The home was like hundreds of others located in planned communities across the state of Texas. Limestone and wood on the exterior and browns and beige throughout. But if you lived there, you could open your front door by simply touching its hardware. If you walked into the media room and called out, “Alexa, party time!” the lights would turn red and Stevie Ray Vaughan would start playing. I was on a tour of a four-year-old Lennar model home just south of Austin to see what new homeowners might get as part of a spate of new packages homebuilders are offering buyers. I was there to see what builders thought mainstream American wanted in a “smart home.”
Lennar’s bet on the model smart home
