We're *this close* to getting one, but my only hang up is that there is a 3-year contract. Do you have a contract? Do you find that it's been worth it/are you glad you have it?
Last year I got a 10% pay cut, which has since been reinstated, but if we had to make cuts again, I would think the alarm might be the first thing to go, so the contract has me a little unsure. Plus, I've never had an alarm system, so I don't know if I would hate it or what.
Thoughts?
Re: NTR, If you have a home security system, please come in
We just had one installed in the springtime and I love it.
We also have a 3 year contract and my only hangup was "what if we move?" They'll install a new system in our new home for free so we can continue our contract so that answered that. lol
What are your reasons for getting one? If you'd consider cutting it as an expense first above all of your other accounts, then it's probably not even worth it to get it in the first place.
We don't have a contract. But the company we use is a smaller, local company...not one of the nationally known ones.
Tell them that you want to become a new customer, but don't want to sign a contract and see if you can negotiate something with them.
To me, it's a necessity. ?It only cost us $99 for installation, but I know certain companies offer free installation from time to time. ?We pay about $30/month and the peace of mind it gives me is priceless. ?
We waited until it was too late- somebody tried to bust down the door when I was home alone with DS one weekday afternoon. ?They were targeting homes without alarm systems, and unfortunately, we hadn't seen a need for one previously. ?With the crappy economy there's a whole lot more of this going on in every city and every neighborhood. ?I think it's totally worth it.
(read it. you know you want to.)
anderson . september 2008
vivian . february 2010
mabel . august 2012
Yeah, this is my biggest fear. We live in a nice, ungated neighborhood surrounded by some not-as-nice neighborhoods. The crime in our area has been increasing, including an incident when my mom was at my house with Lily, and some guy was banging on the door yelling for someone, and another incident when I was just getting home with Lily and some guy stopped me in my driveway wanting to sell me magazines. He got kinda scary when I turned him down. (I know the security system wouldn't have helped that situation, but you get what I'm saying.)
Okey dokey, I have been sufficiently reminded why I wanted to do this in the first place.
My silly Lily is almost 4.
Make sure to check out your local companies. They usually don't have the free installation deals places like ADT offer, but their monthly fee is so much cheaper that in the long run, it pays for itself. We don't have a contract and only pay $19.99/month for all the same monitoring as other companies.
Also, talk to your insurance agent. We get a pretty good discount for having a monitored system. So in the grand scheme, the monitoring rate is cheaper