Comments on: The World’s Most Affordable Alarm System

By: ozonegal

ozonegal — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:51:39 +0000

stickers & psters are great til somone breaks into your house in the middle of the night when you & your family are asleep!
has been a rash of that here in the Boro.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:22:46 +0000

This is a great tip and still very relevant today. Adt signs are still selling rather briskly on ebay. As more people lose their jobs and neighborhood foreclosure rates skyrocket and abandoned properties increase, having a security sign on one’s property isn’t such a bad idea.

By: Alwyn

Alwyn — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:53:59 +0000

Andre I assume you weren’t home or you would be dead.

By: Andre

Andre — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:40:06 +0000

You guys overseas are lucky ,,I have a 7 ft concrete wall around my premises with 3 ft electric fencing on top of it.Beam Perimiter alarm system around house and CCTV cameras around house with armed response,automated gates etc,,,and we still got broken into..

Guess where we live …..SOUTH AFRICA

By: Blaine Moore

Blaine Moore — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:57:14 +0000

Wow, but they have a bright website…

By: Dorky Dad

Dorky Dad — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:51:01 +0000

I have a better one yet--how about making money on an alarm system? With a monitored security system, I save over $12 a month on my homeowners insurance while only paying $4.95 a month for monitoring with 495alarm.com. I did have to pay a one-time $195.00 reprogramming fee, but in less than 3 years the money saved on insurance has paid for that.

By: Blaine Moore

Blaine Moore — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 20:23:29 +0000

This is something that I remembered you writing about and that I plan on implementing after the holidays.

Our house just got broken into last Friday.

By: Beardie11

Beardie11 — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:56:37 +0000

Is it legal to put up ADT signs if you haven’t subscribed to their services? Seems like the security companies would be all over that….

By: nickel

nickel — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 17:29:26 +0000

You can get real ADT signs and window decals on eBay, although the ads are a bit cryptic. I think ADT gets eBay to shut them down if the seller is too clear about what they’re selling — but you can alwasys send them a message for clarificaiton.

By: Vette

Vette — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 17:05:45 +0000

So where is a good place online to get “real” or “authentic” alarm signs?

I’ve seen some fakes that look fake. Looking for the real McCoy.

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 21:09:18 +0000

I could post a long exspositiory with plenty of statistics to wow you – but the bottom line is not just your security, but your pocketbook. Like Dus10 already stated, you do get a discount on your homeowner’s policy. You might do some research and find out how much money you save – if it’s the same as the monthly monitoring (usually no more than $30/month) your indirectly getting the service for free. All you pay for is the installation. Metro Security in the Tulsa, OK area does installations for $99 and the equipment is free. I’ve got hooked up – it was worth it.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:51:33 +0000

But you _are_ at a disadvantage when you sell your home if you’re the only house in the neighborhood lacking an alarm system. Also, this is not something easily remedied after building. IMO, install an alarm system in your house during the build-even if you know you won’t use it. Installation will be less costly, more effective, and far less intrusive.

By: FMF

FMF — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:52:07 +0000

That’s a great one!!! I’ll be sure to use it as a “money saving tip”!

By: Ear

Ear — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:28:12 +0000

True, but the cost is a little cheaper if we feed her the occasional burgler.

By: FMF

FMF — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:36:16 +0000

Ear –

The cost of that system is $17,000 or so based on my calculations on the cost of a pet.

By: FMF

FMF — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:34:28 +0000

Check this out.

Key quote:

The Greenwich Study of Residential Security, funded by the Alarm Industry Research and Education Foundation (AIREF), and conducted by Drs. Simon Hakim, Gideon Fishman and Yochanan Shachmurove, finds that alarm systems are the single most effective measure to help reduce the probability of burglary. There’s a catch, however: Alarm effectiveness is contingent up a customer’s willingness to display their alarm company’s yard sign. If burglars can’t determine that a house has an alarm system while surveying it from a distance, the house becomes a target.

“This analysis shows that most homes that were burglarized did not have a yard sign,” Dr. Hakim, a professor of economics at the School of Business and Management, Temple University, tells SIA Research Update. “Unfortunately, alarm customers in Canada do not use yard signs because they end up buried in the snow for much of the year.”

By: Dus10

Dus10 — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 19:20:13 +0000

My brother-in-law works for one of the security monitoring companies and he gave me some stickers and signs for free.

Also, most homeowner’s policies have discounts for having security systems, so it is not an entire waste, even if you never actually get the benefit of using it. And yes, it is very nice to have your fire alarms wired into your security system.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:07:21 +0000

There was a guy who made a lot of quick money selling security decals for cars on Ebay I think.

By: nickel

nickel — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:03:55 +0000

FMF: I’ve heard that 70% of all statistics are made up. But if that’s true, then there’s a 70% chance that I just made it up… Quite the paradox.

By: Ear

Ear — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:37:40 +0000

I have a 80 pound Pit Bull & Lab mix. Our front and back doors have enough glass on them so that you can see her walk up to see who is there. She’s a sweetheart and I doubt she’d actually do anything is someone broke in but no one has bothered to test that yet.

By: FMF

FMF — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 12:29:39 +0000

I think I read somewhere that 70% of the effectiveness of a security system was the signs. Then again, maybe I just made that up.

By: Hypersion

Hypersion — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 00:22:45 +0000

Wasn’t that a “Who the boss” episode?

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:08:51 +0000

*awesome* idea!

By: None

None — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 17:06:25 +0000

Looks to me that you are really not comfortable with your security situation.
else you wouldnt have got a decal .

If your main worry is a phone line being cut , you should consider wireless security system.

Personally i believe a home security system is like auto insurance, “Necessary Evil”.
You wont need it till you need it

By: Blaine Moore

Blaine Moore — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 16:56:53 +0000

That’s a good thought.