The absolute best part of my job is handing keys to a new homeowner after the sale closes.

I got to do that twice today, for two different families. I am so happy for them!

Sadly, in each case there was what I consider to be a safety and security problem waiting to happen. I won’t go into great detail except to say that when you close on a new home — particularly one that was bank-owned or one that had a mechanical lockbox — you should plan on getting a locksmith out to change the locks immediately. Preferably, the same day! Nothing bad happened, but the keys were not as secure as I would have liked.

Even when buying from a private owner, you have no way of knowing how many copies of that key are out there: Did they change the locks when they moved in? Was a family member prone to losing keys? Are they forgetting about the copy they gave to a relative? Or maybe that key they lent to the neighbor to feed the cat when they went on vacation?  What about that key they hid in their glovebox “just in case”? Do they even know about the copy their teenager gave to a friend?

Institutional sellers such as banks only amplify this problem.  For the sake of their convenience, many banks key all their REO (“Real Estate Owned”) properties to a small number of master keys.  It saves them a lot of effort trying to keep track of what keys go to what home, and it ensures that the previous owners aren’t coming back.  How many of those keys are out there? Who knows! These sellers need to give access to various contractors to fix up and clean the property. All these contractors of course should be licensed, bonded, and insured! However, even the most conscientious contractor can sometimes accidentally drop a key or have his shop broken into. What if one of his employees turns out to not be as honest as we all would like?

Finally, I am not a fan of mechanical lockboxes, and haven’t been since the day I arrived at a listing to find the lockbox broken into, the door unlocked, and all the toilets missing. Some of these locks are 3 digits, with only 1000 possible choices; even the more complicated ones often have easily guessed combinations. Electronic lockboxes, while not perfect, are much more secure. Only a Realtor with the electronic unlocking device can get into them, and she needs to enter her personal code to do it. Unfortunately, the contractors I mentioned earlier cannot access these lockboxes. That means it is sometimes a necessity to have the mechanical box, but the right way is to use two boxes and make it hard for unauthorized parties to get to the mechanical one. 

The bottom line is simple: leave room in your home purchase budget for a locksmith to come and professionally change your locks immediately after you take possession of the property.