A smart home is a home outfitted with devices that can be controlled over an internet connection on one’s desktop, tablet, or smartphone. These connected devices can be appliances, lights, security systems, cameras, audio and video systems, televisions, thermostats, and even sprinklers.
Generally speaking, if your home has devices that connect to each other and to a network, it’s a smart home. The complexity of smart systems may differ somewhat from home to home, but the basic foundations are the same.
Smart Home Basics
There are hundreds of devices on the markets that can make up a smart home system. From smart thermostats to Wi-Fi enabled crockpots, smart technology is revolutionizing the home. Basic elements can now be automated or controlled from a smartphone anywhere in the world.
As long as you have a reliable internet connection and a few devices connected to it, you’re a part of the smart home revolution.
Smart Homes in Real Estate
It is worth noting that certain industries are a bit more regulated in their use of the term smart home. Coldwell Banker teamed up with CNET to provide a more concrete definition for smart homes on the real estate market, for example. According to the agencies, if you want to advertise your home as smart, it should have either temperature or security features, a strong internet connection, and two additional smart elements like lighting or appliances.
If you own only a smart thermostat, your home fails to meet that agreed-upon definition. If, however, your home possesses a smart thermostat, connected refrigerator, and wireless security camera, it qualifies as a smart home. The difference might not matter if you’re comfortably settled into your home, but if you decide to sell it, it could have an impact.
Are you ready to build out your smart home? If so, check out our Beginners Guide to Home Automation today.
