We – real estate investors and landlords – all want to improve our investment properties to make them worth more. New paint and updated kitchens and bathrooms, along with hardwood flooring, are great examples of improvements that have traditionally added value to our real estate properties. If you add the wrong items, however, like an outside pool in Anchorage, Alaska, you may not receive the increased value you had counted on.
On the other hand, if you live in a city like Denver, Colorado, for example, where rent prices are at an all-time high, then adding small updates using smart home tech will surely boost your property value even more.
Here are a few reasons why you seriously need to consider the value smart home technology can add to your investment property.
The Way It Used to Be
When your parents left on vacation, it was time for paranoia:
- Did we leave the stove on?
- Did you turn off the sprinkler?
- I might have forgotten to turn the AC to 80 degrees.
- I never emptied the washer.
- I think the garage refrigerator door was left ajar.
- Did I lock the side door?
Rapid Change
Remember the recent TV commercial where a man and a woman were on vacation lying in the sun and the woman said, “Honey, did you remember to lock the car?” The man suddenly remembered that he didn’t, but accessed his OnStar app and stealthily locked the car. Then he remembered that he might have forgotten to close the apartment windows, and the next scene shows birds flying around the living room.
Not Anymore
You don’t see this commercial anymore and here’s why: With new smart home technology, you can not only control all of your home’s systems from your phone, but you can also detect what is wrong. Indoor cameras would have quickly caught the open window mistake, and the guy could have sent a friend over to close them. A smart thermostat would have let the owners know that their apartment was unusually hot or cold, and some detective work would have led them to the open window issue.
New Smart Home Advances
There continue to be a stunning array of smart home products that can add to your home’s present value:
- Energy monitoring devices
- Smart thermostats
- Smart bulbs
- Cloud cams
- Smart doorbells
- Smart WiFi plugs
- Robot vacuums
- Smart security systems
How Much Value Can They Add?
Even though millennials and baby boomers are both embracing new home smart security systems, there is not yet a definitive way to measure the value they may add to your home. While updated bathrooms may add $15,000, and a solar electric system may add thousands more, most pundits are unwilling to commit to a certain figure for the addition of specific smart systems. Some say that any upgrades you do must be on the cutting edge, or they could date your home quicker than shag carpeting.
The Answer?
If you want top dollar for your investment property, it needs to be updated. Yes, paint, appliances, major systems, and bathrooms need to be state of the art. Do that, and add smart technology to the mix, and you are going in the right direction. Just don’t think that the new smart doorbell you have installed will instantly make your house worth several thousands more.
This article has been contributed by our friends at ABODO Apartments.