Great Ways To Improve Your Home Security

21 June, 2010

When the economy is tough, like it has been for a while, most people tighten their belts and look for ways to cut expenses. Less trips out to dinner and a movie, more frugal grocery shopping to stretch each meal as far as possible, and a keener focus on what's necessary and essential versus what's frivolous and luxury. Even finding a part-time job is in the cards for a lot of people, just to make ends meet. However, some people don't do any of these things.

House burglars don't care about the economy, and they're certainly not looking to do any belt-tightening. In fact, crime is one of the industries that thrives and prospers during an economic downturn, and it's for this reason homeowners need to be extra diligent about home security.

It's hard enough keeping what you've earned without some unscrupulous house burglar working on a hundred different ways to steal it all. Here are some really great ways to help you avoid coming home to an empty house. Some might seem like commons sense, but you might be surprised to discover how many houses have been burglarized because something very simple was neglected.

Lock your doors and windows. You might be thinking to yourself 'no kidding', but far too many burglars are able to walk right in through the front door, or make their way through an unlocked window. Locking your locks is the most basic of all home security measures, creating a foundation by which you can build a rock solid home security plan.

Along with locking your windows, make certain that your sliding windows – and doors – have an extra level of protection. This is easily accomplished by purchasing large dowels or rods that will fit in the tracks of your sliding windows and doors. This prevents them from being opened from the outside, and is a very effective and inexpensive way to keep burglars from gaining entry into your house.

Have a monitored security alarm system professionally installed in your house. This will work to keep burglars at bay on a variety of levels, the least of which is attributed to the effectiveness of the yard sign and window sticker that comes with your system. Proudly display the fact that your home is protected. This is increasingly becoming a very effective tool as most burglars are looking for easy targets, and homes that are professionally protected are not easy targets.

Home Security monitoring from ADT also provides you with around the clock protection, whether you're at home, or away on an extended vacation. No other form of home security can offer – or boast the fact – that your home and belongings are covered 24/7, 365. Protect your family against burglars starting today!

Where Are Affluent American's Moving?

19 June, 2010

If you had all the money you ever dreamed of, where would you live? In a ski community for the winter? Along the coast in the summer? On a farm away from it all? In a penthouse atop a skyscraper in a major population center? With enough money all of these are reasonable options. However, the well-to-do in this country are showing a preference for two things: bright, sunny days and low taxes.

Warm weather has always attracted people from all economic classes, including the rich. Why deal with the hassles of winter if you don't have to? So, where have those with money chosen to move in the past couple of years? To the South. Tax returns for 2008, the last year of this sort of data from the IRS, showed that Collier County, Florida, near Naples, is the place to be. More than 15,000 people move into Collier County in 2008 with an average reported income of just over $76,000 per person. That's over $300,000 for a family of four.

Greene County, Georgia was second on the list. The county barely has 15,000 residents, yet 788 affluent Americans chose Greene County, a mere 75 miles east of Atlanta. The average income of the new residents is over $56,000, making the total income for a family of four around $225,000. Rounding out the top five are three more southern counties. Nassau County, Florida (near Jacksonville), Llano County, Texas (northwest of Austin), and Walton County, Florida (east of Pensacola) all saw an influx of affluent residents.

As more and more affluent people move into these various counties, more and more lower income residents are leaving. Collier County, Florida actually saw 16,802 residents leave the county, but these were residents with an average income of just over $26,000 per person. Greene County, Georgia saw similar numbers. 778 people left the county, but only had an average income of $25,400 per person. The other three counties in the top five saw similar departures of lower-income residents.

What does all this mean for the new residents of these counties? For starters it means more and more neighbors are similarly situated. The medium income has risen in direct proportion to those who took up new residency. However, there's also a downside, but one that can be mitigated. Moves likes these don't go unnoticed by house burglars. The more affluent the area, the more likely skilled burglars are already on the prowl, looking for gaps and weaknesses in home security.

It becomes critically important to place an even greater emphasis on home security when entire neighborhoods are in similar economic classes. If one house gets robbed, burglars will assume that whatever was stolen in one house probably exists in every other house in the area. Expensive televisions, jewelry, cash, art and other collectibles, etc. Whatever there is of value to steal, burglars will make the assumption that, given the wealth of the area, the value will be high.

Make the effort to protect your home with a monitored ADT home security system, and have it professionally installed to ensure optimal performance. There's no reason to continue attaining the good things in life if you're going to allow burglars to rob you blind. Protect your home, your belongings, and your family today.

Mark Your Valuables for Later Identification

17 June, 2010

If you happen to be the unfortunate victim of a home burglary, chances are the items stolen are at a local pawnshop. However, just walking in and telling the owner that such and such piece of property belongs to you isn't going to fly unless you can prove it. With today's modern technology, there's really no reason not to take the time and effort to identify and log your personal property. This includes guns, consumer electronics, jewelry, computers, tools, and anything else of value.

Here are some great ways you can go about cataloging your property in a way that will make sense if you ever have to prove something to be yours:

When practical, use an etcher and make an identifying mark on your property. This works best on metal objects. You can etch something meaningful into hand tools, power tools, lawn mowers, the back of consumer electronic products, and a host of other pieces of property. A name, birth date, drivers license number, or anything else meaningful or unique will work.

Take pictures of everything you own. One of the best ways you can catalog your property is to take pictures of all of it with a digital camera. Take lots of pictures. Close-ups, full room shots, side shots, pictures of the serial numbers, the make and model, the top and bottom, and any identifying marks, scuffs, imperfections, or other unique characteristics. Be certain to include pictures of you with your valuables, as well as background pictures that can easily be identified as the inside of your house, garage, or tool shed.

