are becoming a popular purchase with homeowners today as systems become more geared toward remote operation via smartphones and tablets, giving users greater control over them. However, what many homeowners do not realize is that there are financial cons to having these systems installed, and many do not factor them in before they decide to invest in one. There are several things that every homeowner should consider about their budget and what is involved financially with an alarm system and security companies before they make a purchase.
Many homeowners believe that when they have a security system installed that it will make their homes impervious to burglars and that their possessions will always be safe. However, even when these are installed and they work correctly, the authorities may not always get there in time to catch the thief.
Stan Martin, executive director of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition, acknowledged as much. He said that in big cities like New York, Atlanta, and Chicago, police could take 30 to 45 minutes to respond, while in smaller towns the best that could be hoped for was six to eight minutes.”
Because of this slow response time, while a thief may not linger at a home where an alarm goes off, there’s a high probability that he will take items of value before he leaves. If a homeowner does not have insurance for these items, he or she will have to take a loss on them.
Another financial drawback that homeowners should consider before they buy a security system is whether or not they can offset the monthly monitoring fee if something should go wrong with the system and they cannot get credit for the time it is inoperable. Many will not offer their customers credit if a storm or some other kind of bad weather knocks their system out, and they will still have to pay the monthly monitoring fee, which can be as high as $50.00 a month depending on what kind of services they use. Not only will they have to pay for the service when it is not working, but they will also have to run the risk of their home being vulnerable as well.
While security systems can be helpful in protecting a home and property, homeowners need tocarefully consider their financial drawbacks before they have them installed.
Emily Stevenson
Author – Emily is a 10 year veteran of the home security industry working in sales. She was a top sales person at leading home security companies, but has shifted her focus to working on helping consumers make the right decisions.