Security News & Information 
You’re a busy person.
You’re busy with your career, taking the kids to school, running errands, going to dance recitals, picking up dinner, driving the kids to soccer practice, preparing your big presentation, inspecting the job site… like we said, you’re a busy person. When you’re busy, it can be easy to forget the simple things. Did you lock the door? Turn off the lights? Arm the security system? Unplug the curling iron?
There’s nothing worse than remembering that you left the garage door unlocked halfway through the 2nd period of your kids hockey game. What do you do? Every year home and personal technology gets more advanced and affordable. Today’s residential security systems feature more than just alarms and sirens. They also offer the illusive peace-of-mind that comes with complete home automation and security—systems design to fit your busy lifestyle—total control of the home.
So, let’s check out three home security features that you shouldn’t live without!
Home Control
It’s called a “Home Security System”, right? By definition it keep your home secure. So let’s jump past the basic home security features discussion and assume that we’re talking about a home security package from TKS Security—that way we’ve established that it’s a best in class, UL listed system, with a top-of-the-line monitoring service. 🙂
Okay, so what what else should your system be doing?
Climate Control
How about setting your homes temperature to the perfect level, when you leave and arrive home? Not bad, eh? Not only is this great for comfort, but it’s also great for your wallet! New security systems from companies like DMP feature climate control built right into the keypad!
Lighting Control
Another home security feature that you’ll soon find you can’t live without is lighting control and automation. This allows you to set your kitchen lights to turn on automatically at dusk, or to set your outdoor and foyer lights to switch on as you approach your home in the evening, the options are almost limitless. These features add an additional layer of security and convenience to your home system. Concerned that you left the basement lights on when you arrive at the airport? No worries, check your mobile app and switch them off—brilliant!
Access Control
Let’s say you’re on vacation, relaxing with the family and enjoying a week of stress-free living. Then Fred calls… Fred agreed to feed your cat while you were away and now Fred can’t find his key to your house. So now, you’re worried about poor Whiskers getting hungry, you’re worried about hiring a locksmith, and your worried about what actually happened to Fred’s key! The big take-a-way here is now you’re on vacation and totally stressed. However, this isn’t something that has to cause any stress at all. A modern security system eliminates the need to give Fred a key, and makes it almost impossible to get locked out of your home. At the press of a button, you can give Fred access, he can feed Whiskers, and if he even if he forgets to lock-up and set the alarm when he leaves, the system will automatically do it for you. Now that’s vacation worthy peace-of-mind.
Energy Management
HVAC Savings
We’ve already established that today’s home security features include climate control, but we didn’t talk about what that does for your family’s budget. Adjusting your thermostat from 72° to 78° can save up to 18% on a home’s cooling bill. That’s a big savings for any budget! Maybe 78° is just a little too hot for you, that’s cool too (pun intended) . You can set the temperature to adjust based upon your lifestyle. Systems can be programmed to raise the temperature while you’re away, and to lower it before you return — no impact on your comfort, other than a heavier wallet.
Electricity Savings
We’ve also discussed how lighting automation can increase safety, security, and peace-of-mind — but there’s more. For every child in a home, there is a parent following said child around turning off lights. We know it’s cliche, but people (especially kids) leave lights on constantly. And each one of those lights is spinning your electric meter. Having the ability to control and automate the lighting in your home can have a significant impact on your finances. With today’s home security systems, you can set up lighting schedules and control lighting remotely. That gives your more power (another intended pun), to control your home’s electric bill.
Virtual Control
Control On The Go
Where would we be without apps? Nowadays there’s an app for almost anything, including control over your home security. Mobile keypad applications like Virtual Keypad give security system owners (like you) the ability to arm or disarm the alarm, control lights, locks, thermostats, cameras, and other automated home services right from your smart phone or device.
Another great thing about mobile keypad apps is the ability to receive alerts and event notifications. Notifications are great for things like getting alerted when the kids return home from school or practice. Not to mention the peace-of-mind that comes from knowing you’ll be notified immediately with any alarms.
Connecting mobile devices and security systems have yet another benefit. Geofencing! If you haven’t heard of geofencing, then you’re in for a treat. It’s a system that uses the GPS features of your phone to trigger events on your system — but these events only occur if you go outside your virtual fence. Let’s say that you decided to take a trip to the market and forgot to lock up your home. No worries, once you cross the border of the geofence (perhaps it’s 500ft from your home) your system can automatically lock your doors, arm your system, and even turn off the lights.
Finally, wouldn’t it be awesome if you could instantly view a camera system inside your home to determine the cause of the alert notification you just received. Well, today’s home security features include the ability to do just that. It’s called “video verification” and it’s a great way to check alarms, check on your children, or in a worst-case scenario, identify criminals. And this can be done right from the palm of your hand — it’s amazing.