A video camera works very well for documenting and inventorying your equipment. One of the great features of a video camera is the ability to record your voice along with the pictures. You can make all the comments necessary while recording, and your voice will serve as further proof that the items are indeed yours.

Use a computer spreadsheet or database to log each item by name, description, serial number, make, model, colors, identifying features, date purchased, where purchased, and any other piece of information you deem relevant.

One of the clear advantages to keep meticulous records is the credibility it would build for you with law enforcement, your insurance company, your home warranty company, and any other third party involved. Meticulous record keepers are seen as very responsible people in these eyes of these types of individuals, and when making insurance claims or filing police reports, credibility goes a very long way. You will also be helping your own efforts because the more information you have about the items stolen, the more identifiable they become, which makes it infinitely easier to recover should the show up in pawn shops, flea markets, or even online in an auction.

Protect all of your possessions with a monitored ADT home security system, which will keep your belongings, and your family, safe and secure around the clock.

Hi-Tech & Lo-Tech Combine For The Best In Home Security

10 June, 2010

Generally speaking, putting all your eggs in one basket is usually a bad idea. We diversify our investment portfolios. We have more than one channel on our televisions. We eat a variety of different foods. There's sage wisdom in this old adage, and the same rings true for home security.

Relying on any one thing to keep your home and your family protected is shortsighted and a mistake just waiting to be exploited If you only have smoke detectors in your home, then you've got pretty good coverage against heat, smoke, and fire damage. But what if a pipe bursts and floods your basement? Your smoke detectors will look on with nothing to do or report. Why protect all of your exterior doors if you're going to leave your windows unlocked?

No doubt you're starting to see the point. Effective home security is a combination of high-tech and low-tech solutions, coupled with a sense of awareness and common sense. What do we mean by low-tech home security? These are what you find in most home security tips: Deadbolt locks for your doors and sash locks for your windows are forms of low-tech home security. The strong dowels or metal rods you use in the tracks of your windows to prevent them from being opened from the outside are also low-tech. Changing light bulbs, trimming your hedges and shrubs, putting lamps on timers, and even outdoor lighting are all forms of low-tech home security.

Without the low-tech the high-tech items aren't nearly as effective. So, what are these high-tech home security items? A monitored ADT home security system, professionally installed, is a high-tech from of home security. The door and window alarms, motion detectors, flood and freeze alarms, smoke detectors, and wireless cameras are all integrated into a single web of home security, monitored by professional home security experts trained in emergency readiness. But what good is a front door alarm if your door is unlocked or left open? Separate and apart a door alarm and a deadbolt lock are OK forms of home security. Working in tandem, however, their sum exceeds the combined total of the individual parts.

It's easy to focus on one set of things and unintentionally ignore another. A great way to avoid this problem when creating your home security master plan is to make a list with two columns, one for high-tech and one for low-tech. Each time you add an item to one column, take time to think about an item for the other column. If you're going to add outdoor lighting with motion-sensor technology, which is a high-tech item, then you should be thinking about ridding your yard of potential hiding places by trimming bushes, shrubs, and hedges so potential burglars can't hide when the floodlight comes on.

Being aware of your surroundings – your house, yard, additional structures like sheds, your neighborhood – paired with a common sense approach to both the high-tech and the low-tech elements of home security will have you protecting your home as thoroughly as possible, and you won't be relying on just one form of home security to keep your family well protected.

Give Yourself Options When Creating Your Home Security Plan

7 June, 2010

The great part about deciding you want to seriously protect your home is that you're giving yourself options. Options on what type of home security equipment you'll have installed, who will install it, which monitoring company you'll choose, and exactly how you're going to protect each room of your house and each member of your household.

However, trying to determine the best options for your situation can seem like a daunting task if you don't know where to start. It's recommended to start at the most basic needs and then determine which additional home security features you'll need to add to complete your vision.

Basic home security means covering the mandatory elements, and in the world of home security that's pretty straight forward. The central control panel controls the entire system and creates a comprehensive security network out of all your various components. From there you should want to protect your front door, and any other exterior door in your house. Basic home security systems include door alarms for this exact reason. In addition to doors, burglars will look for any window that will give them easy access. This is why basic home security packages also include window sensors.

You can always add to the number included in the standard package, but what's important to note here is that door and window alarms are standard equipment. This should be your starting point. This means you might have to also add deadbolt locks for the doors, and strong sash locks for the windows as an added level of protection. Home security is about each piece working in tandem with the other pieces, each strengthening the other.

In addition to door and window protection, the interior of your home needs to be protected with state-of-the-art motion detectors. Today's technology has created motion sensors sophisticated enough to tell the difference between your family pet and an intruder. This, of course, is designed to avoid false alarms in your house.

Arming and disarming your entire home security system should be as easy as pressing a single button. That's why a wireless keychain remote is also standard equipment in the basic home security package. So is a high-decibel alarm, designed to frighten burglars into fleeing immediately, as well as notifying neighbors that there's a burglar in the neighborhood. Complete your basic home security package with a window sticker and yard sign. These are effective tools that will warn anyone casing your house that there are easier targets and they should move along.

With the basics in place you can add smoke detectors, heat sensors, carbon monoxide alarms, flood alarms, wireless cameras, and freeze sensors. You can also add extras of each of these components to give you additional coverage. Choose an ADT monitored home security system and see why millions of people have made the same choice.