Selling a home in the luxury market involves more careful preparation. With a substantial amount at stake, high end home buyers tend to be more discriminating, and want to make sure they get the best value their money can buy. They look for the latest creature comforts, as well as home features that are nothing short of extravagant.
If you’re selling a luxury home in Lake Mary, FL, it’s important to make it as appealing to the right buyers as possible. Consider investing in home improvements that can add value to your property. Luxury home features are constantly evolving, and what may have been upscale and state-of-the-art when you purchased the home may have become outdated today.
What features do luxury home buyers want to see in a property?
Not all home improvements can net good returns, so it’s best to work with your Realtor in identifying renovations or upgrades that could work for your property. In general, luxury home buyers today look for the following features:
Smart technology is one feature that appeals to home buyers across various price points. With numerous technological advances in the market today, smart gadgets and devices have become more affordable and can now be found even in standard homes. In luxury homes, they’re fast becoming must-haves, playing an important role in the everyday lives of residents.
What is smart home technology?
Smart home technology makes use of the Internet of Things, a concept that basically states everyday items can be connected over a wireless network through the use of the internet. This allows common household functions to be automated as long as they’re connected to the network. Appliances, lighting, blinds, doors, vacuum cleaners — the list of items that make use of smart technology has grown rapidly in the past few years, and even more are being added today.
A 2020 Statista.com study shows smart home technology is now present in over 32.2% of homes in the United States, and this is expected to grow to 56.9% by 2025. It’s easy to see why numerous households are getting on this trend. Home automation brings an unprecedented level of convenience and security using a technology that was once thought only to be the stuff of science fiction.
What smart home features should you have in your high end home?
The extent to which you adopt smart home features is entirely up to you. If your goal is to impress homebuyers, however, consider adding these technologies:
- Complete home automation system
- Smart security systems
- Video surveillance
- Smart locks
- Smart doorbells
- Smart smoke and flood detectors
- Smart thermostats
- Smart heated floors
- Automated sprinklers
- Smart bathrooms
- Smart mirrors
- Smart toilets
- Smart showers
- Smart water monitors
It can be quite intimidating to adopt various smart home technologies. You’ll need to get a handle on your home security system, light automation, smart appliances, and so on. And if you want to add a new technology, you have to go through the process of installing and familiarizing yourself with the system all over again.
A complete home automation system makes it simpler for you. Using a hub or a centralized device, you can control all the smart systems in your home using voice commands or just a touch of a button on your cell phone. And thanks to technological advances, most smart home products in the market today are compatible with different hub automation systems, so you don’t have to confine your purchases or installations to a particular brand or system.
The hub can be programmed to turn all your devices on and off at the same time. For example, when you wake up in the morning, you can open your windows, turn on the coffee maker, activate music streaming, and feed the pet, all with just one voice command. You can also use the hub to control your systems separately. For example, you can remotely turn off the lights in an unoccupied room or activate the lock on a door anywhere in the house.
In choosing a hub automation system, go for one that can be used across a wide range of devices from different makers. This is especially preferable when you’re planning to sell your home, as this gives the buyer or new owner the flexibility to add a new device or change an existing one without getting a new hub.
The most popular hub automation systems on the market today include:
Security is one of the biggest concerns of luxury home owners. They want to make sure their home is protected from burglars, intruders, and other threats even when they’re away.
There are quite a few smart home security systems on the market today. You can choose to have one installed by a professional, or take the DIY route. Professional installations often come with the added protection of 24/7 surveillance by a security company, but with the right devices, a DIY security system can also provide excellent monitoring using your cellphone or computer.
In either case, there’s a wide range of security devices, locks, and alarms that you can include in the system, and the most advanced products make use of smart home technology.
This involves setting up cameras in strategic parts of the home, both indoors and outdoors. The action captured by these cameras are sent to your phone or computer as live feeds, recorded footages, or both.
Gone are the days when you worry about forgetting to lock a door, or a child getting accidentally locked in a room. Smart locks can be controlled remotely using voice commands, your cell phone, or other devices. They also make use of card keys, which can be programmed with a user-specific passcode or similar feature. You can be assured that it can’t be duplicated, unlike traditional keys. Additionally, when you lose a card key, you can simply change the settings to deactivate the key instead of physically changing the locks in your house.
