Coldwell Banker Introduces First-ever Smart Home Staging Kit

MADISON, N.J. 08-23-2016 — Coldwell Banker Real Estate, LLC, the original Silicon Valley real estate start-up, today announced that it has signed a supplier agreement with Worthington Group, Ltd., to directly supply the industry's first Smart Home Staging Kit directly to sellers who list their homes with Coldwell Banker®.

The Smart Home Staging Kit, available on Worthington Group's smart home staging website, allows participating sellers to enhance their homes and meet the guidelines of the newly released Smart Home Definition that was jointly developed by Coldwell Banker and CNET, the leading online technology reviewer. Coldwell Banker agents can then market qualified properties as a Smart Home bearing a Smart Home icon on the listing and inclusion on the brand's smart home resource site, coldwellbanker.com/smarthome.

Available on SmartHomeStaging.com, the kit will include:

• Nest Learning Thermostat
• Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarm
• Nest Cam Indoor security camera
• August Smart Lock
• August Connect
• Lutron® Caséta® Wireless Lighting Starter Kit

Products can be purchased as a complete kit directly from Worthington or separately as individual items. Worthington is offering clients of the Coldwell Banker brand's affiliated sales associates a promotional rate of $999 for the complete kit. On SmartHomeStaging.com, consumers can also opt-in for installation by Pro.com service providers or elect other service providers of their choice.

A recent survey conducted by Coldwell Banker found that roughly half of Millennials and 42 percent of U.S. broadband households surveyed would "smart stage" their home to attract buyers. The survey also found that more than one-third of Americans (35 percent) now associate smart home technology with a move-in ready home — something that 71 percent of Americans would want if buying a house today.

"Smart Home technology is a consumer driven movement," said Sean Blankenship, chief marketing officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. "Our research confirms this technology has a positive influence in the appeal of a home -– and agents agree. Our homes, like cars, are providing convenience and a sense of security like never before.  We want to bring the two together for our customers."

The Smart Home Staging Kit is also available for buyers and homeowners who wish to upgrade their homes.

Methodology

This survey was conducted online by Parks Associates on behalf of the Coldwell Banker brand within the United States between June 6-9, 2016 through a third party via its omnibus product.  The survey was conducted among 1,250 adults (ages 18 and over) among whom 801 own at least one smart home product.  For the purposes of the survey, "smart home technology/products" were defined as products or tools that aid in controlling a home's functions such as lighting, temperature, security, safety, and entertainment, either remotely by a phone, tablet, computer or with a separate automatic system within the home itself.  Survey sample was demographically targeted to be representative of the U.S. general population.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, the words "margin of error" are avoided as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in surveys for Research Now.

About Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC

Since 1906, the Coldwell Banker® organization has been a premier provider of full-service residential and commercial real estate brokerage services. Coldwell Banker Real Estate is the oldest national real estate brand and franchisor in the United States, and today has a global network of approximately 3,000 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices in 44 countries and territories with more than 84,000 affiliated sales professionals.  The Coldwell Banker brand is known for creating innovative consumer services as recently seen by being the first national real estate brand with an iPad app, the first to augment its website www.coldwellbanker.com for smart phones, the first to create a iPhone application with international listings and the first to fully harness the power of video in real estate listings, news and information through its Coldwell Banker On LocationSM YouTube channel.  The Coldwell Banker System is a leader in niche markets such as resort, new homes and luxury properties through its Coldwell Banker Previews International® marketing program delivering exceptional experiences for all consumers served.