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YPN Smart Home Event Raises $1,600 for Samaritan House
On Tuesday, August 22 the SAMCAR Young Professionals Network (YPN) group hosted "Make Your Home Smarter," an informative "Smart Home" technology panel featuring representatives from Nest, Centriq and Intuitive Environments at Devil's Canyon Brewing Co. in San Carlos with food provided by Jeremy Sowers, owner of Emergency BBQ Catering Company. In addition to gaining insight into smart home technology and what developments are on the horizon, attendees helped raise over $1,600 for the Samaritan House as part of C.A.R. YPN's "Month of Giving" charity drive.
Lisa Wheeler from Samaritan House addressed the crowd before the panel discussion, thanking attendees for their support and encouraging young professionals to get involved with Samaritan House's "League of New Samaritans." In addition to monetary donations, Samaritan House also accepts clothes, shoes, diapers and other baby products—many of these items lined the stage at the event, donated by SAMCAR YPN Chair Jessica Eva.
The panel discussion brought three experts in the smart home technology field including Larry Barasch from Intuitive Environments, a smart home technology installation company; Christina Cragholm from Nest, the makers of popular smart home products like the Nest Cam and Nest Learning Thermostat; and Scott Barrett from Centriq, an app for homeowners and property managers to catalog, store and manage appliance repairs, manuals, replacements, maintenance and more.
SAMCAR YPN Chair Jessica Eva and Co-Chair Jeremy Naval guided the three-person panel through a series of questions to enlighten the audience about smart home technology and provide insight into where this technology is moving. The goal being that SAMCAR REALTORS® can be better informed about the technology and requirements of a smart home, and become prepared to incorporate this knowledge into their relationships with home buyers and sellers.
What is a Smart Home?
The panel agreed that the best definition of a "smart home" is a house that anticipates the owner's needs such as turning on and off lights or thermostats based on occupancy. Using devices that help anticipate those needs makes the home easier to live in and helps save money.
Why does my home need to be smart?
Cragholm from Nest relayed that the most common use for Nest cameras is pet and baby monitoring, as well as saving money with their smart thermostat product. Barrett from Centriq offered his company's adage "More time in the hammock, less in the hardware store," emphasizing that the primary reason to have a smart home is to make life easier for the owner.
What can my home do and why?
Every panelist evoked the image of "The Jetsons" as a shorthand for what smart home technology aspires toward. Smart home devices can automate certain functions like lighting, temperature control and pet doors, while cams and smart locks can improve upon home security systems.
What tech is most important / what's the greatest new stuff?
With so many smart home products already on the market and more on the way, panelists gave the audience a laundry list of answers including smart locks, entertainment systems, on-demand access (like remote cams and locks), lighting, thermostat, security systems and more.
What are the pitfalls of smart home technology?
Barasch from Intuitive Environments asked "what is your tech pain tolerance?" He expanded that, because technology will fail occasionally, there is a tradeoff to having more of it in your home. How frustrated will the owner be when the smart lock malfunctions, for example. Barrett from Centriq elaborated that when these devices fail the owner needs a fixer. Centriq, for example, stores support materials to reset passwords. Along with the smart home, he added, you need to be a smarter home owner.
What about Security?
As with any networked technology, there is a vulnerability of your home network being hacked (like cam feeds) and, yes, Alexa is always listening. The best practice is to change the default passwords on devices like cameras and wifi routers. Cragholm identified the audience of REALTORS® as the trusted advisor for their clients, and presented three concerns to note with tech companies: First, Brand, the company needs to stand behind quality products and services and prepared to plug gaps. Second, Privacy Policy, what the company does with your data, tracking, and storage is your business and you should always ask to review these policies. Last, Do your Homework—ask for research, who has used these products and what the results have been. Barrett concurred that you should always ask about security and if the company doesn't have an answer, be skeptical.
What does the future hold for Smart Homes?
With plenty of security concerns and the potential for tech frustration, the panel still offered a rosier picture of the future of smart homes bringing us closer to the dream of "The Jetsons." The technology is getting more accessible and affordable, and is driving us toward greater interaction between devices. There is already an array of automated and context aware devices for the home that take into account related data like your calendar. For instance, in the near future your smart thermostat could look up your flight information to adjust thermostat for your return home if there's a delay. However, the panelists' emphasis was that the owner is always in control.
Q&A
After a robust panel discussion the audience brought forward a number of questions relating smart home technology to the real estate transaction. Barasch with Intuitive Environments explained that the network is now a core technology along with plumbing and electric wiring in the home.
In terms of energy savings, the general sentiment was that as connectivity increases, so too does productivity. Cragholm gave the example that the day before the event, August 21, during the eclipse, Nest devices used contextual data to pre-adjust home heating and cooling. Such ecosystem integration and demand response is an example of how these devices improve the home's environmental footprint while helping save on energy costs.
While there is more interest in smart home technology from millennials (most have more than one device in their homes), there are different degrees that the technology can be adopted to make a home owner's life easier. We're so used to replacing our phones every couple of years that version fatigue is a significant concern. In Nest's case, they continue to send updates to legacy devices so that their technology's lifespan is longer than the average consumer device. And, if a buyer thinks they don't know how to use or don't want the technology, the REALTOR® can be better equipped to sell tech in addition to the home by understanding the ways it helps the homeowner save energy and time, and live easier.
