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Step 1
Know your home. Before buying an alarm system or even speaking with an alarm salesman, a person needs to know what things and which areas in his home he wants to protect. A potential consumer should walk through his home and count all of the doors and windows in his home. He also should think about which windows and doors are most important to protect.
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Step 2
Call a couple of alarm companies and ask them to send a consultant to your home (at different times). The consultant the companies send will actually be a salesman. He will likely try to sell a potential customer at least a basic system of two door/window sensors and a motion detector. If he is able to sell the idea of this system to a consumer, he will also likely attempt to sell you a higher-priced system as well. When salesmen from alarm companies visit and start to talk about what a home "needs", a consumer needs to refer back to his own mental checklist to determine what he really needs.
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Step 3
Understand what the companies are selling. For a "free" system of something such as two door sensors and a motion detector, there is usually no up-front cost. For the alarm system that is slightly better and includes something like four door/window sensors and two motion detectors, the price will be about $99 up-front. Some salesmen tell consumers they are getting a "free" system. However, this is not necessarily true. Even though a consumer might not be charged for the installation or equipment up-front, he or she ends up paying for it in the long run.
Companies who sell an alarm system for your home can only "give" you the "free" equipment if the consumer is willing to sign a two- or three-year agreement to pay an alarm-monitoring company about $30 per month. A phone line is required for a monitored alarm system to work.
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Step 4
Consider if the monitoring is needed. In general, paying to have the system monitored is a good idea because the monitoring company alerts authorities in the case of a triggered alarm. This is especially beneficial to those who live in a rural setting. However, a person who lives in an apartment or in close proximity to other homes will have an alarm loud enough that it will get the attention of neighbors, who also will call the authorities.
Deciding whether or not a system needs to be monitored is up to each consumer. If a person decides to not have the home alarm system monitored, he might be better off buying the alarm system at a do-it-yourself retailer rather than from a security company. The affordable prices security companies offer go out the window to those who do not sign an agreement to have the systems monitored.
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Step 5
Buy the minimal amount of equipment to do the job. Nobody wants their home to feel like Fort Knox. By using more motion detectors than door/window sensors, a person can cut down on the amount of equipment needed in his home. For example, if a living room has four windows and one door in it, it would take five door/window sensors to protect that room. However, if a small motion detector were to be placed in the top of one of back corner of the room, it would be able to protect the whole room by itself.
