I am looking for ideas to use our sensors and switches (72 right now). We have sonos music we could implement as well as all the lights are smart. Has anyone else created a scene like this?
According to some previous smart home studies, the single most impressive thing to potential homebuyers is if you open the closet door and the closet light comes on. The value is obvious, it works for pretty much everybody, the potential buyer can make it work as many times in a row as they want, and it’s exactly the kind of feature that they will call other family members over to see. 
For everything else, I would talk to your realtor. They’ll know what’s likely to appeal to buyers in your area, and what the competition is likely to have.
My understanding is that music is generally not used in home showings because you just can’t be certain of finding something that doesn’t repel an otherwise interested buyer.
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I agree with @JDRoberts. There are people who hate Elvis, The Beatles, etc. Music just isn’t a good idea. Motion Sensors in hallways, bathrooms and closets make the most sense. As someone is touring the house, it can illuminate. By advice is make sure it’s tested very well as if a light goes off unnecessarily, it could turn off a potential buyer.
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Thanks. The closet idea actually sounds good. I havent set anything like that up yet. The rest of the house is all motion sensor lighting including the basement and garage. i was thinking just a light classical music from spotify. I can even let our realtor use an ipad to change it.
The other thing people go crazy is echo voice control. The whole family can try turning light on/off and you don’t need to do much other than a smartapps.
I guess I’m on the other side. If I was selling my house with smart stuff installed, I’d disable it all before a showing. Probably remove it all before the sale was final as well…wouldn’t want the new buyer calling and asking me for tech support.
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I agree. I am taking it all with me, I’ve spent too much money.
I also wouldn’t want to lose a sale because ST failed. Remember you can trust ST for everything including keeping your family safe (per the marketing) but you can’t trust them for everything including keeping your family safe (per the TOS).
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We have 2 echo’s so voice commands will be usable. I am going to create a mode this week and test. We have an open house on sunday. My feeling is that if we get full asking price it would be worth it to leave most of our devices.
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You have to keep in mind a lot of things about selling your personal smarthome system, user accounts being first among them. Smartthings and Amazon hardware is all controlled by your personal accounts and the established links between them. Do you use IFTTT? Harmony? You don’t even know that the location of the hub is where the next buyer will put their service hooked up modem/router. Smarthomes are so awesome, to us. But generally you’re probably better off keeping your smart house components when you move.
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I use to build house for a living. Having this for an open house is a big plus. Spending a couple of thousand is not that much considering the price of your house. Don’t tell me you spent $10k +. Should have gotten Control4 
I would most likely only leave the installed switches/ door locks etc but keep my hub
I would give them the hub and just change the account. Unless the new owner is savvy otherwise it will be very difficult to migrate to a new hub.
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Music is a bad idea (as mentioned)
Some simple, obvious automations are good, but don’t get too fancy. The idea is to sell the house, not the motion sensors and switches.
In fact, if the automation can be done WITHOUT the hub, you’re better off. Most z-wave switches can be associated directly to door/window and/or motion sensors to provide simple basic “light on when door open” type automations without the need for the hub at all. (Those types of automations also run MUCH faster.)
Voice response, while cool, could become a distraction. Some people won’t like it at all, and the ones that do will sit there talking to it instead of looking at the house.
I think that the impression you want to give for a potential buyer is “that house had some nice features.” It’d be really bad if they walked away with the impression of “wow, that automation was cool. House? What house?”
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Update here, I left all automation off except light sensors tripped by motion and set up our sonos to a light classical background music.
We ended up getting 3 full price offers to choose from. Our agent did explain some of the sensors and other automations but I will most likely be taking it with me. It will not be hard to replace the switches and I have been working on getting things ready to add to the system in our new bigger house.
If you received an offer while the switches were wired into the house, real estate law in most states requires that they be sold with the house. Check with your agent.
(I Believe Louisiana is the exception, but again check with a local expert.)
Yes they were excluded in our disclosure statement
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