closing for you. They’re all in your corner, hoping for the same outcome as you. They’ve had to do a lot of work behind the scenes that you may not even be aware of. Their diligence and professionalism has already benefited you.

But did you know that it’s not all riding on your team of real estate professionals? There are things you can do to ensure a successful closing, too. 

1. Bring Your Checkbook

In other words, have extra funds available to cover unexpected costs. Anything could happen at the closing table. If there was an error in calculations, or the seller all of a sudden asks for some kind of additional compensation, you could all go home empty-handed. If you bring your checkbook, all those problems could go away and you end up with a successful closing. 

2. Don’t Forget Your ID

You probably don’t need to be reminded to bring your driver’s license with you when you drive. But did you know you’ll probably need to present your ID at the closing table? Funnily enough, people do forget, especially if you’re a woman and you’ve changed purses recently. Before you head to the closing table, double check that you have two forms of ID on you to be on the safe side.

3. Preview The Paperwork

Although everyone’s a professional, human error does occur. If possible, ask to preview the paperwork associated with the closing. Your real estate agent can help you with this step. Read through everything with a fine-toothed comb. Look for spelling errors, mistakes in addresses, and even transposed numbers. The earlier you can review paperwork, the longer the available time to get any errors corrected before the closing.

4. Bring Extra Documents With You

You don’t have to carry your filing cabinet to the closing. But it’s wise to bring relevant financial documents with you and leave them in your car. Lenders may ask for things last minute like old bank statements, a certain cancelled check or something else. 

With the help of your trusted real estate agent and home mortgage professional, your closing will likely go off without a hitch. But, just in case, keep these tips in mind.

 

 

 

Home Staging Tip – Urban Gardening in Small Spaces

Home Staging Tip - Urban Gardening in Small SpacesHome staging means getting a home ready for sale with the goal to maximize the sale price and close a sale as fast as possible. Some home staging tasks are very dreary, like having to get the place sparkling clean. That is really not fun work. It may be better, if it is affordable, for the homeowner to hire professionals to do that grunt work.

Another part of home staging is really fun and even can start long before putting a home on the market for sale. Children like to participate in this as well. It is creating an urban garden.

Urban Garden

An urban garden fits in anywhere. The idea is to create space for plants to thrive even if there is no backyard or in-ground growing opportunities. Here are some easy ways to achieve this:

  • Window Planter Boxes: Any window that gets sunlight can have a window box. Install these boxes on the inside or on the outside of the window depending on the climate. These are perfect places to have flowers add color that is attractive. Transplant low-cost flowering plants into window boxes. Using this strategy, window boxes stay full of flowers, which are constantly in bloom.
  • Big Pots: Decorative large pots are a great thing to use to create a garden space. Strawberry pots made of clay are popular things to put on a balcony or a porch. Flower pots that line the walkway to the front door add to a home’s curb appeal.
  • Roof Gardens: For townhouses without a backyard, balcony, or a patio, there may only be an urban garden space available on a roof. If there is a good view as well, this is a real plus. Be sure to have a nice picnic table to sit around and enjoy the area.
  • Herbs: Herb gardens are very easy to start. Herbs of many kinds can grow in simple planters. One added advantage is, if growing aromatic herbs, they put a pleasant smell in the air.

Summary

Besides growing flowers, urban gardens may also provide fresh herbs and vegetables to eat. Many things are really easy to grow, such as the herb basil, and they add a nice flavor to a meal.

Start with a small herb garden. If you have children, get them involved. Soon, it will be so much fun growing plants that your house will fill with color, nice smells, and good things to eat.

If you are in the market for a new home or interested in refinancing your current property, be sure to contact your trusted home mortgage professional to discuss current financing options.