HA and home resale value... Will an HA system increase my homes value at all?

[Techvet]

I'll offer that some of the 'value' may be determined by the intended use of the house. My primary home is located in the mountains of western NC, a popular spot for 2nd homes. Folks that buy a second home may be more interested in the HA angle beause they want to manage and/or keep tabs on the home while they are away, which is most of the time. This is certainly the case of 2nd home buyers where I live.

I'll also agree with the other posters, certain elements will probably add value. I could see structured wiring as a big plus - plain old Cat 5e is a nice backbone that will provide years of compatability. Sure Cat 6 is 'better', however no local ISP providers offer service with the speed to use the Cat 6 potential. A security system is a nice to have add-on, provided it is not too exoctic - mine is a fairly standard GE Caddx system that pretty much any local alarm company could service. The HA switches, controller, etc, could and likely would be a detractor to all but the most tech savy people. Mind you, mine is not complicated; however, the local alarm folks probably won't be as game to dive into a HA panel as the they would be with the GE Caddx. The IP cameras and the Davis Weather station would be neutral to positive. All of that said, I'll be lucky to break even on the price of all the 'plus' components and I'll likely loose money on the 'neutral' and 'negative' components.

There may well come a time when the industry gets more standardized and HA could help sell a house. Certain technologies, once accepted as a standard, mean that most servicers of equipment could indeed provide a service for said equipment. However, considering most electricians are still frightful of anything but a mechanical one-way, two-way or three-way switch, we are potentially a decade or more away from that point. In addition, realtors will have to become much more familiar with the technology and get comfortable with recommending it. Considering that some can't even come to grips with the ins and outs of a local school system, we might be miles away there as well.

 

[Westcojack]

We are installers and programmers of Home Automation systems.
Our feeling is that as time goes on, a home built without some automation will be like buying an automobile without air conditioning. You really don't need it, but everyone has it.
Especially in a new home, having simple single gang keypads or switches that have multiple buttons and switching capabilities will be the norm. Pressing a single button when you leave your home, turning off all lights in the house, insuring all lights are off, guarentees energy savings. The same button can also be placed at your master bedside.
Inherent dimming of all lights, motion sensors, and automatic on/off of certain lights, save a good deal of energy, effortlessly.
Maybe in the not so distance future, if the system is extremely easy to use, does automatic functions, and is from a company that has a long track record of stability, we think that the systems will help sell the home, and lack of one may hinder the sale.

 

[JTR7]

Also - most new buyers would feel really weird about the previous owner coming around for anything - it's kinda like hanging out with your wife's Ex - some people can, but usually you just don't want the weirdness. Find a reputable installer and refer them to that person.

Ironically, we bought our house from someone who moved straight across the street- we're good friends now. He just couldnt do stairs anymore-arthritis.

I believe a security system probably increases value to most buyers.

A whole home stereo probably increases value to many buyers.

A wired network probably increases value to some buyers.

Distributed video and lighting control probably increases value to few buyers. Temperature control probably is the least valuable. I'd hazard a guess that most people with even basic programmable thermostats don't bother with programming them.

At least that's my take on it.

 

[pete_c]

Relating to cars. I had a friend trade in his vehicle. Somewhere in his vehicle was a gasoline charge slip. The new owner called him asking him some questions about the car months after the trade in.

 

[Dave X10]

I have a fortune in Home Automation and I would not want to live without it. I could say something similar about the landscaping, or even the family pictures we display on our walls, or the way we decorate.

But if I was to put the home up for sale... I would stage the house. And even though a staged home isn't the way people live it does increase the price paid for homes. I would remove all Home Automation as part of the staging.

 

[apostolakisl]

The day that our wives stop "putting up" with our home automation and actually embrace it and brag about it, well, that is the day that I think we can safely say that it is a plus for selling the house.

Addendum: I just told my wife I wrote this. Her response was, "well it is kind of neat, but what would I do if something happened to you. How would I stop the girls lights from turning on in the morning to wake them up come summer? I think I would have to unscrew the lightbulbs."

