Smart Home Gadgets to Increase Home’s Value

Although most people relish the arrival of the holiday season, real estate activity tends to grow in sluggish around this happy time of year. Many prospective buyers simply have other priorities on their minds. You’ll want to make an extra effort to attract attention to the most appealing aspects of your property now:

One: De-Clutter And Simplify

When you offer your home for sale, encourage potential buyers to envision themselves residing there. Many sales experts recommend removing as much of your personal property from the premises as possible to encourage this mindset. Naturally, you treasure your belongings. Yet to casual visitors your grandfather’s worn old chair or your son’s favorite pair of gym sneakers scream “clutter”.

Consider stripping down your household furnishings to the bare minimum. If necessary, rent a storage unit as a temporary home for any unnecessary household possessions. By simplifying your interior design, you’ll inspire prospective buyers to see themselves filling your premises with their own prized possessions!

Two: Create Exterior Curb Appeal

During the holiday season, it remains especially important to dispel any sense of mid-winter gloom. You’ll want to ensure your home appears inviting from the curb. No one enjoys taking time to tour a residence situated in the midst of a cold, dormant terrain- especially during the convivial holiday season.

Fortunately, several strategies offer assistance. To “spruce up” your grounds (pun intended), place potted evergreens near the front door or along the entrance; they’ll display vibrant green throughout the year. You might also consider using colored mulch in the garden to add rich, decorative earth tones to the yard. Consider hanging a festive wreath on the front door. Most importantly, ensure your home’s exterior lights function correctly; by late afternoon, visitors sometimes require extra illumination at this time of year.

Three: Use Aroma Power

The ability to use powerful scents in your home also assists you during the holiday season. Studies show the sweet aroma of cinnamon rolls appeals to most people. Bake some in the oven before a showing to infuse your kitchen with an alluring scent.

Pine air fresheners may also prove welcome now. Remember, some visitors particularly notice pet odors. You may wish to obtain professional carpet cleaning to remove these lingering scents from upholstery.

Four: Promote Your Home Widely

The holiday season enables you to promote your home widely to your network of friends and neighbors. At social gatherings, mention you’ve placed your home for sale. Local people often know interested possible buyers.

It remains important not to monopolize holiday gatherings with your home marketing news. Yet you should share this information. Your friends may wish to help you by contributing their own friendly word-of-mouth advertising.

Five: Create a Festive Atmosphere at Your Open Houses

Make your residence appealing by creating a festive atmosphere during holiday open houses. Even if you don’t want to set up a fully decorated natural tree, you might consider locating small white artificial Christmas trees in several rooms to create a festive décor. (Just keep the decorations simple and uncluttered.)

Offering small candies or warm apple cider to your visitors confers a party-like atmosphere during open house tours. Make sure you ask everyone to sign a guest book. You can follow up with potential buyers later to see if they have considered purchasing your home.

Many Rewards

By continuing to promote the sale of your property during the holiday season, you may obtain a welcome outcome. Even if a closing does not occur until after the celebrations end, your efforts to sell your home won’t have occurred in vain. Selling real estate sometimes requires time and patience. Your prospects may discuss your property in depth during family gatherings and bring you an offer once most businesses resume their normal operations!

Top Ways to Create The Ultimate Smart Home

Technology has allowed us to achieve things that were only a dream in the past. Smartphones have changed the way the world works. They have changed the way that every individual lives their life. Connected cars provide unparalleled convenience. They can tell you when your tires need air or your oil needs to be changed. They integrate media in a new and convenient way. Smart homes are the next step in this evolution. A smart house can truly improve quality of life. A smart house can let you control your home from anywhere. This can improve security, add convenience, and save money and energy. Creating a smart house is a fun and involved task. Here are five intelligent ways to make your home a smart home.

First Things First

Before we dive into automation tips we should discuss the best way to integrate the various services into your home. The early days of ‘smart houses’ required a centralized hub within the home. Homeowners control their entire home from this single control center. Current home automation practices are moving away from this. The hub, instead of being in the home, is now on your smartphone. Google has a dedicated hub app that enables you to manage your home network. Apple uses their Apple TV app to manage your smart home.

Now that we know how to manage a smart home, let’s discover all of the amazing things that you can do with an automated home.

Climate Control

The nest smart thermostat has set the standard in home climate control automation. Bestreviews.com calls it “…the best smart thermostat available right now”. The nest smart thermostat allows you to manage your home thermostat from anywhere in the world, as long as you have access to the internet. This system also ‘learns’ your preferences and is able to adjust accordingly. This system accomplishes everything that one could ask for; it saves money and offers unparalleled convenience.

Lighting Control

A correctly automated home relieves you of duties that generations of homeowners could not escape. Automated lights make worrying that you’ve left a light on a thing of the past. Your smart phone, enabled with a hub app, is the only tool you need to turn your lights off from anywhere. If you will be away for an extended time you can keep the lights on a schedule. This may deter any would be intruders.

Security

An automated home can improve your peace of mind when you are home or away. Smart locks and cameras offer security that was once only dreamt about. Integrated cameras allow you to monitor your home from anywhere. There is no need to be scared by a strange noise outside of your home. A camera system and smart phone allow you to see your home from different angles. Furthermore, motion detectors can warn you of silent threats. The Cocoon security system is an exciting and innovative newcomer into the home security arena. This system of cameras uses infrared and low-frequency sound technology to detect intruders. This sophisticated system actually identifies ‘normal’ sounds in a home and alerts you when there is an odd sound.

Entertainment

A smart home knows that its owners need their favorite music. Google and Amazon have released smart home devices that puts the world of entertainment at your fingertips.

Smart home technology is gaining popularity because it is becoming easier than ever. From a single smartphone a homeowner can manage their climate, ensure security, and even turn lights on and off. Companies such as Google, Cocoon, and Apple see the potential of this technology and how it will improve the public’s lives. It is hard to say what unbelievable innovation in waiting for us in the coming years but the potential is only limited by our imagination.