Page 65 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - August 2017

sMart homEs

Nest Cam indoor security camera, August smart
lock, August Connect, and Lutron Caséta® Wire-

less Lighting Starter Kit. Coldwell Banker charges
$999 for its Smart Home Kit, or the seller has the

option to equip their home themselves. In either

case, the Smart Home products remain with the
home when it is sold.

Smart technology is becoming so popular, its
appeal is broadening beyond homeowners and

into other build environments.

“We’re seeing this technology being used in
hospitality projects, condos, and multi-family
Ian Loyd of The Lighting
housing,” Lace says. In fact, Lubbock, Texas has Gallery, with two
rolled out the rst Student Smart Apartment locations in Missouri,
is a third-generation
complex, complete with smartphone mobile app
lighting veteran who
intercom, electronic key access, Amazon Echo in has designated half of
every unit, USB wall units, and smart HDTVs.
one showroom as Smart

Approximately half of today’s buyers consider Home-friendly.
smart home technology a must in order to be con-

sidered “move-in ready,” according to Coldwell

Banker’s research. Added Lace, “Roughly 71 per-
cent of Americans want a move-in ready home. Of

those, 57 percent would consider an older home
as ’updated’ if it had smart home technology.”

Following the logic of Coldwell Banker’s suc-

cess with its Smart Home program, Lace informed
the seminar a endees that o ering smart home

products would put them “at the forefront” in con-
sumers’ eyes and “di erentiate your business from

your competitors.”

Audience member Ian Loyd, a third-generation
To meet this need Coldwell Banker, in co- lighting veteran from The Light House Gallery in

operation with CNET, created a “smart home” Spring eld and Branson, Missouri, stated, “Half
designation and icon that helps consumers quickly of my showroom is dedicated to smart lighting

identify houses with this capability. “Preliminary products.” He explained that Millennials as well

data shows that homes designated and marked as as Baby Boomers are interested in smart products
a ‘smart home’ on Coldwell Banker’s Web site are and are grateful for the expertise.

receiving two times more engagement (i.e. viewers “When they’re standing in Home Depot, there’s
contacting an agent or requesting more informa- no way for them to know what they need,” he said.

tion) than the site average,” Lace remarked.
For his showroom customers, he starts the smart

In response, the real estate company partnered home conversation by showing them the latest
with CEDIA (the home technology trade asso- switches/wall controls before seguing into prod-

ciation) to create the rst certi ed smart home ucts that have Wi-Fi capability.
education program for Coldwell Banker agents.
Other lighting retailers who a ended the

Furthermore, in collaboration with Lutron, seminar said they would consider creating a

August, Nest, and Amazon, Coldwell Banker has designated “Smart Home” section in their store
created a Smart Home Staging Kit which includes or making signage that promoted applicable

an Amazon Echo Dot, Nest learning thermostat, products more prominent to capture this growing
Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm,
consumer interest.


august 2017 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 63