Security systems and buying or selling a home around Columbus

When you buy a security system you pay for the monitoring service and lease the equipment, usually.
This is important to remember when it's time to sell a house as many security companies will not let you out of your commitment to them. You may need to either pay through the contract - a potentially good selling point for the buyer, move the system with you - often a security company may be willing to do that, or simply disclose up front that the system is leased with an existing contract which will have to be taken over by the buyer.
I've had a closing almost not happen over this very issue. Be aware of security systems and find out what the situation is as a buyer. As a seller, review your contract prior to putting your house on the market and talk to the security company regarding your plans to sell the home.
Having said all that, there are also companies who will understand your predicament and gladly terminate your contract but leave all the equipment in hopes the buyer will want to restart the account and the seller(soon to be buyer) will call on them for the next home's security system.
While we're on the subject, allow me to put it out there that Realtors hate having to deal with security systems. It's just one more thing that could go wrong during a showing and with so many makes and models and codes and buttons, it can get messy. It is not fun to listen to the headache-inducing alarm while waiting for the company to call and the police to arrive -- not to mention a tad bit embarrassing as a buyer's representative. So if it's not too much of an inconvenience, let's keep the alarms off during the day when the house is on the market.