Coldwell Banker Newsletter Cautions About Smart Home Privacy, Security Issues
Coldwell Banker took a tempered view of the smart home in an August newsletter sent by agents to prospective home buyers. The newsletter featured an article that first appeared in real estate industry trade publication RISMedia in June, titled “Smart Homes: The Way of the Future or a Risk to Homeowners?” The article posed the question to prospective home buyers: “What is the true cost of this convenience?”
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The article outlined various privacy and security issues stemming from smart homes gone wrong that could have a negative impact on real estate value. It cited a Wired U.K. article from a year ago about a British security researcher who installed malware on an Amazon Echo, turning it into an eavesdropping device that could stream audio picked up from Echo microphones to his own server. The hack worked with Echo speakers manufactured before 2017 (Amazon fixed the security flaw in more recent Echos), but the technique could be used for other nefarious purposes including stealing access to an Amazon account, installing ransomware or attacking parts of a network, said the researcher.
Also noted were summaries of location-tracking vulnerabilities via Google devices and the much-publicized report from May (see 1805250021) of a third party in an Amazon user’s contact list being able to hear conversations from that user’s home via the home's Echo speaker. Alexa had misinterpreted a background conversation as using the Alexa wake word, leading Amazon to respond that it was studying ways to make that scenario less likely to happen. Aside from early glitches associated with new technology, smart home devices have an increasing role in homeowners’ lives, said the article, citing smart speakers that provide real-time information and services and adaptive thermostats that monitor energy usage and change temperature for energy savings.
Coldwell Banker has been a visible supporter of the smart home, joining CTA, exhibiting at CES in 2015, and sponsoring the CES 2018 Smart Home Marketplace in the Las Vegas Venetian. The real estate organization’s most recent CES news release said technology has made the homebuying and selling process “simpler, smarter and faster,” focusing on virtual reality in the homebuying process. As VR technology becomes “more mainstream and sought after,” it said, “consumers are now expecting high-tech experiences before even stepping foot in a prospective listing.” It cited a survey it did with Harris Poll suggesting VR “is poised to become the next big thing in real estate” and said 77 percent of respondents considering a future home purchase would like to take a virtual tour before visiting a home.
On the smart home, Coldwell Banker said in January the technology “is here to stay.” Its survey found 32 percent of Americans reported having smart home products last year, up from 24 percent in 2016, and 42 percent said they would look to a sales agent for suggestions on how to stage a home with smart home technology.
On which smart home products respondents would want already installed in a home, the realtor brand said thermostat (77 percent), fire detector (75 percent), carbon monoxide detector (70 percent), security camera (66 percent), lock (63 percent) and lighting system (63 percent). CEO Charlie Young said then: “We were the first to offer a smart home certification and definition of a smart home which positions our network of brokers and agents to deliver a competitive advantage for their customers in an ever-changing market.”
Coldwell Banker also partnered with CEDIA on a program to educate real estate agents about connected home technology. In a splashy release in 2015, then-CEDIA CEO Vin Bruno (1512230052) said he met with Coldwell Banker executives in New York to discuss “a big deal” for CEDIA integrators. The real estate franchisor sold more than 21,000 $1 million-plus homes the prior year, Bruno said, and CEDIA’s strategy was for members to work with Coldwell Banker to install automation in premium-level homes before the for-sale signs went up.
CEDIA and Coldwell Banker didn’t respond to questions Friday.