How to Choose the Best Home Security Device for Your Home

You've made the decision to invest in a home security system to keep your home safe. The next step is choosing the right security device for your home. Here's how.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Determine what your home's security needs are. Take a look around your house, inside and out, during the day, at dusk and at night in order to determine what areas you most need to protect.

2. Determine whether you want to use motion sensors, video surveillance, break-in sensors or a combination of options to protect vulnerable areas that should be monitored or alarmed, such as your doors, windows and garage.

3. Learn about the options available for monitoring. A wired or wireless system can be monitored by a security company or can be set to call your cell phone when something goes wrong at your home. Surveillance cameras can be monitored digitally or on closed-circuit TV by you or by a security company.

4. Decide who will be monitoring your home security system.

5. Choose a security system that gives you the option of monitoring it yourself, if you've decided to monitor your own system.

6. Research home security companies to decide on the one that will best meet your needs, if you've decided to have a security company monitor your system. Choose the alarm system they offer that best fulfills your home security needs.

Tips & Warnings

• Need help determining what your home security needs are? Call up your local police station. Many police stations offer a free walk-through of your home.
• Not going to use surveillance cameras? Consider using fake cameras; many are well made and look like the real thing, which can be a deterrent to would-be criminals.
• Keep in mind that if you are monitoring your system yourself and something goes wrong, you will be the one who gets the police involved.
• If you use video surveillance cameras outdoors, you need to keep them in sight but out of reach.