Home Security System in Park Slope - Necessary?
We are closing on a house next month and are wondering if people in one-family brownstones typically have security systems (e.g., ADT). The house is on one of the park blocks in northern Park Slope, and the area is pretty safe, so we’re not sure if getting an alarm would be sensible or just paranoid.
We are closing on a house next month and are wondering if people in one-family brownstones typically have security systems (e.g., ADT). The house is on one of the park blocks in northern Park Slope, and the area is pretty safe, so we’re not sure if getting an alarm would be sensible or just paranoid.
LowerUWSider,
I’d be curious as to what you decided to get. I am considering the same thing.
Also, can anyone attest to how much the alarm reduces your monthly insurance cost??
Thanks for all your responses. Just went to the Frontpoint website. Looks pretty great. I’d love to hear from anyone else who has used the system, but based on Sweet Action’s recommendation and what I’ve read the company’s website so far, I think it’s the right one for us.
I’d advise against old alarm companies like ADT. I researched this quite a bit, and ended up installing an alarm system from Frontpoint security (powered by alarm.com). The command module has a cell phone chip in it, and a battery backup, so it’s totally wireless. No phone lines for a burglar to cut, and the second someone triggers the alarm, you are notified based on the plan you set up on the website/ or cops get called if it’s armed and you cant be reached.
It is incredibly customizable, so you can get text / push notifications if motion is detected in a certain area, a door or window is opened, all of this can be during certain times you specify. Also they have an iPhone app (blackberry too i think) so you can remotely arm and disarm the system, as well as view video from any cameras you have installed.
It’s $40/month and monitored (if they cant reach any of your numbers they call cops/ fire) and you can install the whoel thing yourself, and add a huge variety of wireless sensors to the kit (moisture, temperature, CO, smoke/fire, motion, glassbreak). It’s been very reliable, and we got a call seconds after my wife set the alarm off accidentally once.
http://www.frontpointsecurity.com/
I interviewed a burglar recently (for work) who said he avoids houses with alarm systems…. we don’t have one, but my mom does, and it’s true, hers only ever goes off for false alarms.
If I had infinite money, I guess I’d install one, and turn it on when I was home alone, or away on vacation.
Nobody I know on my block has an alarm system (Carroll below 6th). Maybe the Park blocks are targets because the houses are more expensive. Otoh, know of an opportunistic break-in (literally, broke the front door lock) on Garfield, in and out in 2 mins stealing a tv and some small stuff, so alarm would not have helped.
Get a sticker and put it on the door.
The reason you get this is that it reduces the cost of your insurance. Cops generally don’t respond to an alarm inside of 40 minutes, so it’s a deterrent only. The important thing about deterrence is psychology – you simply don’t want your house being the easiest target on the block.
I’m with Arkady on this one. I rented a house that had one and it made me way more nervous than the thought of being broken into. You have to rush to deactivate it every time you get home or some massive buzzer rings, fireplace or stove smoke could set off the fire alarm, you had to explain to people using your house how to use it and then they would trip it anyway while you are away…. I feel much better living in a non-alarmed house.
If you already have window bars, you don’t need it. If not, you should get the alarm or some kind of deterrent.
I have friends who have them but they have only been activated w/ false alarms.