As smart home technology becomes the rule rather than the exception, consumers of all types are demanding more from their home security systems than ever before. First-time home buyers in Kansas City are not only snapping up bigger and more expensive houses, they are also looking at smart home products that can help put the control, oversight, and security of their homes in the palms of their hands—sometimes literally.
As millennials and Gen Xers who have grown up with technology all around them become homeowners, they expect their homes to keep up with a rapidly changing world. Modern homes are less likely to contain plain old phone lines and a lot more likely to be filled with smart phones, tablets, cameras, and other essential, high-tech gadgets. And with smart home technology continuing to evolve and become more ubiquitous—and more affordable—residential security systems in Kansas City would do well to keep up.
The Residential Homes Market in KC
It’s a fact: There are more buyers on the market in Kansas City than there are homes for them to buy. In 2017, Kansas City was listed as one of the top 20 real estate markets in the United States. This isn’t some brief bubble, either. It’s a seven-year trend, and average sale prices are up 6.3% from 2017 to 2018. That’s all good news for home sellers, builders, and real estate professionals, but only if they have what home buyers want. Who is buying in Kansas City?
Who KC Home Buyers Are and What They Want
Sure, we’ve all embraced the digital age. Even our grandparents are on Facebook by now. But there’s no comparison between older generations and the millennials and Gen Xers who are many of today’s first-time home buyers. New home buyers have come to expect technology and rely on it in every aspect of their lives, from work and school to play and, yes, at home.
Today’s tech-savvy home buyers expect their homes to be able to keep up. That means no plain old phone lines and no dummy doorbells; instead, modern home buyers are looking for homes that are easy to adapt to smart home technology and state-of-the-art residential security systems in Kansas City. Some of the most popular suburbs in the KC area for young professionals include Roeland Park, Mission, Prairie Village, Overland Park, Westwood, Lenexa, Shawnee, and Leawood. All of those are home to plenty of new construction, but they also have older homes, too. Savvy home sellers hoping to appeal to these types of buyers should consider adding the latest smart home technology to their older properties.
Sensors for EVERYTHING in the Home
What does a fully automated home look like? Well, we may not quite be there yet, but we’re getting closer. The first step is adding sensors to keep tabs on what’s going on in the home all the time, whether someone is at home or not.
We’re all familiar with motion sensors that can activate security cameras and show you when someone’s lurking around the back yard or about to knock on your door. These days, though, homes can be equipped with a variety of other sensors: temperature sensors that can monitor and control the thermostat with a touch of your smart phone, smart locks with video surveillance, smart doorbells that tell you who’s at the door and allow you to talk to them even if you’re not home, security sensors on garage doors, windows, and any other entry to your home, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, key fobs, panic buttons, and a whole lot more.
Security Control Panels to Rule Them All
All of those sensors and systems need something that can control them. The days when we all juggled six different remote controls to turn on the TV, set the VCR, dim the lights, and turn up the stereo are long gone. Today’s smart home systems are more integrated than ever. Devices that are ready to join the Internet of Things (IoT) link everything from residential security systems to refrigerators and microwaves, and they’re in high demand.
All that integration demands controls that are intuitive and easy to use. Fortunately, plenty of residential security systems in Kansas City use simple and direct control panels and keypads that can often communicate wirelessly with smart phones and tablets. 2GIG products from Nortek Security & Control are leaders in this field and provide simple interfaces that are quick to learn and powerful to use once they’re mastered.
Complete Home Connectivity
Once everything in the home is connected and there’s one panel to rule them all, we also want to be able to access everything on the go. This means we’ll need wireless connectivity to smart phones, tablets, and other devices such as virtual assistants Siri or Alexa, which can change the thermostat, turn on the security system, or perform a Google search with a simple voice command. These days, we really can just walk into our houses and say “turn on the lights” or “turn up the air conditioner” and have it happen, as if by magic. That’s assuming, of course, that we’ve got the right smart home technology and it’s all been integrated correctly.
Who Doesn’t Want to Miss Out on Smart Home Sales?
Once you get used to something, it’s a lot harder to do without it. Maybe that’s why 72% of young home buyers said they would pay over $3,000 more for a home if it was already “smart” before they moved in, according to a recent survey by Coldwell Banker. In a crowded market, a home that’s equipped with this technology is a big advantage for home sellers, home builders, contractors, real estate professionals, and anyone else who wants to capture a fast-growing segment of the market by offering them what they want before they even need to ask. In a few years, advanced residential security systems and smart home technology will be as indispensable as electricity and indoor plumbing, and Kansas City realtors and home builders can’t afford to get left behind.
Looking for Residential Security Essentials in Kansas City?
To learn more about how “smart” technology works with commercial and residential security systems in Kansas City, contact A-TEC Security today. A-TEC Security in Kansas City sells 2GIG and other leading security products and has the know-how to integrate them into your overall smart home system, whether you’re a first-time home buyer or a seller looking to make your properties more appealing to the next generation.