The DIY smarthome security systems are sort of like a shitty lock on your door. They are better than nothing and will delay the mouth breathers, but not much else. They might in fact end up costing you more if your city has a registration law, and you don't know that you need to register it. In Dallas, the cops won't even respond to an alarm unless the property has a permit on file, and if they respond because your neighbors called and it it is a false alarm, they'll send you a $250 fine (which is frankly more than most of these systems cost.) A permit costs $50 a year, and there's no fine for the first five false alarms. If you go DIY, I would say check your permitting requirements (more about the alarm permit than building code BS) and get a wired DIY kit. You can probably install it yourself (think about the idiots that do most alarm installations) and hire whatever company you want (preferably local) to do your monitoring. You'll own the system, so you can shop around and change monitoring companies at will.