While Matt Mason covered the regional news in his spare time as a service to the community, he realized there was a major problem in the communications protocols in times of emergencies. How do homeowners know there is an emergency affecting their property? The answer to this question has become a new business now servicing the greater Santa Barbara region called FreePropertyAlert.com.
“Public agencies like the fire department are very good at broadcasting information to the public in wide strokes, but FreePropertyAlert.com brings very specific messages to people on their phones even when they are not home,” said Mason. “If you’re out of town on vacation, or even out to dinner with your spouse, the FreePropertyAlert.com system can inform you right away of a medical emergency or a fire at your home. You’ll get the message often times before the fire department or paramedics even arrive at your home.”
The free service (for a limited time) notifies by an instant text message and email to homeowners if fire, or medical personnel are dispatched to a property address. “When you think of the minutes or seconds surrounding a medical, or fire emergency, you immediately realize the value we bring to the community,” explains Mason. Statistics suggest that most people find out about an emergency hours after the initial incident. Those hours can mean the difference in securing valuable property, and reaching a loved one. “It’s like having eyes on your property 24/7.” Mason says. The service is not just for homeowners but also for companies that own or manage multiple investment properties, vacation homes, and homes away from home.
“Elderly friends and relatives in frail health are the least able to be contact friends and relatives when a fall or medical emergency occurs. It’s a real service we are providing to the community by delivering these alerts to concerned friends and family – people who can provide comfort to friends and family in need, and in some cases may be able to provide valuable information to paramedics or health-care workers to ensure the best care is given,” said Mason.
FreePropertyAlert.com also provides a service that is great tool for potential home buyers – Property History. Sellers may not even know about past fires or police activity at a house, but the report can shed light on that. It’s kind of like CarFax® for houses. “Buyers must rely on what the seller says, but as people found out while buying used cars. Knowing what happened from an independent source can be an important part of the buying decision,” said Jacques Habra, co-founder of FreePropertyAlert.com. “I’ve had people tell me that even home inspectors have missed things that might have been caught had they known there was a fire at some point in the property history.”
When Mason decided to turn his idea into a business, he turned to friend and now business partner Jacques Habra who runs a start-up accelerator in Santa Barbara called Noospheric. “An idea is only the start, Jacques helped make this into a functional business that we are now marketing,” explains Mason. FreePropertyAlert.com is Habra’s 7th company launch through Noospheric since arriving in Santa Barbara 1996. Habra shared his initial interests in FreePropertyAlert.com in saying, “the next big thing is usually about innovative technology or new engineering; but the notion of connecting emergency dispatch to property owners is a simple, brilliant concept that I was thrilled to help bring to market.”
FreePropertyAlert.com is currently live and operating in about 150 cities in six states across the Country; including most of Santa Barbara County. The company plans to exponentially grow its coverage from the current population of approximately three million homes and businesses that are being monitored. Our coverage varies across regions – in some regions we monitor fire and medical agencies, others just police, some both. The pricing for the peace of mind is less than the price of a cup of coffee per month for each additional home or business covered. “It’s the cheapest insurance you’ll ever buy,” explains Habra. To sign up for this unique, free service go here.
ABOUT FREE PROPERTY ALERT
FreeProperyAlert, LLC is based in Santa Barbara, CA and is the only company in the United States to provide 24 hour notifications, and extensive property history to residential customers, and businesses when fire, police, or medical services are dispatched to an address of interest. FreePropertyAlert covers a population of almost three million people across almost 150 cities and six states nationwide.
ABOUT NOOSPHERIC
Noospheric has engaged startup entrepreneurs as well as established organizations to deliver effective business consulting and executive coaching. We have helped create and launch over 20 companies, business units, and advanced over 100 corporate initiatives at an executive level. Five of our startups have been acquired in the last decade.
CarFax® is a registered trademark of CarFax inc.