Home Security Monitoring

Home Security Monitoring is one of those things that is often overlooked, except here at DIY Home Security, where we talk about it way too much. But that's a different story.

We talk about it so much because we believe in it and its importance. And we think you're not using your security system (or your grey-matter) to its full extent if you're choosing not to monitor.

So, in that spirit, I thought once a week I would give just one point that makes sense for alarm monitoring. Check back every week (I'll try to make it every Thursday) and I'll give you yet another reason why you need home security alarm monitoring. If you're not convinced at the end (I have no idea when that will be) I'll give you back all of your money...which, as you know is absolutely none! Nice.

Ok, without further ado, here is week one of: Why you need to have alarm monitoring!

Homeowner Insurance Discounts

Insurance companies love it when you have home alarm monitoring. Why wouldn't they? If there is a fire or someone breaks into your home, they're on the hook...unless you have alarm monitoring that will contact a central station who will in turn, contact police or fire personnel.

So, great, you get to make your insurance company happy! Oh, you don't care about that? Well, they do. That's why most insurance companies offer a discount (sometimes up to 20%) on your premium for homeowners insurance when you have central station alarm monitoring. That's a significant savings.

And with SafeMart, you can get UL-listed alarm monitoring for only $9 per month...which means in many cases your alarm monitoring will be free, or at least incredibly cheap.

Now that's a good reason!

Alarm Monitoring

Alarm Monitoring...so important, so often overlooked. Now, I know I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again, if you have a home security system, you should have Central Station Alarm Monitoring. Ok, lets talk about why thats the case:

Scenario 1: Someone breaks into your home when you are away

With Monitoring: Your system sounds an alarm locally, and then notifies the central station. The central station will try to contact you, to avoid any false alarm responses, but if they are unable to do so, almost immediately, they will notify local police and/or emergency services for dispatch.

Without Monitoring: Your system sounds an alarm locally. Additionally, some panels will allow your system to call you and notify you of an event. You can rush home or call the police. Only problem is, in most cases, the police won't dispatch for you, an average homeowner, unless you are a physical witness of the events. Sorry.

Scenario 2: Your home catches on fire when you are away.

With Monitoring: Your smoke/fire detectors sound locally, and your system immediately notifies the central station. They immediately notify emergency personnel without attempting to contact you first. Fire and rescue will be dispatched immediately.

Without Monitoring: Your smoke/fire detectors sound locally. Hopefully a neighbor sees the smoke/fire in time to call a local fire department.

Scenario 3: Someone breaks into your home while you're there. The person finds you and tells you to disarm the system immediately.

With Monitoring: One of two things: You go to your system and enter a durress passcode. This will silence the alarm system, announce that its been disarmed, etc. At the same time, it will send a duress alert to the central station, who will immediately dispatch police. Second option. You can't disarm in time, and your central station still calls. You tell them it was a false alarm and when they ask you to verify using your verbal password, you give them the verbal duress password. The intruder will be none the wiser, but central station will immediately dispatch emergency personnel.

Without Monitoring: You go to your system and enter the correct password. The siren, your only source of notification is gone. You hope that one of your neighbors heard.

Scenario 4: Your home catches on fire when you are at home.

With Monitoring: You focus on the important things, getting yourself and your family out of the house, taking any valuables, memorobilia you can grab on the way. At the same time, your system contacts the central station who immediately contacts your local fire department. You were able to focus on the most important things, and still have a fighting chance of saving your home.

Without Monitoring: You focus on the important things as well. At the same time, your system does nothing, other than sounding a local smoke/fire alarm. You hope that you neighbors hear the noise and call 911 so you still have a fighting chance of saving your home.

The above seem a bit dramatic? It may seem far-fetched to imagine someone holding you up in your home while you enter a duress passcode, or your house catching on fire. But really, you know its not that far fetched. Thats why you have an alarm system, thats why you have smoke detectors. They're not useless without alarm system monitoring, but they aren't working to their full capacity.

And since you can get UL-Listed, Home Alarm Monitoring for only $9/month from SafeMart, why wouldn't you?

Home Security in 2010

Well folks, we're back now from a long hiatus. We've been working on a ton of great stuff over at SafeMart, from new monitoring options to better more advanced system packages. I wanted to highlight just a few products/services to keep your eye out for in 2010. (Note: some of these have been around for years, but are worth taking another look at). So, in no particular order:

1. Freeze Alarms: Ok, thats pretty boring sounding. Plus, they've been around forever. True, but most of us haven't seen a winter this cold in a long time. If you don't have a freeze alarm and you don't want to spend thousands of dollars when a pipe busts, you should get one. Available http://www.safemart.com/Freeze-Alarms/Basic-Feeze-Alarm-wVoice-Alarm-FA-B-CCA.htm for $65.

2. The DSC Alexor: This is a fairly new system. It was released with a lot of hype but sort of died out after that. I would say this: If you are in the market for a versatile home security system, that is super-fast, and can handle some decent upgrades, the Alexor may be for you. Check it out here http://www.safemart.com/Wireless-Home-Security/DSC-Alexor-2-Way-Wireless-Alarm-Kit-KIT495-1CP01.htm. Starts at $299

3. New Releases in Home Alarm Monitoring: I'm not going to get into this much, even though its the most exciting thing coming down the pipe, since its not fully live yet. Just check back at this link from time to time if you have a Honeywell system. We'll be offering you great products at an incredibly low price. Stop by and see us. And if you simply want central station alarm monitoring, click the above link. Its available at wholesale pricing.

