Selling your house on the open market can be a stressful, difficult process. That’s especially true if you’re dealing with an older home that isn’t updated with the latest bells and whistles. A recent Forbes article noted that while millennials are buying more homes these days, they’re looking for houses that include smart technology and incorporate environmentally friendly features.
If your house doesn’t quite measure up in the smart technology department and buyers don’t seem interested, you could consider selling your house as-is to a real estate investor. They’ll buy your house in any condition, make you a fair cash offer, and work with you to complete the sale on your own timing and terms.
Your other option is to consider making some upgrades in your house in order to make it more appealing to modern buyers. Here are six smart home upgrades to help sell your house.
Smart upgrades to help you sell your Nebraska house
Smart Thermostats
One of the easiest smart upgrades you can make to your house is to install a smart thermostat. Programmable thermostats are nothing new and you might even have one in your house now. However, most of the standard ones can be confusing or difficult to use. Smart thermostats eliminate all of the guessings and make the entire process streamlined and simple. They automatically adjust your home’s temperature based on when people are in the room or not, which not only makes life easy but saves you money in the long run.
They’re usually easy to read from afar and easy to control, which makes it easy to make manual adjustments as well. Buyers like seeing smart thermostats because it means that’s one thing they likely won’t have to worry about upgrading afterward.
Smart Smoke Detectors
Another fairly easy upgrade you can make is to install smart smoke detectors in your house. They not only save you money on insurance premiums but also improve the odds of saving a life in the event of an emergency. Regular smoke detectors have a way of becoming defecting or disabled without the homeowner realizing it. Smart smoke detectors will alert you of any inconsistencies or problems.
Plus, you don’t have to take out the batteries every time you cook in the kitchen. These smart detectors can identify certain types of smells and smoke to automatically know the difference. Not only that but they’ll also monitor carbon dioxide and air quality, making them 3-for-1 machines. They can even send your smartphone or tablet a message if anything goes wrong while you’re not home.
Smart Door Locks
Put your keys away because a smart door lock won’t require them anymore. It also means not having to worry about finding a spot for spares or worrying about lost keys. A smart lock will be connected to your WiFi or Bluetooth-enabled device and will automatically know when you’re coming and going, opening the lock accordingly.
You can also program these smart locks to open for specific people, such as family, friends, real estate agents, or anyone else who you trust. Even better, a guestbook function can alert you to exactly who is coming and going from the house and if they have any messages for you. That’s a pretty handy tool to offer buyers with families or those who travel often.
Smart Lawn Sprinklers
If you live in a community with an HOA or in a climate that calls for consistent watering, a smart sprinkler system is a big selling point for modern buyers. You don’t have to remember to water the lawn or monitor how it’s going to make sure nothing gets flooded. These smart sprinklers can be programmed via your smartphone or computer and adjust themselves accordingly based on the weather, lawn conditions, or season.
Not only is it a great way to set-it-and-forget-it but it also saves water and money. Some smart sprinklers say they save homeowners as much as 30 percent on water usage bills while others claim even more than that. Anytime you can show buyers that the house comes with money-saving features, that’s a big deal.
Smart Lighting
Per Energy Star, lighting your home will run about 12 percent of your home’s annual energy bill cost. There are ways to cut that amount down through smart lighting and every little bit helps to improve your home’s bottom line and make it more appealing. Smart lighting senses when people are home, not home, in specific rooms, or moving throughout the house. It then automatically adjusts based on those conditions.
Furthermore, there are all kinds of cool settings that come with smart lighting systems. You can set timers to dim, turn on and off, or slowly brighten based on your sleeping habits. You can schedule it based on specific people in the house and their own preferences as well.
As for outdoor smart lighting, that will help buyers feel safer knowing that the technology in charge of those lights is quality. It can act as a motion detector, keep exterior spaces well lit when needed, and alert the homeowner to any abnormal conditions if they are home or not.
Smart Speakers
This one is easy to overlook because some people don’t consider surround sound speakers as an important part of the home experience, but many buyers will see it as a necessity. That’s especially true when you consider what smart speakers can do. And those who didn’t think about it will see this as a luxury add-on.
Smart speakers can distribute sounds and music throughout the house on a schedule or dependant on who is in each room. Different people can listen to different music at the same time, wherever they might be. That’s great for owners with kids who have very distinct musical tastes as well.
It’s also a way to incorporate smart technology like Amazon Echo and Microsoft’s Alexa, which then connects the speakers to the internet and everything that entails. Now, from various spots in the house, the buyer will know they can get whatever information they need. It’s the complete circle of smart technology that will make your house that much more appealing to modern buyers.