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Shopping for a home today is less an exercise in square footage than something more akin to a visit to an electronics store. The customer is relying on the salesman, the builder or architect to inform them about the various built-in technical features of the most costly big box purchase most people ever make. And just as the threat of obsolescence triggers buyers remorse as soon as consumers hit the parking lot with their latest purchase, a wariness of a home's technical lifespan haunts those closing on a mortgage. If in the past the worst negotiations took place before closing, now there is a long road of high-tech compromises and adjustments to make after a home's purchase.

Today there are a growing number of technologies which buyers expect to find functioning in new or existing homes. In addition to basic electrical and mechanical systems, tech-savvy buyers also looking for sophisticated lighting control, thermostats, networking ability, cable and/or satellite television distribution, whole-house audio, and potentially a whole lot more. The customer wants more gadgets, but sometimes getting them installed is another matter, as architects and interior designers have a reputation for being at odds with residential systems installers on the battleground of aesthetic virtues.

It is definitely an exercise in cooperation, flexibility and most importantly diplomacy because it often becomes a negotiation, observed David Epstein, president of SEi/Sound Solutions in Los Angeles. But one of the things that I think is amazing, is how interior designers and architects have resigned themselves to the fact that they must have heating and air conditioning vents and returns, electrical outlets, light switches, thermostats, and security panels. But the same architects are still reluctant to accept in-wall speakers, video displays, and controls. Its been improving dramatically over the past 10 years, but we still find there's some resistance. They cant really argue not to put a light switch in, but they can argue not to put speakers in the wall.

Aesthetics aren't the only factor in architects reticence to build technology into homes. Light switches and electrical outlets are tried and true technology at this point, whereas touch panels and in-wall speakers have yet to stand the same test of time. However, this wait and see ethic is fading as more architects and builders are responding to buyers interest and treating technology as a selling point. Today its not so much about amenities like crown molding as it is amenities that have real entertainment value, noted Scott Hinton of H Space Redesign in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hinton's background in interior design informs his work as a builder, and his trendy clientele are looking for bragging rights more than anything else.

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