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The home-builders association has predicted that there will be 8 million Smart Houses in the U.S. by 1998, but in the past that group has been too optimistic. Four years ago, it planned to build 5,000 model homes by 1987; to date it has built just one. Market research -- and common sense -- suggest that many people are not ready to move into a house that seems smarter than they are. "There is some terror associated with the idea of technology invading the home," admits Walt Strader of Honeywell. After all, it is one thing to have a TV or furnace go on the fritz, but quite another to see a whole house go kerblooey.