Home Automation ... what happens when you sell your home?

I haven't faced this with a home sale, but before I traded my 2017 vehicle, I spent about an hour wiping everything clean I could think of. Hope I got it all. I disconnected my phone from the car bluetooth and made sure the contact list and other personal info was gone. But that was just the beginning. I went into the built-in GPS and deleted saved addresses. That took a while since they were stored in several places - address book, quick access, recently found, etc.

Then I remembered that the car has something called Homelink, where you can program buttons on the rear-view mirror to open your garage door, motorized gate, stuff like that. Had to haul out the manual to see how to erase that programming. Glad I remembered that because if I had left that, and my GPS home address, in place, the next owner would have everything they needed to do some serious damage.

This vehicle also had something like a gig or half-gig of onboard memory that you could use to store mp3 music files. Not really a security concern, but I didn't really want to give part of my paid music collection away, so deleted that too. That wasn't at all intuitive and took a long time.

It sure would be nice if there was a "master reset, I'm selling the vehicle" button that could take care of all this with one push.

For the car, my stinger has an option in the infotainment to "factory reset" itself. Will be doing that when I get rid of the car.

Never did use home link in the car. Figured if I park on the driveway, someone can break a window then gain entry to the garage.

For home. The tstat (ecobee) will stay most likely. There's several resets available, such as unlinking from the online account and resetting the unit to defaults.

For other not easily removable automation stuff? Keep a list with documentation/pdf how to reset/configure it for the next owner. Items like cameras, the best you can do is unlink them I think.

I don't think there is one simple answer since many of these smart devices use different platforms.

I've also been concerned about this since most of my home is automated. I started 25 years ago with the old X-10 products which are still in use and available today. They are not "smart" devices though since they don't tie into email or the internet. They can be operated via a smartphone app which pairs with a single X-10 transmitter through my router. That unit will go with me if I move and the now "dumb" X-10 devices, which are built into the house, will remain.

The X-10 equipment is aging and limited in function. Lately, I've been getting into the Google Home system as a possible replacement. The Google Home app has a "delete Device" feature which removes any device from my account and unpairs with my router. Any built in devices can remain without any connection to me.

A new owner simply scans the QR code located on each product and creates their own Google Home account.

My weather station is attached to the house but the receiver consoles are not. Whether or not this equipment stays would be negotiated in the contract of sale. If the buyer wanted to keep it, I would simply remove it from my account and unpair with the router.

The TV monitors, door locks, cameras, burglar and fire alarms would all be treated the same way.

I was amazed when I looked at my router and found it had 60 connected devices! I suppose each one has to be investigated for possible conflict.

The simple solution would be to just take the router with me when I move. Unfortunately, that is not always permitted if it is paired with devices built into the house. Local real estate laws & practices vary here so it might pay to check before listing the house.

A complicated question to be sure and definitely something to think about before selling.

An article which touches on the subject:

https://titlestream.com/smart-homes/

If I was the seller, because of the complexity, I'd be inclined to replace things like thermostats, door locks, etc. with non smart items.

The buyer might be uncomfortable with the possibility that someone else might be able to access my home, change my house temperature in the middle of winter, listen to conversations, etc.

If I was the buyer, I would insist that all of this be replaced with items of my choosing.

^^Not if the buyer is a millennial of sorts or some other youth. They'll insist on more automation/smart crap.

I am a boomer, not a millennial ... but I'll have to admit that I am getting pretty attached to my "automation/smart crap".

I think the real problem with all this home "Automation/smart crap", is that it's usually controlled by a smart phone (or a tablet/computer maybe), is when you buy a home that has it, how can you be certain the previous owner has "cleaned" the passwords, controls, etc from his phone or device that are not left with the house?

Not for me, I want, and have, a dumb house. My house does not need to talk to me or listen to what I say. Hell, I can't even get the wife or kids to listen to me most times..... and we seem to manage just fine.

the old days, the minimum was to change all the locks. I know people who said why bother, that's like $40 per.

I used to think why is our rear door 2 locks (it's keyed on both sides due to glass--I heard that is no longer code?).

Just imagine today. Do you really just say aw, shucks, what are the chances they have tiny cams in the bedroom and microphones throughout live streaming to YouTube?

