Smart Home Technology Defines New Luxury Homes

As personal tastes, styles, and technologies change, so does the definition of luxury. While wealthy businessmen set the tone for the future of luxury craftsmanship in the 19th century, it’s the ‘geeks’ and tech-savvy entrepreneurs who are changing the face of luxury real estate today. In fact, homes that meet the standards of new luxury are being referred to as “smart homes.”

The New Luxury

The home has been a place for new technology for centuries. Everything from appliances to desktop computers have been marketed in the past, but integration is the word that defines the new movement. In desirable housing districts like Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, no longer are luxury homes looking to simply add individual components or devices. Instead, homeowners are finding ways to integrate technology into the very infrastructure of their residences.

The goal for smart home owners is to make technology as much a part of the home as hardwood floors, windows, or drywall. It’s the new luxury and it’s taking real estate to an entirely new level.

Smart Home Trends

While the type of technology you add to your home is completely customizable, there are a number of trends in the current marketplace. Here are some of the most popular:

• Temperature control. Large luxury homes cost a lot to maintain; and while owners of smart homes can likely afford the ongoing costs, it doesn’t mean they like writing a big check for utilities. Smart thermostats are becoming very popular and serve the purpose of automatically adjusting the home’s temperature based on pre-learned settings. The Nest Learning Thermostat is the market leader at this point.

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• Intelligent glass. One of the coolest developments included in many smart houses is intelligent glass. It’s a glass that serves as a window and partition, and can be transparent for an open look, or turned into a frosted surface for privacy. Many people are using this technology for bathrooms and bedrooms.

• Smart locks. Forget about keyless car entry, keyless home entry is the next big thing. A mere touch of the finger can unlock or lock your front door – meaning no fiddling for keys or locking yourself out. Smart locks can also be used inside the home to restrict access to certain rooms.

• Mood lighting. Multiple new technologies are allowing people to control their home’s LED lighting with mobile devices. From turning the lights on/off from remote locations to changing a light’s color and hue to reflect the mood, these new LED bulbs are a staple in smart homes.

• Security systems. Security systems aren’t necessarily a feature reserved for luxury smart homes, but advanced video monitoring certainly is. New technologies enable smart home owners to integrate tiny cameras into their homes so that they can monitor activity while away on business trips or at work.

Simplifying Daily Living

While smart homes may seem excessive to some, they are just another example of society’s desire to make life easier. From the luxury of the 19th century to today’s advanced smart homes, technology is creating an entirely new real estate market.