JM Resources tacks on 200 New Jersey-based accounts

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - Two New Jersey companies recently sold close to 200 alarm accounts to JM Resources, the latest in acquisitions for the growing Pennsylvania company. Two years ago JM Resources began acquiring new accounts. Today the company, founded by Larry Korff and Arie Upfalow in 1981, services more than 10,000 security systems for homeowners and businesses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. “We’re not trying to play the big acquisition game. We’re a local company interested in acquiring accounts,” said Korff, JM Resources vice president. “We’re focused on the under-the-radar accounts – 76 percent of the market is with the small guys. We’re interested in those accounts.” Monroe Alarms of Egg Harbor, N.J., contacted JM Resources about selling a select number of accounts from a residential community in the Princeton area. Monroe President Oscar Haddock said the commute to service those systems was too far to be profitable for his company. “It takes me two hours to get up there,” Haddock said. “When someone calls for an emergency and I have to drive there just to fix a wire or something, it just doesn’t pay out. I’d rather let a big company take over.” Haddock sold less than 90 accounts to JM Resources, all of which are at the Cherry Valley Adult Community Center. He said he is planning to sell more accounts in the future, possibly to JM Resources. The second acquisition was a full merger with Val-Tech Security Services of Princeton, N.J. JM Resources bought all of its accounts, close to 100, after owner Ralph O’Brien decided to retire. Korff said more acquisitions are in his company’s future; he is talking with several businesses about buying accounts. “We’ll look at anything from a few accounts to 2,500, but most are between 10 and 500,” he said. JM Resources does not have an end goal for the number of accounts it plans to acquire, Korff said, but wants to keep all accounts in its tri-state service area. “We can do more than the small guys,” Korff said. “If someone calls for service, they get to talk with a person, and by the end of the call they have a service date set. With the small guys, you usually have to leave a message. We have more resources, so we can do a better job.”