Even if people weren't that sinister, the fridge, appliances, hot water heater, garage, hvac, etc., all accessible via the web.

So it's not that we want to buy a house that's already smart, we want to buy the house with the smart removed, and configured only if we want it that way. my .02

I've mentioned it before, the original owner of my used car left their home in the GPS. Now I know who they are, and that it began life with an 8 car garage (I reckon that's why it only traveled 37k in the first 8 years of its life, they likely had many nice cars). But so what, I only found info that I could google. That used to be the worst that could happen. Today, it's much worse.

I did suggest in the original post that this might lead to some interesting chatter. No disappointment on that. Thanks to everyone who has responded so far with their thoughts and keep 'em coming. I don't think connected tech is going away any time soon, so ideas on how to deal with it are good.

The opener I have now will let me open or close my garage door anywhere with the app that came with it. Don't even have to go back home.

^^Sorry, I am not connecting my garage door opener, or any door locks to wifi or network of any kind. Bad enough the smart thermostat required cloud connection to run.

https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/xfbb8u/homek...

I will have to reread this a few times but appear local only operation is possible.

Interesting question. I've never given this though. All my smart home devices have a reset to factory default option. So if I were selling, I would give the new home owner instructions on how to set up as new, after I factory reset everything my self.

I also started to think about it after I started adding smart devices in our home. Some items I can simply remove and carry with me, but some items such as smart floodlight with camera, and thermostat: those devices will need to be removed from my ownership (I will have to remove those devices from my account), and also I will remove the memory cards from those cameras. I have kept the older items that I replaced, so my hope is that I will install those back after I remove the smart devices.

@raihankabir_1

With ecobee, there is no transferring of data from one account to another. When I leave, I will be taking my ecobee with. Will replace either either with the old tstat (if its still working), or just buy a cheap $20 unit from HD/menards in its place.

The data is useful. For example I can look back to see runtime and temps last winter. This will be even more useful as we're having a new furnace put in in the next few days.

I am not sure, but if you were to disconnect the car battery, wouldn't that automatically reset everything?

I couldn't hurt to try, but most of these smart systems use non volatile memory which isn't affected by power loss.

connect to a home router rather than use more expensive stand alone cellular technology.

Simply taking the router with you when you move is one solution. For the most part, routers aren't built into a home and can therefore be excluded from a sales contract.

The only problem is, things that are built in, like thermostats, cameras, light switches, etc may not work.

I spoke to my niece who is a licensed real estate agent about this. She said there are no written rules covering the issue. It's an item that is negotiated in the contract of sale.

In addition to the home, smart devices are also a concern with newer vehicles when sold or traded. Devices like built in garage door openers, satellite radio subscriptions, automatic tolling transceivers,
vehicle assist subscriptions, etc. need to be addressed as well.

I traded a vehicle a couple of years ago which had Sirius satellite radio. I cancelled the subscription before trading but Sirius chose to ignore it and kept billing me. The person who bought my old vehicle enjoyed satellite radio at my expense for almost 6 months! I had to threaten legal action before Sirius finally cancelled the subscription.

Don't get me started with OnStar! The same vehicle had that subscription as well, which I also cancelled. The new owner also had that service on me for several months while I fought with OnStar over the cancellation.

The dealer was supposed to verify these cancellations before reselling the vehicle but didn't for some reason. I suspect they ran into the same problematic cancellation policies that I did. They are good people though and made good my loss.

Now I'm getting constant email promotions from GM to add OnStar to the new vehicle. Well, they can keep it! I can do without the remote start and door unlock features that only work with the subscription.

The thing that galls me the most is I PAID for all the electronics that make these systems work when I bought the vehicle. Now, they want to charge me over $300/year for someone to push a button!

If I'm dying in a ditch after an accident and the air bag deploys or I manage to push the OnStar button, nothing happens since I don't subscribe! To me this is like charging someone to use a seat belt.

Sure, there are system operating expenses but $300/year?? How much is a human life worth? If they offered a cheaper basic 911 service I might consider it. In the mean time, I'll use my GPS, AAA plan and cell phone thank you very much.

Sorry for the rant.

The auto manufacturers saw software companies hawking SAAS (software as a service) and fell in love.