Back in 2001 when Chris and I first bought our house I remember that our insurance company told us that if we installed a home security system they would take a percentage off the cost of insuring our home.
At the time we were just about to start doing major renovations on our home – knocking down walls etc so it didn’t make sense to have a security system installed. (We still have some home reno projects (stalled ones) on the go too) Plus we live in a pretty safe neighborhood.
Even though our neighborhood has few break ins it’s always possible that something could happen. In fact there was a home invasion just a few blocks from us last year!
Earlier today I decided to take a look a the home security systems offered by ADT. They are offering discounts on some of the packages installation fees (one package is as low as $99 installation after a $200 mail in rebate!) and all of their monthly monitoring fees seem reasonable at a range from $33.99 to $48.99 per month.
I can’t remember exactly what the discount was that our insurance company was offering if we got a home security system, but I believe it was something like 10% off the monthly insurance payment. That discount would likely pay a large chunk of the monthly security system monitoring fee. Sounds like a win win situation to me!
Obviously a security system will help prevent a house from being broken into, or if it is broken into alarms will go off and the police will be sent to the house quickly likely preventing a large robbery. However, did you know that there are a number of other services that come with a home security system? Well … depending upon which one and which service you use of course …
You can get security systems that monitor your house for fire, carbon monoxide, flood detection and ones that you can push a button on the installed system or a hand held device to alert the police, fire department or ambulance in an emergency. Some home security systems even have a voice system where you can talk to someone directly at the monitoring service during an emergency.
I certainly like the idea of a security system that not only protects my house from burglars but that also monitors for fire and carbon monoxide! My parents had a security system that did all of that plus was able to contact the various emergency services and they were very pleased with it.
Chris has always like the idea of use having a security system so I guess we’ll look into it further over the next week or so and perhaps have one installed soon.
Do you have a security system in your home? Are you happy with the system and the monitoring service?
I think having a security system, even if it’s an inexpensive “self-install” product, is totally worth it…if nothing else for the peace of mind. Most would be burglars will be scared of by the sticker anyway, haha.
I feel like in these days and times a home camera security systems is a must have. I need to look into getting those extra features such as the carbon monoxide monitor that you referred to.