By HOLDEN LEWIS
bankrate.com
03-NOV-05
To hold their value in the U.S. residential market, condominium units need to offer high-tech amenities that will support emerging technologies in the coming years.
A new wave of voice, video and data systems with names such as VOIP, WiFi and IPTV are creating a kind of alphabet soup that has to be carefully digested before a consumer can properly assess a condo unit's likely market value in the years ahead.
If a developer doesn't install some of these amenities during construction, "it can be cost-prohibitive or even technically impossible to do it later," says Carl Lender, vice president of sales and marketing for CSI Consulting, which advises builders on emerging technologies. That, in turn, can sharply reduce a unit's resale value.
Emilio Cardenal, president and broker in the Miami office of Interinvestments Realty, says that these days, Cat-5 wiring for high-speed connectivity is a must, and new condo developments that have WiFi (a wireless network component) in common areas or throughout the building are very popular.
"Most attractive to buyers are high-speed connectivity and Internet control panels, after built-in cappuccino machines," says Cardenal.
For openers, Internet control panels allow residents to program and control their thermostats, lighting, window shades and Jacuzzis. Travelers coming home can use their laptops to turn on the air conditioning as their jets touch down at the airport.
What to look for Vamsi Sistla, director of broadband, digital home and digital media at ABI Research, says broadband and cable TV service are among the services now considered essential. ABI Research provides market analyses for manufacturers and service providers of emerging technologies.
Smart developers are forging deals with service providers to cut the initial costs associated with such infrastructure. Sistla foresees a trend where residential condo associations partner with phone companies, such as Verizon or Vonage, that provide an Internet-based telephone service called VOIP, or voice over Internet protocol.
"That would be a very smart move for the provider," Sistla says, "because they could have a more centralized process in place. And the association could get a cut whenever someone opted for fiber optics."
Internet solutions to delivering voice, video and high-speed data services require the installation of optical fiber, Lender says, and that's something that can't be retrofitted to an individual unit once a structure is built, because a condo has solid floors and walls with no attic or crawl space.
"It's very important," Lender says, "to have a network in your unit with a smart-box interface so that you have data connections, cable connections and satellite connections at every outlet."
Ethernet is the most common such network, he says. Ethernet ports can be used to connect one computer to another computer, a local network or an external DSL, digital subscriber line, or cable modem.
The best way to make sure you have the right backbone for emerging technologies, Lender says, is to hedge your bets by choosing a building that offers a hybrid solution - Ethernet plus wireless.
"If condo builders don't come up with a wireless solution," he says, "people are going to buy their own routers. In a town house or high-rise, that's a formula for disaster. Since the units are close together, if everybody gets their own wireless solution, nobody's is going to work right."
When it comes to IPTV, or Internet-based video technologies such as the video-on-demand services offered in some larger condo projects, buyers should exercise caution.
"Basically, it's a new way to get programming to your TV, like cable and satellite," Lender says. "I don't think anyone knows what consumers are going to make of it."
The stumbling block with IPTV services right now, Lender says, is that unless you want to watch all your favorite television shows on your PC, you have to have a way to get the programming from the PC to a television set. There are scores of providers offering IPTV services, and each of them requires the use of a set-top box on each television cumbersome at best, and tricky, because you don't know which providers will last. While several companies are working on a more universal solution, he says, the technology just isn't here yet.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail Holden Lewis at hlewis@bankrate.com)