Homeowners Insurance Discount

Receiving a discount on your homeowners insurance policy is actually easier than you think.  And you can protect your home and family in the process.  How?  By purchasing UL listed central station alarm monitoring.  Having alarm monitoring for your home security system is a simple way to get a discount on your monthly insurance premiums.

Insurance companies "reward" their customers when the policy is covering less risk.  So, people in better health may pay less for their life insurance policy because they aren't as much of a risk to the insurance company.  The same idea applies to your homeowners insurance.  Companies are willing and eager to give you a discount if your home is at less risk.  Alarm monitoring takes care of that for you.  It gives confidence that in the event of a fire or other event, emergency personnel will be dispatched to your home, increasing the likelihood that less damage will ensue.

So how much of a discount can you receive on your homeowners insurance?  Well, it all depends on the insurance company, but it can be up to 20%!  And considering that UL listed alarm monitoring costs as little as $9 a month, its a no-brainer to secure your home with central station monitoring.

If you don't already have alarm monitoring, then your system isn't working to its fullest capabilities; and you're not getting a homeowners insurance discount.  Purchase UL listed alarm monitoring today.  Your wallet will thank you.

FAQ: Central Station Alarm Monitoring

One of the questions we frequently get asked at SafeMart is about our central station monitoring coverage.  Can we cover every state?  

The answer is yes.  SafeMart's Central Station Alarm Monitoring can cover all 50 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico.  Our UL listed monitoring service is proven and reliable, and very affordable.  Once the necessary paperwork is completed and your system is installed, we can have you online and monitored in no time.  If you don't have monitoring, or if you're paying more than $9 per month for it, then stop by SafeMart and see what we can do for you.

Alarm Monitoring: Livewatch

You may already know about alarm monitoring.  You may already have it up and running.  And if you do, thats great.  Your home is safe and your security system is working to its fullest capacity.  However, you probably don't know about some of the additional features available for certain security systems.

If you have a GE Simon 3, GE Simon XT, or GE Concord, your system is compatible with SafeMart's Livewatch service.  So, what is Livewatch.  Well, first, here's what its not.  Livewatch is not a central station monitoring service.  It is an alarm monitoring feature, but purchased by itself, LiveWatch will not do what central station monitoring does.  It is intended to be purchased in conjunction with alarm monitoring, not in replacement.  However, if you choose not to have central station monitoring, Livewatch does increase the level of self-monitoring.

Essentially, Livewatch allows you to control your system remotely and receive remote notifications of any events or alarms.

1. You can arm or disarm your system easily via internet access.  This can also be done quite conveniently from your PDA (Blackberry, Razr, etc).

2. You will recieve voice, text mesage, and email notifications (depending on your customization) of any events at your home, whether your system is armed or not.

3. If you have central station monitoring, alarms will be routed through your Livewatch system directly to your central station.

You do need to purchase a GSM module for this (I've discussed GSM Modules before here).  Basically Livewatch gives you a whole new level of control over your home security system.  It also gives you the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you can monitor your system activity anytime, anywhere.

Alarm Monitoring

Alarm monitoring has been mentioned here before, but I want to speak about it again.  It really is an incredibly important aspect of home security and, unfortunately, many homeowners don't realize that.  So, here we go:

Once you've purchased, installed, and programmed your home security system, you're all done, right?  Well, not necessarily.  When your system is up and running, its doing something known as "self-monitoring."  Self-monitoring means that your system will sound locally in the event of an alarm, and you'll receive a phone call (if you set this up) alerting you to any events in your system.  And certainly, this is better than nothing....but not too much better.  Why?

1. Unless you are physically at the property, it may not help that you received a private call from your system.  Police frequently refuse to respond to calls from private homeowners who say that their house is being burglarized when the homeowner is not at the scene.

2. Your alarm will sound locally, hopefully alerting neighbors.  But what if it doesn't?  Some people don't live close enough to hear interior alarms, and if its the middle of the night, your neighbors may sleep through the alarm.  In that case, your neighbors are no longer of any assistance in this regard.

The best option is to have 24 hr. monitoring from a central station.  It costs as little as $9 per month and guarantees that a UL listed, central station is monitoring your system 24 hours a day.  Why is this important?  Its important for a number of reasons:

1. Your central station will monitor your system 24 hrs. a day.  In the event of an alarm, they will call your home to verify that everything is fine.  If they don't reach you, or if you do not correctly verify that the situation is normal, they will immediately contact police, who do respond to central station monitoring calls.

2. In the event of a fire or health emergency, the central station will immediately contact emergency personnel without first contacting you.

3. Many homeowner's insurance companies offer a discount for a monitored home security system.  Often this discount will more than cover the cost of central station monitoring.  (Remember, its only $9 per month).

Many people choose not to purchase central station monitoring.  After all, its an additional cost.  But that cost is only $9 per month!  You just spent a great deal of money investing in a home security system.  You've taken your time to install the system and program it.  Your system should be working to the fullest capabilities to protect you, your loved ones, and your home.  Without central station monitorig, thats just not possible.