A smart doorbell comes with a tiny camera that gets activated when the device is rang or when someone approaches the door. You can then review the video from your cell phone or computer.
Unlike typical smoke detectors, a smart smoke detector does not just send off an alarm when activated. It also sends a video to your phone so you can see if there’s any threat to your home even when you’re away. It can also be connected wirelessly to devices called “listeners”, which are installed in other parts of the home. The “listeners” send you alarms when they “hear” a smoke detector going off.
Smart fire detectors can also detect CO emissions. Flood detectors work in a similar way but are installed on floors or closer to the ground.
A smart thermostat is one of the top features buyers look for in a luxury home. Not only can this system make life more convenient, it can also help you save on your energy bills. It can regulate indoor temperatures based on various inputs, such as your habits, a room’s occupancy, the outside temperature, and others. You can also program it to turn on and off at desired times and intervals. It can even send an alarm if your home gets too hot or too cold, which can indicate major issues like a fire or a risk for frozen pipes. Smart thermostats can also be integrated into home automation systems.
Heated floors are certainly up there among the most luxurious features you can find in a home, but smart floors take it a notch higher. Using a smart thermostat, which can also be integrated into your hub automation system, you can program the floor heating system to follow a desired schedule and to adapt to different climatic conditions. As with any other smart home systems, you may activate and control smart floors through voice commands or from your cell phone and other devices.
A heated flooring system has an underfloor component that gently warms the room by running on temperatures lower than traditional heating systems. This consumes less energy, which translates into lower utility costs. When operated using a smart thermostat, heated floors can give you even greater savings.
Having smart heated floors throughout the home or in several rooms can certainly add to your home’s wow factor, but if this is not feasible, installing them on a bathroom or two is already a big plus.
If you have a large, landscaped yard, you know that keeping it in top condition takes a lot of hard work and attention. You have to make sure the lawn and plants receive the right amount of watering at precise times. And even with a targeted schedule, it’s inevitable to consume more water than what’s actually needed.
An automated sprinkler system can make lawn and garden management much more efficient and less troublesome. It makes use of smart water sprinklers strategically placed around your garden, which are then programmed to switch on at your desired times and frequency. The system can also be programmed to sense moisture levels and discharge only the right amount of water in different areas, resulting in water conservation.
In luxury homes, bathrooms are not just utilitarian space. They’re private sanctuaries where you can get hours of pampering, as well as much needed downtime. And you can enhance the experience even more with the use of smart technology.
These smart bathroom technologies can impress even the most discriminating home buyer:
Smart mirrors can give your bathroom a futuristic feel with a Smart TV feature and a touchscreen display showing the date, time, temperature, stock market indices, current news, and other information you want to add. Some mirrors also come with touch activated lighting and other remarkable features.
When it comes to extravagance, smart toilets are hard to top, with features like touchless flushing, heated seats, sensors that close and open lids automatically, automatic deodorizing and bowl cleaning, and many more.
No more waiting for the water to be hot enough — smart showers can save your ideal water temperature so that it’s always perfect the moment you turn the shower on. They can also be programmed to monitor your water consumption and adjust the water flow accordingly.
The most amazing smart shower systems can also be integrated with wireless speakers, a TV, and other devices, so you can enjoy great entertainment — and even pick up calls — while taking a shower. They may also come with sensors, which can automatically turn the system on when you enter the room.
Smart water monitors may not be as astounding as smart toilets or smart showers, but they can be quite handy in reducing your water bills. They keep track of your water usage in real time and send the data to your smartphone, so you can review and find ways to manage your water consumption more efficiently. The monitors can even detect leaks on your toilet or other trouble spots in your plumbing system.
Sell your Lake Mary, FL home for the highest profit with the Mel Bernstein Team
Get more tips and professional guidance in selling your home the right way with Mel Bernstein and his team. Mel and Tina Bernstein are recognized as one of Central Florida’s HOT100 agents, 5 star Realtors, and 2019 Real Estate Power Couple of the Year.
Rest assured Mel and Tina Bernstein will maxime your luxury home’s potential in the marketplace. With the highest quality service, including outstanding photography and cinematic endeavors, Mel and Tina produce the results necessary for maximizing sales value with minimal time on the market. Call us today at 407-810-4726 or send us an email at mel(at)melbernsteinteam(dotted)com.