You searched for months to find the perfect house in what looks to be a nice safe neighborhood to raise your family. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a big two car garage, plenty of backyard space, and it has a swimming pool! What more could you ask for? Maybe an ironclad guarantee that your home will never be broken into and that no one will ever become injured while visiting. While this all sounds a bit over the top as you can’t stop a determined thief and accidents do happen, there are things you can do to protect your home.
What Can I Do to Protect My Home?
The big question is, “What can you do to protect your home and your financial stability?” The answer is to install a complete security system that includes CCTV cameras recording while the system is armed. According to a report issued by the Electronic Security Association, in 2012 there were over 2.1 million reports burglaries. This equates to one robbery every 15 seconds.
So, what does installing a security system do for you? According to the experts at Alarm.com, over 90 percent of those convicted for residential burglary stated that they avoided homes with security systems since they significantly increased their odds of being caught and convicted. But, this is not all having a security system installed can do for you. If you are looking to find a discount on insurance that you may qualify for, installing a home security system is one of the easiest and least expensive things you can do. Most insurance companies offering homeowner’s insurance offer some form of discount to those with home security systems.
The average discount ranges from as little as 5 percent all the way up to 20 percent. For example, State Farm Mutual Insurance states that if you have a monitored security system that is designed to contact law enforcement as well as the central monitoring station, they will give you a 15 percent discount. But, if all the system does, is contact the monitoring station, the discount drops to 7 percent.
The More Features, the More Discounts
Insurance companies are in the business of making money for their shareholders. The less they have to pay out on claims, the higher their earnings, and the happier their investors are going to be. Having said this, if installing a basic monitored security system with emergency services callout can save you money, what other features do these systems offer that might help further reduce the cost of your insurance? Many systems allow you to connect CCTV cameras that record the inside and outside of your home that can record those breaking into your home or the actions leading up to an accident like a “slip/fall” that can result in huge settlements. By having these recordings, the thief might be caught and the “injured party” to be found trying to cheat the system.
Anything you can do to improve the security and safety of your home is not only good for you and your family but can reduce crime in your neighborhood, causing a reduction in insurance costs that not only saves you money but potentially your neighbors as well.