A smart home sounds like something we'd all want. Anything with the word "smart" in it is typically coveted. And while smart homes are all the rage, the technology has surprisingly been around for over 40 years. In 1975, the X10 made its debut. This apparatus was a communication protocol designed for home automation. If you're old enough to remember The Jetsons, the connectedness of their home was the X10's objective. Via radio frequency bursts, commands were sent to connected devices (an electric wiring system, for example) communicating what it wanted the device to do.

This operation worked Ok. The most significant barrier was the connection, however. A considerable amount of "radio-band noise" prevented a smooth, Jetsons-esque conversation. The good news though is this is all a distant memory. Smart homes today call upon internet-connected devices, frequently controlled by an app or a similar networked device. Nearly anything electronic we own has remote capabilities.

Thermostats, for example, come equipped with Wifi, allowing us to monitor, schedule, and control home temperatures. The best thing about any smart device is they can learn and pick up on homeowner behavior. If you tend to switch on the heat every day at 5:30 PM, a smart thermostat responds and automatically modifies the settings. The same occurs with lighting, security cameras, kitchen appliances, and smart locks.

The smart home is undoubtedly here to stay. But there is a lot that goes into converting a home from the past to a home of the future.

How Much is a Smart Home System?

The answer to the question, "how much is a smart home system," is another question – how smart do you want it to be? Imagine if we could purchase intelligence. Granted, the most successful people in the world (however you define success) are not necessarily the smartest. So having the smartest home on your block doesn't make you any better than Fred and Marjorie two doors down. What a smart home does, however, is makes things easier. And that comes at a price.

The most common devices in most smart homes are lighting, motorized blinds, the thermostat, and security cameras. There are others, plenty of others. But these are the top sellers and the ones smart homeowners begin with on their road to higher intelligence. The first thing any aspiring smart home needs is a hub. This is not always the case (as we'll get to later), but a hub is a good place to start. The hub is a device that serves as the central control for the alarm system, locks, lights, etc. A hub can be as cheap as $70 on up to $350.

From here, if you move to door locks, those equipped for remote control are approximately $280 per lock. On to the doorbell, and a video system with a camera, speaker and microphone will run you $200. Motorized window blinds are a popular smart home addition, and per window, the average is $300 to $500. If the typical home has 18 windows, you're looking at an investment of $6,000 to $7,000.

As you can see, with everything we've listed here, we're close to $10,000. The good news is, you can move incrementally, purchasing, and installing according to your budget. The upfront investment is clear, but over time a smart home is cheaper to maintain than one without the integrated technology.

Pros and Cons of Smart Home Systems

If you're old enough, you'll remember DVD players. After those came, BlueRay and a whole host of "disc" operated devices to listen to music, watch movies, etc. At first, they were a bit daunting. It was an entirely different technology than what we were used to at the time – cassette tapes. Some resisted, others jumped headfirst, and the masses integrated themselves at a more reasonable pace.

The uptake of smart home systems has been occurring in the same manner. The cons of the system have everything to do with their technical nature. Smart home devices for those who are not overly "techy" seem complicated. That perceived complexity hinders engagement and even when you do purchase those electric blinds, one small hiccup and frustration sets in. It's understandable, annoyances occur quite frequently with new technology. So by far, the number one con is the ease of use.

Second, people are very concerned about hackers. Security vulnerabilities and data privacy are ever-present in the news. Folks are rightly worried, and anything involving placing their home in the hands of "the internet" can be worrisome. Transparency and trust are critical for manufacturers moving forward. They need to communicate this to potential customers in a "sellable" fashion to overcome these concerns.

Now on to the pros. The benefits of an integrated, smart home system are user preference. Consider the following scenario. You've just gotten off work, and it's the dead of winter. You've been away from your home all day and will be arriving at a virtual ice-box in 45 minutes. All from the comfort of your phone, you can switch on the thermostat, even prep some music on the stereo, perhaps feed your dog via a smart feeder, and upon entering the house, you've got a cozy abode ready and waiting.

Another pro is home automation. As we touched on earlier, automation improves efficiency. A smart thermostat and irrigation system are controlled down to the second. This ensures no energy gets wasted warming, cooling, or watering unnecessarily. Improved efficiency equates to more money in your banking account. That's an obvious pro, no matter how you slice it.

And lastly, if you have someone who is elderly in your home, a smart home is exceptionally advantageous. Remote, health monitoring is big business, and the technology behind it is rapidly advancing. Having the tools in place to not needing to rely on a nurse or health care provider next to someone all day is appealing. Smart homes possess the capability of monitoring and alerting in ways that simply are not possible without the presence of another human being.

Does a Smart Home Increase Value?

