Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

So you’ve made it through the closing process and the home is now yours. You know this for a fact because you’ve been handed the keys by the real estate agent. No more worries… right? Wrong. There’s a grossly overlooked final step to taking possession of your new home. Although you’ve been handed “the keys” to the home, you haven’t really been handed ALL the keys. Have you? Well, you really don’t know and that’s the point.

If you have an odd number of keys, you can bet there’s at least one missing. Most exterior locks are shipped with TWO keys for each lock, so if the home has 3 exterior doors, you should probably be given 6 keys by the seller. But even this is a general rule of thumb and I’m sure some brands may not ship 2 keys with every exterior lock. And, yes, I realize there could be TWO keys missing and then my point would be, well, pointless.

New home construction is even worse because superintendents and sub-contractors have likely had access to keys during the construction process. The new home agent have had them too, no doubt.  So, to maximize your safety in the home, it’s absolutely recommended that you either contact a lock-smith to re-key the locks or simply have new ones installed. If the knobs are worn at all, it’s probably best to just replace them. It’s the only way to know the home is secured.

There are additional security issues that should be considered and one of those is making sure you change the overhead door exterior keypad code. The previous owners obviously know the code and who knows how many others may know it as well.  If there aren’t clear or easy instructions for changing the garage door keypad, you can very likely find those instructions for free online by doing a simple Google search for the exact brand of opener that’s installed. There’s also the issue of changing the code that arms and disarms the security system, if one is present.

If your concern is re-keying or replacing the exterior locks on your home, here’s some links that should be of assistance…

Posted by Jason A. Brown