Tag Archives: smart home

eNews, Family Home, Health & Safety, Home Buyers, Homeowners, Insurance

Smart Homes and Flood Monitoring: Enhancing Safety and Real Estate Value

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A couple reviewing the remote-control for their smart home technology.

As a current or future homeowner, protecting your property from potential flood threats is essential for your peace of mind and financial stability. Early detection and planning are the secrets to ensuring that your home is secure from water damage.

Flood monitoring plays a vital role in getting and acting on this initial warning and embracing smart technology for this endeavor can be a significant game-changer.

This article will explore the benefits of using advanced technology in flood monitoring. It will also provide ways how you can incorporate this innovation into your home to enhance safety and explain how the integration of a smart flood monitoring system can increase your property’s real estate value.

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eNews, Family Home, Homeowners

Energy-Saving Upgrades for Summer

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A woman setting her programmable thermostat, one energy-saving upgrade to consider before summer.

When temperatures rise this summer, trying to keep your energy bills low can feel like a challenging task. From smaller, practical upgrades to utilizing technology to help you use less energy, there are countless ways you can keep your home cool and save money this summer.

If you’re considering upgrading your home this summer, consider these energy-saving options. Even minor upgrades can add up to a big difference!

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eNews, Family Home, Home Design, Homeowners

Small Appliances to Make Your Home Feel More Luxurious

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An air purifier, one of the small appliances to make your home feel more luxurious.

Everyone wants to make their home feel more luxurious and comfortable, but it can sometimes be expensive and time-consuming. Fortunately, there are many small appliances that can help you achieve an opulent feel in your home without breaking the bank. From kitchen gadgets to bathroom amenities, living room furniture to outdoor spaces, these small appliances provide comfort and convenience at an affordable price. Read on to discover ways to spruce up your space and create the perfect atmosphere in your home with small appliances.

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Homeowners

Six Ways to Keep Your Smart Home Secure

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There’s no question that smart homes are a trend that’s here to stay. One research group estimates that 28 percent of U.S. households will be smart homes by 2021. Although smart homes can surely make everyday activities a little more convenient, they can also put homeowners and property owners at risk if they aren’t secured properly. These devices are typically connected over a WiFi network, so it is important to make sure that your network is as secure as possible. Here are a few easy steps you can take to make sure your smart home devices give you maximum security.

Change Your Passwords

It might seem obvious that “pass12345” is not a great password, but it is important to take stock of your online accounts and ensure your login credentials are secure. Generic passwords, while easier to remember, are generally less secure. Typically, more secure passwords contain special characters and numbers and are also unique and different for every account.

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Home Design

Is a Smart Home Worth it?

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Smart homes are becoming increasingly popular, as more people are willing to invest in automatic home appliances and systems to make their lives easier and their homes sustainable and more convenient. However, as one might assume, smart homes do come with a set of downsides along with the perks. So, before you introduce any changes, study our list of advantages and disadvantages of turning your home into a smart home first.

Advantages 

Great convenience

Automatic home appliances and systems can be programmed to fully meet all your specific needs. They also enable you to control and check on your home no matter where you are.  In a few simple clicks, you can turn on the heating or turn off the lighting whenever you want. This is why investing in these devices becomes one of the money moves buyers make after purchasing their first home.

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Home Buyers, Homeowners, Real Estate News, Uncategorized

Smart Homes are the Next Big Thing

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Smart homes are the next big thing. You may not realize it yet, but somewhere your day will be easier because of it. Smart home technology is not only impacting the homes its installed into. Its reach stretches to other industries like business, science and even health care. Continue reading →

Homeowners

How to Give Your Home a “Smart” Financial Stress Test

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Do you ever feel like your money is literally flying out the window? Parents have ribbed their kids about turning off the lights and closing the door for as long as there have been homes, but there’s quite a bit of truth behind one of the most common household pet peeves. Wasted utilities can be a monetary black hole in the budget of any family, and in many cases, the ways we’re wasteful aren’t always immediately obvious.

Thankfully, today’s smart home technology can enable every family to do some smart snooping for inefficient habits, and set up intelligent scheduling to keep a home comfortable while minimizing costs. Here’s some helpful advice to consider: Continue reading →

Homeowners

Smart home tech for pet owners

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woman chatting to cat on tablet

Approximately 85 million households own a domestic pet. Pet ownership has steadily increased over the years, with more and more homeowners bringing a pet into the home. Pet ownership requires responsibility and constant care of your four legged loved one. The daily tasks of pet ownership can be made easier with these home tech products. Combine these resources of technology and your pet’s needs and you have solutions to some of the most common pet owner problems. Continue reading →

Homeowners

How to secure your smart home devices

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smart house device illustration with app icons

Smart home devices are quickly becoming the norm, with IT research firm Gartner predicting consumers will have 5.2 billion internet-connected products in 2017 – an average of four devices per household.

“The connected home is coming to fruition and it’s coming now,” says Yonomi co-founder and CEO Kent Dickson.

We’re using smart devices to control the lighting, temperature and ambiance of our homes, to lock our doors and watch for intruders, to feed and play with our pets. There seems to be a smart device for every conceivable home need, but how secure are these devices?

“The biggest issue with smart devices in the home is that many can be accessed directly from the internet,” says Bruce Snell, Cybersecurity and Privacy Director at Intel Security, adding, “Securing the smart home requires that you think a little more about security than you may have in the past.”

What can you do to secure your smart home tech?

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