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First off, how old is your town home? All of the newer builds I've seen have been pre-wired so you'll just need someone to come in and install the panel, contacts, motions, keypads, etc.
IMO it's not worth it to get a 100% wireless system. They will never be as reliable as wired systems, wireless contacts cost more and you will need to replace the batteries for each contact every couple of years. If this is a retrofit with no wiring in place I would consider a wired system with the cables fished and hidden. Wireless is the installer's lazy way out.
Monitoring service is related to your alarm system. When your alarm goes off, your system will dial out to the monitoring station and then they'll call your property references, and then police if needed. You can still have a local alarm system w/o monitoring.
EDIT: When choosing an alarm company, choose a reputable one based on what your friends and family have experienced good service from. The last thing you want to do is look in the phone book or listen to radio ads to find one. Bigger companies like ADT will do quick installs (2-3 hours tops) and their main focus is your monthly monitoring revenue, not a good install. Whereas companies like Alarm Force are targeted to people who are afraid of using their alarm systems... but they're also the laughing stock of the industry haha.
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