In a word - yes. And if you've done what I'm about to describe, then you'll certainly understand. Installing a pool in a home is a big commitment. Above all, there's the monetary investment, and then there's the maintenance year-round. This becomes even more complicated if you live in a climate with seasons and highly varying climates. An outdoor pool can sit dormant for months on end in Minnesota, for example, but the upkeep is still costing you monthly.

However, after the final accounting is in, once you sell a home with a pool, the sale price is inflated far beyond the money and monthly payments you paid to install it years prior. A pool is a good value-added to any home, and a smart home works in exactly the same manner. In fact, a host of real estate firms have engaged in studies over home values with smart home technology compared to those without. Potential buyers are clamoring for voice control, interested in functionality, cool features, hands-free control, and location flexibility. Real estate professionals like to point to things like smart lighting options to show potential buyers in person. These are the types of features that bring that "wow" reaction to life. And security is also another plus. Folks will pay beyond the fair market value of the smart security system if they see it in action and know they don't have to go through the installation process and any headaches that come with it.

A smart home more than anything gives agents exciting talking points with potential buyers. It offers buyers a way to differentiate one house from another, and gadgets sell, no matter the demographic.

How Do I Make My Home a Smart Home?

As we mentioned earlier, hubs are a good starting point. Not 100% necessary (more later on), but hubs do serve as the brains of the operation. Another plus - they're not all that expensive. Anything from Samsung to Wink, Amazon, or Google Home. Hubs are plentiful and readily available. But do dig into the reviews and make sure the hub you choose makes sense for your smart home needs.

The second is starting with a device. Again, you can go big or small, or somewhere in between. TVs and remotes are a logical first step to becoming a fully integrated smart home. Your home theater is likely much smarter than the rest of your house, so bringing it up to speed is not all that difficult nor pricey. The other advantage of starting with TVs and remotes is they can later serve as devices to control other smart additions in conjunction with the hub.

One of those frequent smart home additions controlled by the remote is lights. Smart home lights will change the entire ambiance of the home. Planning when lights come on, the brightness levels, and even colors are all possible with smart bulbs. There are also triggers that turn the lights on or off based on weather changes, etc.

Once the entertainment system and the lights are in place, many will navigate toward the thermostat. In line with the lights, a smart home thermostat can heat or cool your home based on your personalized preferences at exact times during the day. It doesn't matter if you are at home or in Kentucky (let's assume you don't live in Kentucky to give this example some merit), your thermostat receives controls via your smartphone (or communication with your hub). Those Kentucky getaways just got a whole lot sweeter!

Lastly, the security system. In conjunction with smart locks, the security system is the granddaddy of them all. Cameras are simply a component, as there are companies like Abode, for example, that allow for self-monitoring while you're away and locks with fingerprint recognition. You can even program a friend's fingerprint for a set amount of time if you go out of town.

Do I Need a Hub for My Smart Home?

To boil it down - a hub is a minicomputer. It's got a host of transmitters and receivers tightly packed into a little box. The hub is the middleman (or woman), taking in communication from smart devices and pushing out notification via its multitude of signals. A hub connects to your home network (Internet), and through your smartphone, you can send commands. With this said, though, we're going to throw a wrench into this equation. A hub is great, but you don't necessarily need one to have a smart home.

Digital assistants such as Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa can now take on many of the same tasks that hubs do. These devices call on the cloud as a place to connect to similar (authorized) devices. This connection eliminates the middleman (or woman) and forms virtual bridges. Now, this all sounds great, but you want to know if you should buy a hub or not?

At a very sophisticated level, hubs will give you more flexibility at a higher, smart home scale. If you have your thermostat and the sprinkler system set up, and that's it, no hub is necessary. But if you want to wake up at 6, trigger the lights to come on at 6:03, kick out some Beyonce at 6:05, brew coffee from 6:06 to 6:15, and have the shades up to let the morning sun come in, a hub is your best bet.

There is a ton of wizardry involved, and that is where the real value of a hub comes in. People generally start with hubs because once you begin with that first smart home accessory, the next two, three, six, ten, or fifteen are just around the corner.

Wrap Up

We've all got different lifestyle needs. If you're reading this from a camper van in Alaska, eating out of a tuna can and pondering whether to kill an elk or simply forage today, a smart "camper (home)" might not be in the cards. But for others, a smart home makes a lot of sense. On the practical side, there are savings. These come not only from using energy more efficiently (and thus paying less to energy providers). But they also arrive in the form of a higher resale value of a property.

On the interaction side, smart homes are more fun. You are controlling devices via hubs and smartphones, have your house humming and heating at all the right times. You've got the music you want at precisely the moment you want it. And the house is super secure with a state-of-the-art smart security system. All of these things are wonderful, and again, lifestyle permitting, tremendous value-added.

The smart home market is booming, and the plethora of devices and gadgets grows by the day. If all this sounds attractive, then we trust this post was helpful.