Smart home devices can help prevent spread of viruses

There were 427 single family residential listings as of May 1 in the Lakes Region communities covered by this report. The average list price was a whopping $704,969 but the more meaningful median price point came in at $354,900. This inventory level represents about a three and a half months supply of homes on the market. This compares to 605 homes listed as of May 1, 2019.

Covid 19 certainly has changed a lot of things for a lot of people. It has put a lot of good people into a down-right panic about health and finances and has touched every walk of life. It certainly has affected the real estate market and how we do business as agents. On showings, it starts with the agents getting out of their cars looking like surgeons. You maintain social distancing while mumbling greetings to each other through these blasted masks. No facial expressions here. The only clue you have is the other person’s eyes which sometimes are bugged out like Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners. If you are under forty years of age, you may have to ask someone that has been around awhile about that.

Anyway, then the buyers show up with Mass plates on their car and hop out grinning like they are at Disneyland. Not a hint of concern…not always, but enough. No mask, no showing. No kids. No touching. No nothing. Just drove up today. Just looking at vacation houses. No hurry. The restaurants are all closed. Can’t find a place to park at Mt. Major. Real estate is essential. Yup.

I suspect real estate is going to change more in the future. There will likely be a mass exodus from the urban areas to the country. Could be a boon for our business. All we need is something to sell. I wonder if people will be still wanting to move from our relatively safe enclave in the Lakes Region to the densely populated winter havens of the South. Not me.

I expect homes themselves might change a lot to protect homeowners from future pandemics…or the continuation of this one. I looked online to see what people are saying and there were a few articles that said smart home technology was going to explode. Right now, Ring video doorbells eliminate the need for you to open the door and you can talk to that would-be virus spreader through a speaker. That’s nice.

There are smart door locks that can be unlocked with a remote or your cell phone. The next step should be that there is an automatic door opener, so you don’t have to touch the doorknob, right?

They say that wireless lights and wireless thermostats prevent the spread of viruses. These are our very own personal petri dishes of germs. I don’t know about you, but I tell my house guests to leave my thermostat and lights alone. I ain’t worried. There should be just my family’s germs on them and you ain’t getting past the Ring doorbell.

If you truly want a safe home and one that can sustain the next pandemic here are some suggestions for Covid prevention home improvements that some enterprising inventor could take, develop, and make some money. Shark Tank stuff, you know.

That Ring Video Doorbell should also be equipped with an infrared thermometer to make sure the visitor does not have a temp. Oh… I forgot. Sometimes, the person has no symptoms yet! But if he does have a temp, it should also be equipped with a long-range squirt gun to ward him off.

Once you decide to let a visitor into your home the door should open (automatically) into a glass enclosed airlock box. It will feature a new light called a “far-UVC light” that will kill the virus and but not hurt people. There will also be a sanitizer station, gloves, and masks. The visitor will step then into a box which would automatically put disposable shoe covers on their feet. This feature could double as a trap to catch intruders when you shut down the machine at night. A second infrared temp scan will also be done here as a precaution. The visitor then will place a hand into another box which will place a small bracelet on him. That bracelet will give the visitor a sharp jolt if he does not adhere to the six-foot social distancing rule.

Once inside the home, there are other improvements to be seen. At the dining room table are plexiglass dividers for each placement. There are speakers in each space just like at the state prison. At least when Uncle Frank comes for dinner, he won’t be able to spit his food out at you anymore. No, he doesn’t do it on purpose.

At the kitchen sink and in all the bathrooms there will be a new porcelain fixture. It will come in all the designer colors. These are mini hand washing stations that act very much like a drive through car wash. They dispense water, soap, scrub you with those flapping brushes and then air dry your hands completely. The best feature here is that it is impossible to get your hands out until they have been scrubbed for twenty seconds.

Perhaps the best Covid19 home improvement technology will be toilets that entirely eliminate the need for toilet paper. Oh, Wait! These already exist, but are little used in the U.S. Perhaps now is the time to convert your throne to one of these babies. If everyone installed one, we could look at this as a payback for the toilet paper shortage…

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Please feel free to visit www.DistinctiveHomesNH.com to learn more about the Lakes Region real estate market and sign up for our monthly newsletter. Data compiled using the NEREN MLS system. Towns covered in this report are those in Belknap County plus Moultonborough, Tuftonboro, and Wolfeboro. Roy Sanborn is a sales associate at Four Seasons Sotheby's International Realty. He can be reached at 603-677-7012