Loving couple paying bills online at home using a laptop computer and looking very happy - lifestyle concepts

How to Secure Your Home Without Breaking the Bank

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Loving couple paying bills online at home using a laptop computer and looking very happy - lifestyle conceptsRoughly 250 New England homes out of every 100,000 are burglarized each year. Massachusetts residents alone have about a 1 in 79 chance of becoming the victim of a property crime. 

If you want to ensure that you do not become part of that statistic, you’re not alone. Homeowners are looking for better ways to secure their property – that don’t come with a hefty price tag.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to achieve greater home security that don’t involve a lot of additional investment. Often, some creative thinking matched with wise decisions are all it takes to ensure that your home is safe from would-be intruders.

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fire place glowing outside

5 Summer Fire Safety Tips

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

fire place glowing outside

Fire-related incidents are responsible for thousands of deaths and injuries each year, as well as millions of dollars in property damages. The best way to stop a fire is to prevent it from starting in the first place. Consider these five summer fire safety tips to greatly reduce your risk of a fire taking hold of your home. Using caution, campfires, cookout grills and more can be safely enjoyed all summer long.

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Shot of an unrecognizable little girl playing with a sparkler at night time outside in nature

Safety Tips for the 4th of July

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

The Fourth of July brings the excitement of backyard barbeques during the day and awe-inspiring firework shows at night. However, as Pew Research describes, Fourth of July weekend is also considered the most dangerous and deadliest weekend of the year. Emergency rooms experience thousands of patients on normal weekends for a variety of causes, but Independence Day adds a high number of firework, alcohol and water-related injuries to the Shot of an unrecognizable little girl playing with a sparkler at night time outside in naturelist. 

There’s no reason to let these statistics dampen your enthusiasm. Most – if not all – Independence Day accidents can be avoided by observing a few standard safety precautions. Implement the following tips to ensure that your Fourth of July remains a fun weekend of relaxation and entertainment.

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young couple buying a new house

5 Reasons to Upgrade Your Home Security Before Selling 

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Invest in Home Peace of Mind 

Planning to put your house on the market? Want to differentiate the property and build value for it in a practical, demonstrable way? Offer your buyers full security capabilities and extra peace of mind.young couple buying a new house

If you already have some sort of basic alarm system in place, consider upgrading it and implementing a cutting-edge, high tech and holistic surveillance/life safety solution. The safety of your property and loved ones is crucial. Anything you can do to enhance that protection will most likely appeal to future owners of your house.

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Teenage girl with mobile phone in bed

How Monitoring Your Kids’ Online Activity Mitigates Break-Ins

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Online “casing” has become a new favorite tool of burglars throughout the country. Statistics show that nearly 75% of home invaders used a resident’s online presence in some way to target and locate their home. While adults use social media and other online platforms to engage with the world, children are far more Teenage girl with mobile phone in bedinvested in their virtual life, which makes them a vulnerable target for would-be burglars looking for easy access to a vacant home.

There are many ways you can monitor your child’s online presence to ensure that your entire family – and your home – are kept safe from intruders. First, it’s important to know exactly how potential robbers locate the information they need.

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Tips for Springtime Renovations

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Renovations Coming this Spring? Don’t Take Chances

With the snow melted and weather warming, you might be thinking of renovations to your house and property. Consider a security system as part of the effort.

Why? In a project of any size there will be workmen moving in and out of your building/worksite; valuable building materials (such as copper and marble) will be left in plain sight; and so on. However, there are steps you can take to protect your worksite and belongings, and there are electronic systems designed to help you do just that. Read more →

Don’t Let Package Thieves Steal Your Holiday Cheer

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Christmas time is not only the season for giving — for package thieves, it’s the time for taking. That risk increases each day leading up to Christmas.  

 

Roughly 30 percent of Americans are victims of package theft according to ABC. With Cyber Monday sales estimated to have hit a whopping $8 billion, the opportunities for grab-and-go package thefts are just going to get worse. Ultimately, the threat of such thieves could put a dent into e-commerce itself, says an Inc. article. Read more →

Halloween: Spooky Security Facts for Homeowners

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Halloween crept up quicker than you can say “boo!” and you should be aware of the night’s spooky security facts. About 175 million Americans will be observing the holiday in some form, says CNN. With all those parties, costumes and related activity in New England and beyond, it should be no surprise Halloween can be a scary day for homeowners.

In fact, the holiday sees a 17 percent spike in home claims for vandalism, theft and other crimes, as compared to the 364 other days a year, notes a recent CNBC article.  The most common vandalism acts include kicked-in doors, broken windows and mailboxes knocked down. Also, in-house theft claims jump by 60 percent, says a USA Today article. Read more →

Merrimack Valley Gas Disaster: Proactive Vigilance Is Essential

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Tragedy can strike any time, from even the most mundane sources as the recent Merrimack Valley gas disaster demonstrates. According to WHDH News in Boston, excess pressure in natural gas pipelines caused explosions and fires in 80 homes in three communities. Dozens of houses were destroyed completely, and a young man was killed.

As a Providence Journal editorial on the disaster notes,: “The explosions are a stark and unwelcome reminder of the fragility of America’s critical infrastructure network, which includes the electrical grid, the banking system, telecommunications, the food supply system, the water system and public health networks.” Given New England’s aging infrastructure, such threats will likely continue, but homeowners can empower themselves to respond as proactively as possible and reduce potential threats to their properties, families and communities. Read more →

An Alarm System Can Boost Home Value and Enable Smart Living

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

home security alarm system

On the fence about installing an electronic alarm system to protect your personal or rental property? Not convinced your security demands such a solution? A home security system can lighten your financial burden, more tightly link your mobile devices to your home management systems, and, perhaps, give you convenience and peace of mind.

It’s possible you own a house in a super-safe neighborhood, with a great police department, and lots of nosy neighbors living next door. Maybe you have a particularly vigilant dog. Perhaps the extra security doesn’t quite move you to install a system. You still owe it to yourself to consider some sort of a surveillance/alarm system’s extra benefits — ones you can enjoy even if you live in Fort Knox.

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