4 Reasons to Get a Home Security System

Every home can benefit from installing a home security system, as no home is completely risk-free from a potential burglary. Moreover, the benefits of a home security system are multifold. If you own a house, discover four reasons to get a security system for your home.

1. Protect Your Own House and Belongings

The most obvious reason to install a home security system is to protect your own home and the belongings inside of it. This is the primary reason why homeowners install these systems. Many people, however, don't realize just how effective these systems are at reducing the risk of a break-in.

According to a study by the Electronic Security Association, 83 percent of burglars will check to see whether a home has a security system before attempting to break in. If a security system is present, 60 percent will decide not to break into that house. Based on these statistics, you can make your home unattractive to more than half of the criminals who might break into it.

Even if a burglar does choose to break in despite a home security system, the system can still be useful. A system that automatically alerts local authorities of a potential break-in will reduce how much time a burglar has to rifle through your stuff. In turn, this will limit how many things they're able to gather before police arrive.

2. Make Your Neighborhood Safer

When you install a home security system in your house, you don't just make your home safer but also help protect your neighbors' houses as well. Even though your home's system doesn't monitor neighbors' houses, your system will still reduce the likelihood that others in your area have their homes broken into.

A study from Rutgers found that neighborhoods where burglar alarms were commonplace saw fewer home burglaries than neighborhoods where fewer alarms were in place.

3. Save on Your Homeowners Insurance Policy

Because home security systems are so effective at reducing the risk of residential break-ins, insurance companies often give discounts to homeowners who install these systems. A survey from 2011 found that the largest insurers in the country offered homeowners insurance discounts of up to 20 percent when homes installed monitored alarm systems.

Depending on how much you pay for homeowners insurance, a 20-percent discount could yield a substantial savings on your annual premiums. For example, you might save up to $480 per year if your homeowners policy's premiums were $1,200 annually.

When these savings are taken into account, the net cost of installing a home security system becomes much lower. In some cases, homeowners can even save more on insurance premiums than they spend on a monitored system.

For instance, a monitored home security system typically costs $100 to $250 up front and $10 to $35 per month after the hardware is set up. In the first year, you might spend anywhere from $220 to $670.

If you do save $480 on insurance each year, your first-year expenses in this example could equate to somewhere between an additional $260 in your bank account to an effective cost of $190 for the system. After year one, you could expect to get more in insurance savings than you spend on monthly monitoring.

4. Check on Kids Who Are Home Alone

About 3.5 million children from ages 5 to 12 spend time home alone after school. As a result, many parents want an effective way to monitor their kids' behavior remotely.

If you have kids who are regularly home alone, a smart home security system lets you check in with them via video and audio feed.

If you need a home security system, contact Coastal Burglar Alarm.