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Funny semi-related story: We bought a house a few years ago. Didn't know anybody in the community, or even the state, for that matter. Husband went to work, I was alone with 2 small kids and pregnant with the 3rd. I accidentally locked myself out of the house in 100 degree weather. I could see my cell phone sitting on the kitchen table through the window.
I had to get inside before the kids and I had heat stroke, but had no way of getting in contact with my husband. I decided I needed to meet the neighbors. Hoping that somebody would be home in the middle of the day, I started ringing doorbells. On the 3rd house we tried, a woman answered the door. I explained our predicament and asked if I could use her phone to call my husband, so he could let us in.
"Oh! I can do better than that! Here's a key to your house!" Apparently she had babysat for the previous owner's children.
Now, she turned out to be a great neighbor and totally trustworthy, but it's a good illustration that ANYBODY the previous owners knew could have a key to your home. Changing locks will always be on our list of things to do as soon as we move into a new home.
Funny semi-related story: We bought a house a few years ago. Didn't know anybody in the community, or even the state, for that matter. Husband went to work, I was alone with 2 small kids and pregnant with the 3rd. I accidentally locked myself out of the house in 100 degree weather. I could see my cell phone sitting on the kitchen table through the window.
I had to get inside before the kids and I had heat stroke, but had no way of getting in contact with my husband. I decided I needed to meet the neighbors. Hoping that somebody would be home in the middle of the day, I started ringing doorbells. On the 3rd house we tried, a woman answered the door. I explained our predicament and asked if I could use her phone to call my husband, so he could let us in.
"Oh! I can do better than that! Here's a key to your house!" Apparently she had babysat for the previous owner's children.
Now, she turned out to be a great neighbor and totally trustworthy, but it's a good illustration that ANYBODY the previous owners knew could have a key to your home. Changing locks will always be on our list of things to do as soon as we move into a new home.
A good way not to be locked out is to hide a key somewhere outside if possible, especially if you have a shed that locks, you can put a combination lock on it and hide the key in there. That's what I did at my last place, I had a strong 4 digit lock to the shed, and then I hid a key inside should I ever need to get in.
My new shed has a key deadbolt lock, plus I put a word combination lock on it. I still haven't hidden a key, but I plan to hide the key to the shed outside somewhere and if it's found they still need the combo lock to get in, and then I'm going to hide a house key in there somewhere.
Yes, it's a pretty common-sense precaution. You have NO idea how many copies of keys get made throughout an owner's lifetime - some neighbors probably has a copy of the key that was given at some point or another, or the key that a teenage daughter sneaked to a boyfriend, or the dog-sitter or the maid service -- whatever.
Plus, if you aren't happy with the quality of the lock, here's a chance to upgrade it.
I worried about that when we bought our house over 25 years ago, but we never changed those 100 year old locks. I guess we were lucky because we never had a problem and I just love those antique keys.
A good way not to be locked out is to hide a key somewhere outside if possible, especially if you have a shed that locks, you can put a combination lock on it and hide the key in there. That's what I did at my last place, I had a strong 4 digit lock to the shed, and then I hid a key inside should I ever need to get in.
My new shed has a key deadbolt lock, plus I put a word combination lock on it. I still haven't hidden a key, but I plan to hide the key to the shed outside somewhere and if it's found they still need the combo lock to get in, and then I'm going to hide a house key in there somewhere.
Well...we don't live in the best of neighborhoods, and when we went away overnight, we came home to dirty fingerprints all over our window castings and door trim looking for that hidden key....so be very careful with that...
If your toilet seat is a color that they no longer make, it's definitely time to change the entire toilet!
OP, we always have locks ready to go when we buy a new home, first thing we do after closing is go and change them all. We bought our first home as a foreclosure and had heard a lot of stories about people coming in and emptying all the appliances and pipes out of the places at the very last second. Our last home was new construction and had been 'broken into' a few weeks before closing. There was no sign of forced entry so I knew there were people with keys floating around.
Was your new construction home "broken into" or just left unlocked by one of the trades? There is lots of new construction near us and fairly often you can get into under construction houses as doors are unlocked. Many times it is encouraged as the new home "models" are left open on purpose for perspective buyers to stop by and look (typically nothing in those homes though that isn't screwed down). I did notice that after the housing crash, security on new home community homes tightened up quite a bit.
Also, the last new construction home I purchased, the builder claimed the locks had a master key system, where the key they used was a master key, then once you purchased the house, you received your keys and the first time you used them, your keys disabled the master key they had been using.
Was your new construction home "broken into" or just left unlocked by one of the trades? There is lots of new construction near us and fairly often you can get into under construction houses as doors are unlocked. Many times it is encouraged as the new home "models" are left open on purpose for perspective buyers to stop by and look (typically nothing in those homes though that isn't screwed down). I did notice that after the housing crash, security on new home community homes tightened up quite a bit.
Also, the last new construction home I purchased, the builder claimed the locks had a master key system, where the key they used was a master key, then once you purchased the house, you received your keys and the first time you used them, your keys disabled the master key they had been using.
My builder gave me a copy of the master key during construction (because I went over so often to check progress it was easier than finding someone to meet me with the key every time) but they did change out the cylinders once the construction process was completed and that key no longer works on my house, and presumably not on my neighbors either.
A good way not to be locked out is to hide a key somewhere outside if possible, especially if you have a shed that locks, you can put a combination lock on it and hide the key in there. That's what I did at my last place, I had a strong 4 digit lock to the shed, and then I hid a key inside should I ever need to get in.
My new shed has a key deadbolt lock, plus I put a word combination lock on it. I still haven't hidden a key, but I plan to hide the key to the shed outside somewhere and if it's found they still need the combo lock to get in, and then I'm going to hide a house key in there somewhere.
I'm going to get a lockbox and keep a spare set of keys there. I'm always thinking about locking myself out. What a nightmare that would be!
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