<p>We live in an older, well-established usually safe neighborhood. Times seem to be changing just a bit! Apparently there have been several break-ins on our street and surrounding area in the last few weeks. Sometimes during the day, sometimes at night (when people are gone). </p>
<p>H mentioned that we might want to look into a security system for the house. I have no idea what to expect in terms of installation, installation cost, yearly fees, etc.</p>
<p>Can you educate me, give me some tips, etc. before the salesman come out to the house???</p>
<p>There are lots of deals out there. We use ADT and get a discount because I’m a member of USAA and pay around $25 a month. I think the regular monthly fee is around $30 a month. ADT is always running specials on installations. Go to their website for prices. I’ve had ADT systems installed in three large homes and never paid more than $500 for the entire system. A lot of it is wireless now so it doesn’t require a lot of wiring during installation - takes a few hours.</p>
<p>Monitoring is the regular fee. THis varies, but seems to be about $25 per month. You can pay yearly, quarterly, or monthly. </p>
<p>Equipment costs vary depending on what you are protecting and how. One difference is whether you want to simply protect the home when you are away, or whether you want to protect it and you when you are there (presumably asleep). This difference comes into play because the cheapest way to detect intruders is through motion detectors in the areas they would pass through at some point while stealing your stuff. Potentially this could simply involve one motion detector, depending on your home. But…this means they are already in the house when the alarm is triggered. And, it means that while its armed, if you get up to go the refrigerator, you need to disarm it or else you’ll trigger the alarm.</p>
<p>A more expensive method is to alarm all of the doors and windows that might be opened or forced upon entry. If you do this, you can move all around in the house without triggering anything, and the alarm will be triggered if they disturb a door or window that is armed</p>
<p>Other considerations apply, but this is one to get you thinking a little. If you have a somewhat larger house, I’d guess it would cost between $1 and $2K for the installation and equipment, depending on how you want to configure it.</p>
<p>We had a security system on this house but finally turned it off due to high maintance costs and false alarms.</p>
<p>The police got so fed up with false alarms in my town that they required the security monitoring company to first send out a security company to verify that a break in was in progress, who would then call the police. The monitoring company took 45 minutes to arrive on scene! The burglers would have been long gone by the time the police had arrived.</p>
<p>Also, alarms don’t deter breakins from occuring. The criminals don’t know whether you have one or not. (The sign in your front yard may be a deterrant, but you can get those without buying a security system). They might scare the criminals off after a break in has occured.</p>
<p>A couple years ago we had a large scale power outage that rendered all of the alarms useless until the a tech could reset it. Since it affected all of the alarms in my metropolitian area, it was two to three months before they serviced my house.</p>
<p>While I had one installed, I had to constantly call the service to have a tech come out and fix wiring, replace batteries, and the like.</p>
<p>All in all, they aren’t worth it if a person is concerned about loss of personal property. A good insurance policy will be a much better purchase. If you are concerned about physical harm to you or your family, moving to a better neighborhood would probably be a better option.</p>
<p>^ We’ve never had a false alarm in 10 years in our home. My husband has an alarm at his office and has had 2-3 false alarms in 15 years. He has a motion detector at the office. We have alarms on all the doors at the house. Instead of putting alarms on all the windows also, it is cheaper to install glass breakage detectors in one or two key areas.</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn’t do a motion detector - there is a much higher risk of false alarms.</p>
<p>I’m not overly concerned about someone breaking and stealing stuff - we have insurance but I do like the security of having the alarm on those evenings when I’m by myself because hubby is traveling or working extra late. Sometimes the dog will bark and it’s just creepy. As far as I know, no one has been physically harm in our neighborhood but it’s just a peace of mind thing.</p>
<p>My favorite thing about our alarm system is the door chimes. Any time someone goes in or out a door, there is a bell. It’s just nice to know when a door has been opened.</p>
<p>We were told that signs on their own were very effective. OTOH when we add Nest#2 I will probably go for some sort of home monitoring and notification system so I can keep tabs on both places. Research needed!</p>
