Smart Home Guide for Brickell Buyers and Sellers in 2021
Are condos in Brickell Miami “smart homes” ?
Living arrangements in urban areas such as Brickell in Miami, Florida have definitely become “smart.” Especially in tech, most people are willing to spare no expense to deck out their apartments, homes and condos in the latest high-tech gadgets and gizmos. Specially in North Brickell and West Brickell area, most buildings in Brickell are new and luxurious, and smart features have become a standard.
What are Smart Homes?
Smart homes are more than just thermostats and voice assistants. Truly smart apartments are intelligent and connected from the inside-out. A smart apartment is defined by three key characteristics:
- Smart Amenities. Amenities include devices like smart lights and smart locks, as well as integrated services like home cleaning and package delivery. However, amenities alone do not make an apartment smart.
- Connectivity. Buildings are wired from the inside-out to connect devices, building systems, residents, and management.
- Community Management. Create a better living experience for residents by incorporating services that save time, money, and hassle.
In short, smart apartments integrate smart amenities, community management, and building automation systems (e.g. HVAC and Access Control) into one connected building system. This is not only possible with new construction; older buildings can also be retrofitted with smart apartment connectivity.
If you already own an older condo in Brickell built before 1996, and want to make improvements and save some money on green features, you should check the Miami Dade County website. The county runs programs encouraging water saving and offers rebates to homeowners who change toilets, showerheads, and faucets. According to the county’s website you can help the survival of our planet simply by updating these features:
Toilets
A household can reduce its water use by more than 4,000 gallons a year with the installation of a high-efficiency toilet. A family of four can save more than $90 a year in reduced water bills and $2,000 over the toilet’s lifetime.
Showerheads
After the toilet, the shower is the largest water user in the home, consuming up to 30 percent of total household water.
Using a high-efficiency showerhead can save up to 2,900 gallons of water in one year for the average family.
Water-wasting showerheads have flow rates of five to eight gallons per minute. Using this type of fixture would send about 25 to 40 gallons of water down the drain and into the sewer during a five-minute shower.
By contrast, high-efficiency showerheads use only 1.5 gallons per minute, or 7.5 gallons for a five-minute shower, reducing water demand by at least 50 percent.
Faucets
With the installation of a high-efficiency faucet, the average family could save 700 gallons of water per year. If every family in the United States took this water-saving step, four billion gallons of water could be saved each year.
Also, FPL offers rebates to homeowners who change the AC to a high efficient one.
And if you own a commercial condo, you can also benefit. Florida Power and Light (FPL) offers incentives for its business customers to upgrade the HVAC system, building envelope, water heating, refrigeration and lighting systems. The individual rebates vary according to system size and efficiency rating. All equipment must meet program requirements for purchase, installation and energy efficiency. To find out more about these incentives, as well as renewable energy programs such as net metering, please visit the program web site.
TIPS FOR BRICKELL SELLERS:
1. Make a list of all smart devices that will stay after the sale, including locks, lighting, thermostats, alarms, streaming video players, modems and Wi-Fi repeaters.
2. Immediately before closing, reset all devices to factory defaults to wipe away email addresses, credit card numbers and other personal data.
3. If a device is tied to a personal email, create a free, generic email address (ex. 101YOURSTREET@gmail.com) and connect the device to that.
4. At closing, pass the generic email address and other smart home codes to buyers.
TIPS FOR BRICKELL BUYERS:
1. Ask sellers for manuals and manufacturer contact information for all smart devices.
2. Notify manufacturers of change of ownership and provide new contact information so they can send you updates and security patches.
3. Update all devices to the latest security software and firmware.
4. Change passwords and user names of the devices.
5. Change access codes for door locks, gates and garage door openers.
