With warm weather lingering, it’s tempting to fling open the doors, open wide the windows and lounge in your back yard, fresh lemonade in hand. Don’t get so comfortable yet.
“You have to be prudent about taking care of your home and belongings and not get too casual,” says Peter Michel, chief executive of Brink’s Home Security, a Dallas-based residential security services company with offices in Chicago.
While you’re outdoors without a care in the world, intruders may be helping themselves to your valuables. According to one crime report, intruders commit residential burglaries by entering a home through an unlocked door or window more than 40 percent of the time.
The good news is that the cost of installing an electronic home security system has plummeted in price, thanks to technological advancements and to competition within the industry that has spurred consolidation.
Some systems may cost as little as $99 while others may hover more around the $500 mark. The “real” money to be made comes from monthly service fees, says Keith Fisher, owner of Keyth Security Systems Inc. in Highland Park.
Installation has also gotten easier, particularly in older homes, now that many wireless systems work as reliably as the once more popular hard-wired units.
Shirley Lenz decided to put in an alarm system from Brink’s in her Alsip condominium after two break-ins. “They [burglaries] were on the second floor where you’d think you’d be OK, and they also happened during the day and the doors were kicked in. We never thought it would happen here, but it did and people lost money and belongings,” she says. “I feel much more secure now.”
In addition to deciding on a wired or wireless system, homeowners need to make other choices, such as how many keypads, how many doors and windows to include, whether to have motion detectors, an audible and/or silent alarm, and what type of link to the company and/or police department. Few systems these days are connected directly to the police station from a home because of false alarms.
“The decisions should be based on the needs and lifestyle of the homeowners, and the vulnerability of the home. Our system works like a building block with modules to be added, depending on need,” says Rich Simonetti, senior vice president of sales and operations at Topeka, Kan.-based Protection One Inc. You also need to decide whether you want to add on any bells and whistles such as security cameras, radio backups, heat and fire alarms, software that connects to your Internet, pagers and other gizmos that protect contents from additional problems such as flooding and rising energy costs.
“You may want to know who’s ringing your doorbell at 10 p.m. by having a camera or for your children to be able to come home from school, send a signal to a pager that calls your number at the office to say they’re home,” Simonetti adds.
Xanbo Inc., a smart homes technology company, offers such options as a thermostat adapter, which can analyze what percentage of a homeowner’s energy bill comes from which appliance or a water sensor that can detect flooding.
Two additional caveats: An alarm and fire system connected to a central station can get you a credit of 15 percent on your homeowner’s insurance premium, says Stephen Nechtow, a principal at Baum/Nechtow Ltd. in Chicago, but don’t expect having the system to increase the resale value of your house.
Real estate agent Honore Frumentino, of Koenig & Strey’s office in Deerfield, says about 25 to 30 percent of her clients express interest in a home with an alarm, but they won’t buy one purely because it has one installed. “They know it’s easy to add,” she says.
Some newer homes, particularly above $1 million, include them as a given.
Among the other security-related components and steps to consider are:
– Signs. Not everyone agrees that they help, but posting a sign in your window or front door stating that your premises are secured by XYZ Alarm Co. may deter some uninvited visitors. “Many burglars know, however, which signs they’ve seen before and which they haven’t,” saysSimonetti.
– Doors and windows. Good exterior doors should have solid cores and be at least 13/4-inches thick with solid door frames, says Robert deHeer, author of “The Home Owner’s Kit” (Real Estate Education Co., $17.95). Good door locks mean a deadbolt with a locking knob. The deadbolt has a solid 1-inch throw that goes into the door jamb and the locking knob has a latch, says Adam Smith, a builder in Lake Forest. You also want 3-inch hardened steel screws that go into the studs behind the jambs to reinforce the doors against kick attacks.
“These are physically large as well, which acts as a deterrent in itself if someone’s casing a neighborhood for an easier house to enter,” Smith says. But, to choose a commercial model is overkill, he adds. If you’re buying an existing home, definitely change the locks since you don’t know how many keys the prior homeowner handed out. Also be sure to replace any locks that look tampered with, show excessive wear or fit loosely in a door, says Max Ruckman, group manager at Black & Decker Hardware and Home Improvement Group, which owns Kwikset Corp., a lockset company.
Also useful are door viewers or peepholes to identify visitors, sometimes door chains, locks on sliding glass doors with bars that fold down to a horizontal position, window locks, and tempered glass or laminated plastic instead of regular glass, according to deHeer. Again, just buying and installing any of these devices isn’t sufficient. “They need to be used,” says Simonetti.
– Proper landscaping. Intruders can more easily lurk in bushes that are overgrown, so be sure to keep them trimmed.
– Adequate lighting. Good lighting will also help keep any intruders literally in the spotlight. Be sure your front door and walkway, back or side door and the perimeter of your house and any separate buildings such as a detached garage are well illuminated.
– Taking a break. If you go away for an hour, a day or a longer period, be sure you leave no signs of your absence. Have a neighbor pick up your mail, newspapers and packages or have your mail stopped. Also stop deliveries such as milk if you’re gone for a few days. Never leave packages from expensive new possessions such as a PC or TV at your curb for pickup since it advertises your new valuables, say authors Tom Davidson and Lorna Gentry of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Home Security (Alpha Books, $16.95). Also be sure someone shovels snow and rakes leaves, says Michel of Brinks.
– High-quality safe. Fisher recommends safekeeping important papers including a list of valuables with their assessed valuations and possibly a video or photographs of your home’s contents in the locked safe.
– Neighborhood watch groups. Authors Davidson and Gentry suggest organizing a watch group by calling your police department for information, talking to neighbors, holding a meeting to discuss effective solutions, electing a block captain and holding periodic meetings.
Although prices for the alarm systems have dropped, be sure you still allocate sufficient funds for your total security package, which Fisher estimates may run about $1 a square foot, or $3,000 for a 3,000-square-foot home.
“Take a healthy, paranoid approach to safeguarding your home, without doing overkill,” he says.