<p>We’ve had security systems for close to 20 years now and have never had a false alarm. In my opinion, what is key is to go with a reputable company who have their own technicians for installation and their own monitoring system. ADT is one that farms out their work to sub-contractors and the level of quality can vary considerably. We chose a company that was recommended by my H’s employer. They do the security for all senior executives, so this may be an option for your research. If you know anyone who’s a senior executive at a company/corporation/financial institution, chances are very good that their employer has arranged for security to be installed in their homes.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, the newest system on our current home, about ten years ago, cost somewhere in the vicinity of $5000 to intall. All 1st floor and basement windows, as well as all doors, have contacts. There are glass breakage detectors at several points on the first floor. Our system is also hooked into the smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and phones, as well as a cell phone backup. We did not get motion detectors - we were recommended against it because we have pets. If you have windows or doors replace, you must get the company to come out and disconnect the sensors, then reconnect at the completion of the job. Our system has the chime feature for the doors, which I also find useful, although it can be turned off if you find it annoying. There is also, for want of a better term, a panic button that can be activated if necessary. The monitoring costs are approximately $400-500 a year and that includes an annual visit with a complete check of the system.</p>
<p>Trust me - after you walk in on armed burglers you will never be without a security system. I know from experience. We have had a security system for 21 years. No false alarms. We do not have a motion detector. There is the monthly fee, but we have a 10% reduction on our homeowners insurance because we have an alarm system (smoke detectors also wired into it). I love when I come home, unlock the door, and hear the beep that means the house is still alarmed. It provides MUCH security to my teenage daughter when she is home alone. We turn it on every time we leave the house, and every night. We live in a safe neighborhood. It may not keep someone from breaking in - but I assure you when that deafening alarm goes off, they are going to run. When we have set it off by accident (let the dog out the door that does not have a 45 second delay on it), the security company calls right away to make sure that everything is alright (we have to provide a password).</p>
<p>Every time this issue arises, I wonder why we consumers do not demand houses that are better built to deter intruders. I understand a determined burgler with enough time can get in about anywhere, but most houses are built without any serious thought to deter entry. A screwdriver and/or rock and about 10 seconds or a hard kick is usually all it takes. Look at your doors and windows before you go to expensive alarm systems.</p>
<p>Be careful NOT to sign a multi-year contract, and when you get the equipment installed, read the small print to be sure you own it (not the company) so that you can change monitoring companies if you wish. Reputable companies will not require a contract. We’ve used a local company for years and have been very happy with them. They did a good job repairing our system after a recent lightening strike as well. Our monthly monitoring is around $18.95. We added an extra $5/mo for repair insurance a few yrs ago b/c our system was getting old, but now that we have a mostly new system, I might drop that extra insurance. I called them to straighten out some billing snafoo and the lady was very nice. I spoke to her manager to thank her for her good customer service and they credited me a months service for taking the time to thank them!</p>
<p>If you get one remember your code. We have a system on our house. We rarely used it. One Thanksgiving we decided to alarm the house. Our dog gets skunked as we are going to get in the car. Dog in a panic runs inside the house, H runs after it, alarms begin to go off LOUDLY, he tries the passcode and it still doesn’t go off. Kids are crying, dog is freaking out, H tries getting alarm guy on the phone but it is Thanksgiving day and he is not answering. Alarm company will not disarm since H and I can not remember the secret word. I remember that we had had a huge power outage that did something to our alarm box and the alarm person had installed a new one. I tell H to try the code that the alarm company had given us at first installation and it worked.
We have motion detector and also alarmed doors and windows. When S went through his stage of sneaking out to ride his bike before dawn we would set the door and window alert to go off at night. He quickly learned how to get around the system.</p>
<p>We don’t have an alarm system … paying multiple college tuitions means we don’t have anything in the house worth stealing. But I’m generally supportive because the good alarm systems can monitor what’s going on in the house. For example, our neighbors were a thousand miles away on Christmas holiday when they got a call saying the house temp had fallen below 45 degrees. The neighbor called and asked if I could go check the furnace. I confirmed that the furnace was off, and was able to restart it. (Aside: Neighbor gave me the right code to enter the house, but wrong one to disarm the alarm once I was inside … leading to an episode similar to that described by Mom60 above. The alarm company representative was very good helping “fix” the situation, with the intruder alarm continuously blaring in the background.)</p>
<p>We have a fairly hearty one. We get a decent discount on our homeowners insurance for having it, so make sure you take this into consideration. Only one false alarm in 11 years.<br>
I will say that the larger deterrent is my 75lb dog who barks pretty stinking loud. This works better than an alarm. Intruders will not bother if they don’t know if they will be met by slobbery kisses from a St. Bernard or the teeth of a Pit Bull.</p>