 

[Photon]

The day that our wives stop "putting up" with our home automation and actually embrace it and brag about it, well, that is the day that I think we can safely say that it is a plus for selling the house.

Addendum: I just told my wife I wrote this. Her response was, "well it is kind of neat, but what would I do if something happened to you. How would I stop the girls lights from turning on in the morning to wake them up come summer? I think I would have to unscrew the lightbulbs."

I think Lou nailed it. I've been concerned about the point in his Addendum for some time. I gave up on expaining the whole thing to my wife, although I will continue to try to compile some simplified operating instructions. She has a techie brother living in our area, so my system documention is be more oriented to him. So far that binder has sections with an overview, her operating instructions, original invoices and list of suggested vendors, URL and passwords to get to the Elk's RP, and a heavily-commented Elk Rules section.

I can't imagine the Elk system will add even a fraction of what it cost when our house is eventially sold. The network and cable wiring will probably be more valuable when it comes time to put $$ numbers on them.

 

[JTR7]

See, features like that are going to scare buyers. However, a well designed system needs no changes (that can't be done from a user interface). For instance, a well programed rule to turn on the light when someone walks in the front door after dark is useful. A rule to turn on the lights in a room whenever motion is detected is a very personal decision, and it's fairly likely the new buyer won't like that and want it changed.

I believe a well designed system with minimalist rules could increase the value of a home. Rules should be either very simple, ie the front light, or behind the scenes, close the shades when nobodys in the room and the air conditioning is on to promote energy efficiency.

The thing is, the systems that will be most appealing to buyers are less about automation and more about control. Automation is scary. When the lights come on in the room when you don't want them to, you get frustrated. When you can turn the lights off or close the shades from your remote while watching TV, that's convenient.

 

[pete_c]

This is a bit off the main topic and related to a friend whom recently just sold his home.

I have a friend who went into real estate from IT a few years ago. He's heading towards retirement and the only way he was able to sell his home (or so it appears to me) was that he had the home "staged" by a professional at a cost of about $7k. He did get close to his asking price of about 500K which very good considering the age of the home and how many neighbors had their houses listed.

Concurrently he purchased a condo near the train station of the same town. He was able to purchase the condo at a "steal" well below what they were asking (new construction). He ran into an issue though with the real estate tax value of the new condo being kept at the original value of the condo versus the sale value. He's petitioning to lower his rate but not really getting anywhere (Dupage county, IL). His tax rate for the new much smaller condo is almost as high as his old home.

 

[drozwood90]

Concurrently he purchased a condo near the train station of the same town. He was able to purchase the condo at a "steal" well below what they were asking (new construction). He ran into an issue though with the real estate tax value of the new condo being kept at the original value

Yeah, he's probably not going to get it lowered. The gov't loves to keep all the $$ it can steal from us!

--Dan

 

[pete_c]

Funny the condo is about 1/5 the size of his old home. The justification of the tax rate didn't make any sense to me. On the same note my sister lives about 4 miles from me. I sit on close to an acre where I am at with water and sewer in the MW. She sits on 2 acres with septic and her own well. The homes in the small subdivision she lives in are very nice (4k to 8k in SF while here they are similiar in size - only 100 houses though) but the "self" maintainance (wells and septic) kept the prices lower than surrounding subdivisions.

Her real estate tax rate went from about 1/2 of ours (ours is a bit excessive at 9K here in the MW but I hear really kind of "cheap" compared to the East coast or West coast) to the same as ours today in only about the last 3 years. Same county and different town (town is an ambiguous term).

Where I used to live (almost 30 years) there was a small group of us which all moved at the same time (4 immediate neighbors). My one neighbor build a new home not to far from us. He did keep in touch with the person that bought his home to "help". He got a bit depressed after only a few visits and what the new folks were doing to his old house; he didn't go back after a year or two.