We live in interesting times.

We live in an age where you can set your thermostat while you're thousands of miles away.

You can start your car from your phone.

Your driveway can heat itself to melt ice.

And yet research shows that while consumers expect homes to be efficient, state-of-the-art, and modern, they don't want to pay extra for it. Even more consumers are reluctant to set it up after they buy their home and have moved in.

While we can certainly retrofit just about any home and turn it into a smart home, there are significant advantages to buying a home that's already set up for smart home automation:

1. Less disruption to your life. If you're a night owl, you don't have to get up early to let your integration team in.
2. You're not living in dust-filled construction site (not good for indoor allergy sufferers).
3. You don't have to worry about fitting the tech into your aesthetic as it's done before you even decorate.

Yet, even with these obvious benefits, it's not that easy to find your dream home -- let alone your fully automated dream home.

But why is that?

If buying an already smart home is so much better than buying a home and retrofitting, why aren't there more new smart homes on the market?

It's about the builders. Builders have to constantly weigh the pros and cons of adding additional tech to their homes.

Let's take a look at solar panels:

Solar panels have an obvious benefit to the consumer:

They are green, eco-friendly tech, and long-term, they can save the homeowner a lot of money.

Yet to the builder, the cost could be perceived as prohibitive. Remember, a builder isn't doing his work out of the kindness of his heart; he's running a business, and he has to decide whether or not the additional expense of solar panels is going to make the home sell faster and at a higher price.

This is where a good real estate agent comes in:

A good real estate agent will have no problem conveying the benefits of already-installed solar panels to a potential buyer.

Other modern home technology is not such an easy sell for the builder or the real estate agent.

First, the builder has to weigh the benefits of setting up a fully integrated smart home before construction is finished.

And then they have to partner with a professional smart home company to ensure the work is done properly.

This is not cheap, and generally this professional partnership is only beneficial in the luxury home market.

And then, the builder has to have faith that the real estate agent can sell a smart home.

It's not enough that the home has all the latest tech. If the real estate agent doesn't understand how to sell the benefits of a smart home, it may not be worth the builder's expense to go through the trouble to set it up.

This is where a savvy real estate agent can shine and create a name for themselves.

A real estate agent who understands smart home tech and how to sell a smart home, can stand out from the sea of agents who don't.

By and large, real estate agents generally do not understand smart home technology.

They understand the shades are automated, and timed to align with the sun.

They understand that the home will always be a perfect 70 degrees.

They understand the air is constantly filtered, and the filters on the HVAC system will alert the homeowner then they need to be replaced.

But what about explaining to a buyer why a fully integrated system is better than one with consumer devices such as Alexa? Not so much. And why would they?

There are so many different systems on the market right now that unless you're a dedicated smart home professional, it can feel like a constant struggle to keep up on it all.

This is why most real estate agents don't take the time to understand integrated smart homes, and this is why there's a real opportunity for those that take the time to learn.

Real estate agents who understand the benefits and features of fully integrated systems can increase their sales of luxury homes, and contribute to the smart home adoption rates.

The smart home industry is only growing, and soon it will be everywhere. Don't miss out on the opportunity to be part of the growth.

If you're a real estate agent or builder who needs a trusted smart home company to call on for new home projects, get in touch.(800) 878-9705