NEWS

By Andrea Stetson, Special to The News-PressPublished 6:07 a.m. ET May 19, 2018

All Lennar homes at Babcock will be Amazon smart homes.(Photo: Andrea Stetson/Special to The News-Press)

When Josh Day moves into his new home at Babcock Ranch at the end of the month, he will be one of the first to have an Alexa-powered smart home. Lennar is putting this product in every home at Babcock Ranch now.

“We have two kids, so the more we can automate the better,” Day began.

“Reminders will be huge and the lights will be huge.”

The Alexa smart homes will all come with an Echo Dot. It will allow the owners to ask Alexa everything from turning on, off or dimming the lights, to adding music, turning on the television and more. With an upgrade they can get a monitor to see who is ringing the doorbell.

From the monitor the homeowner can see the front door and who is ringing the bell. They can use an app to unlock the front door too. (Photo: Andrea Stetson/Special to The News-Press)

All of the technology can also be used from their smartphone or tablet. That way the homeowner can be away from the house and can still see their home and even unlock or lock the front door, turn off the lights or set the temperature. Another upgrade allows residents to say good morning and have the shades automatically rise, lights come on and music start. Saying goodnight closes the shades and turns off the lights.

“We will definitely use the doorbell,” Day described. “The front door lock will be great as well. We will probably add on the garage door too. You can do it all from the app on your phone which makes it really nice.”

All Lennar homes at Babcock will be Amazon smart homes. (Photo: Andrea Stetson/Special to The News-Press)

Earlier this month, Amazon announced that it had turned 15 Lennar-owned model homes across the United States into showrooms, called Amazon Experience Centers. Those centers will allow guests to test gadgets including the Echo Show smart speaker and the Amazon-owned Ring video doorbell. They can also try out Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant to control TVs, lights, thermostats and shades. The new centers will be in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C, with more on the way, according to Amazon and Lennar.

While the four model homes at Babcock are not Experience Centers, they will have all the same technology. The models have both the standard features and the upgrades so visitors can see all the technology that is available.

“When you get a partnership between the biggest homebuilder and the biggest company, it’s a really big deal,” said Lisa Hall, a spokeswoman for Babcock Ranch.

Hall said the television feature is very useful. She likes the idea of just having Alexa turn on the television and find the correct channel or show.

“So you don’t have to find the remote,” she said.

Lennar has already sold 92 homes at Babcock Ranch. Prices start at $190,000. The homebuilder offers executive homes ranging in size from 1,677 to 3,357 square feet, manor homes from 2,244 to 3,867 square feet, and villas from 1,417 to 1,564 square feet.

The Amazon home in all Lennar Homes at Babcock have a large menu of things that can be done by asking Alexa or by using a smartphone app. (Photo: Andrea Stetson/Special to The News-Press)