"In fact, the stuff you see the least, like projectors, is often the most expensive stuff," says Click. "But that was the same problem faced when builders started putting improved insulation in between the walls, and for HVAC systems and whole-house vacuums, which are also not intended to be seen."

Home technology has one other issue that sets it apart from other home systems. While the depreciation of certain mechanical systems, such as furnaces and central AC, is largely predictable and measurable in years if not decades, the life cycle of many electronics products and systems is clocked in months. Digital electronics have an implicitly planned obsolescence, but one that's critical in the face of relentless downward pricing pressure: if products keep costing less, CE manufacturers need to sell more of them more often to maintain revenues.

High-end automation systems from companies like Crestron and AMX are designed to be kept updated via software upgrades, but many components in the systems, such as DVD players and servers, are subject to Moore's inexorable Law. Appraisers say they are beginning to take that phenomenon into account. "We're seeing a three-to-five year replacement cycle for a lot of home electronics, and we're adjusting for that even in new homes," says Schwartzentraub.

Software Solutions

Standardization of the value of home technology systems lies at the heart of accurate appraisals of the homes that include them. Appraisal calculation software like A La Mode's WinTOTAL, Bradford Technologies' ClickFORMS, ACI's Appraiser's Choice, and Day One's One Day Estimator, are formatted to work with lender Fannie Mae's Form 1004 for appraisals to generate a Universal Residential Appraisal Report (URAR). Both the software and the form have provisions at the end for non-standard home features, which is where just about every product under the home automation rubric ends up.

TechHome, a referral and awareness program operated by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), has a rating system [PDF] designed to measure the value-add that home systems bring in six categories: home entertainment, communications, computer networking and Internet sharing, home security, home comfort, convenience and energy management, and structured wiring systems. But the system isn't designed to interface with any of the standard appraisal software systems in the field. Thus, estimating the value of integrated home systems remains an imprecise science.