High-Tech Homes Of Tomorrow Are Here Today In San Bernardino County

ONTARIO (CBSLA.com) — Sprawled across 8,000 acres in Ontario, a new community is emerging, creating the homes of tomorrow today.

As Real Estate Week on CBS2 continues Tuesday, we focus on Ontario, where the city has a plan to double its current size, with new schools, retail and the most high-tech homes in the nation, according to Brookfield Residential Southern California.

"It's a home of the 1950s, except in the 2000s," said Dave Bartlett, vice president of Land Entitlement for Brookfield Residential. "What you will get is all of the bells and whistles that the technology offers, and it will take you into the future."

Developed on former dairy farm land, Ontario Ranch, dubbed Southern California's first "Gigabit Community," offers 46,000 new homes wired for today's technology.

"What used to take hours now takes minutes to download. And what used to take minutes is now instantaneously. So, it's going to change the way you interact with your personal devices and TV," Bartlett said.

The homes are pre-wired for lightning fast downloads, taking seconds instead of minutes to download an high-definition movie. Bottom line, you will not need an upgrade anytime soon.

"Fiber to the home is like opening up a 16-lane freeway in two directions, whereas today, we have a two-lane highway," Bartlett added.

Gigabit has been in the planning stages for 17 years. It's the first in Southern California.

Ontario Mayor Paul Leon said it will put the city at the forefront of the nation. "We had to build an infrastructure in this region that would be able to carry that information superhighway to its maximum capability to each house and be covered for 100 years, at least," the mayor said.

Rick Saputo was one of the first to buy a house in the Gigabit Community. "It's going to be great. It's going to be, you know, really fast Internet, obviously. So, if working from home, things like that, being on the Internet, cruising the Internet, things like that. It's going to be really great. I didn't realize how much faster it's going to be until I looked into it more," he said.

That great experience is what community leaders are banking on. Easy cruising on the information super highway is becoming the latest comfort at home.

"It will take you into the future without any speed bumps along the way," Bartlett added.

The home prices in Ontario Ranch range from the mid $200,000 to more than $2 million.

You can send us your real estate questions using #CBSLArealestateweek. We will answer them live on Friday.