We’ve spent several blog posts discussing how to maximize the security offered by home alarm systems. Our post on Smart Security System Design, in particular, covers the basics of designing an the most effective security system possible. At this point, most potential customers understand the benefit to installing monitored burglary and fire equipment as part of a home alarm system. However, your security system also provides security features that you may not realize. In this post, we share some potentially surprising home security system benefits.
We’ll begin with a look at how installing a home alarm can deter criminals before they even attempt a break-in. Indeed, this deterrence may provide an even greater benefit than burglary notification! From there, we’ll look at how an alarm system can save you money on insurance and energy-related costs. We’ll also look at how you can add environmental alerts and emergency response features to your security system. Finally, we’ll look at the peace of mind you can gain from creating a series of useful alarm alerts. Let’s begin by focusing on how a security system’s mere presence can help prevent crime.
The mere presence of a professionally-monitored security system can encourage thieves to find another home to target.
Immediate Deterrence for “Window-Shopping” Criminals
Many homeowners install security systems to monitor their homes for potential burglaries. In some cases, these customers have already experienced a break-in. Other customers install home security as a measure of proactive security and peace of mind. However, the mere presence of home security can turn burglars away from your home and encourage them to find a new target. We offer our customers yard signs and window stickers to advertise the presence of our alarm systems. Burglars scoping our homes for their next target certainly take notice of this.
Of course, homeowners occasionally install yard signs and stickers on homes that do not have security in place. If a thief sees these items yet still feels bold and attempts a break-in, your monitored alarm system will create a blaring siren and police dispatch in response. However, the threat of this type of reaction keeps many criminals away altogether. Now, let’s look at a powerful — yet often unknown — security feature offered by our alarm systems.
Security Against Forgetfulness and Second-Guessing
The features offered by modern alarm systems create more security and peace of mind than ever. You may recall our post on Following the Latest Home Security Trends. In that post, we shared some of the benefits of interactive cellular monitoring. This involves installing a cellular dialer in your alarm panel that utilizes a cellular signal, rather than a traditional landline, to allow your alarm to communicate with our central station. Installing this equipment in your alarm system creates a reliable communication path between your alarm and our central station that works even when your phone lines go down. Some cellular dialers, such as ours powered by Alarm.com, even allow for remote interaction with your alarm panel through a smart phone, tablet, or computer. With this technology in place, you can control your alarm system remotely.
For example, if you think you’ve forgotten to arm your security system while leaving the house, you can now pick up your phone and check your alarm status. If you did forget, you can fix the problem with the press of a button! Furthermore, our cellular dialer acts as a smart home hub, allowing you to connect appliances to your Alarm.com account and control those remotely as well. Smart home plugs allow you to turn just about any appliance into a smart home device. Many homeowners plug hair curlers, coffee makers, and other potentially dangerous items into these plugs. This allows you to double-check to see if you’ve turned these appliances off. If you did not, you can do so without returning home. Now, let’s examine how installing home insurance can save you money and provide peace of mind.
Decreased Insurance and Energy Costs
Many homeowners are pleasantly surprised to learn that their monthly alarm monitoring bill can often be completely offset by homeowners’ insurance discounts. Many insurance companies offer discounts for monitored home security. Thinking of adding smoke and carbon monoxide detection to your alarm as well? This can trigger an even greater discount. The ability to save money by installing security equipment remains one of the greatest home security system benefits.
Alarm.com thermostats provide real-time control over your home’s environment. They also detect potential issues with your appliances to help keep your energy costs as low as possible.
Additionally, we offer unique smart-home related equipment that can help you cut energy costs as well. If you have our interactive cellular dialer installed, this also allows you to add smart devices to control the environment in your home! Smart thermostats and temperature sensors allow you to set up temperature schedules that ensure both comfort and efficiency. Smart thermostats can even detect potential issues with your other HVAC equipment, creating notifications such as the one pictured. Low temperature sensors can also alert you to a potential issue with the heating equipment in your home. These devices add peace of mind while also potentially cutting energy costs. For more money-saving security ideas, check out our Smart Security Tips to Save You Money. Now, let’s look at another popular way our customers get the most out of their alarm systems.
Monitoring for Weather-Related Incidents and Emergencies
As we touched on above, installing devices to control your home’s environment can also help alert you to potential issues with the equipment that controls the environment in your home. We also offer security equipment that detects specific conditions within your home that may indicate an emergency. Freeze sensors, for example, can detect issues arising from frozen pipes in your home. Similarly, flood sensors can alert you to the presence of water in your basement. Receiving a phone call to alert you to these conditions may allow you to repair a situation before it gets out of hand instead of returning home to an extremely messy — and costly — situation in your basement.
Additionally, your alarm panel can send you an alert when the power in your house fails. Our Alarm.com customers have the opportunity to create customized cellular alerts — such as the alerts generated by smart thermostats mentioned earlier — that keep users in the know regarding their alarm system. This includes the ability to receive an alert when your house loses power, or when one of your smart thermostats or temperature sensors detect a temperature outside of a customizable range. Early detection in these instances gives you a much better chance of minimizing damage to your home in the case of a weather-related disaster. These alerts can help create this detection for you. Now, let’s look at a home security system benefit puts a central station response at your fingertips at all times.
Alarm.com users can activate a number of different types of panic responses from their cell phone.
Immediate Emergency Response at All Times
Many of our customers assume that their alarm systems are ready to create a siren and police response only when armed. However, installing a security system ensures that users have access to help at all times. This feature comes in many different forms. For example, we offer a variety of panic devices. These range from stationary buttons placed on walls to medical pendants that elderly customers can wear around their house to create an ambulance response. Additionally, our alarm panels have built-in panic buttons at the keypads. These allow for immediate police, medical, or fire response upon activation. Our post on Panic Button Options for Your Security System covers your options for installing panic devices comprehensively.
As with many of the home security system benefits we’ve described here, adding interactive cellular monitoring also takes this feature one step further. The same Alarm.com app that our users control their alarms with also provides different panic button options that can be activated from anywhere, at any time. As you can see pictured near the bottom of the screen shot on the left, Alarm.com users have fire, auxiliary, and both audible and silent police panic responses available with the press of a button at all times. This adds both security and peace of mind for our customers who take advantage of interactive cellular monitoring.
Taking Full Advantage of Potential Home Security System Benefits
We hope that this post has helped you discover some interesting home security system benefits. Most people know the “basics” of home security for burglar and fire monitoring. However, we often surprise customers by offering these additional features as well. We encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have about the material here. We offer free site surveys for both new and existing alarm customers alike. Perhaps this post has made you interested in a new alarm system with some of these features included. Or maybe you wish to add some of these home security system benefits to your existing alarm. Either way, we will be happy to work with you to ensure that you and your family get the most out of your alarm system.