This is a SentriLock Realtor’s lock box
How Do Realtors Get INTO HOUSES?
(How stuff works in Realtorland)
Tammy: My husband and I have been driving around Reston and Herndon trying to get a feel for neighborhoods for our future move. We can see all kinds of lock boxes hanging on the doors of the homes for sale and were wondering how they work. Can you tell me?…and be serious.
Steve: I will be serious. There are basically two types of lock boxes…combination and electronic. The combination boxes are usually put on bank owned, vacant, or on normal human owned homes by cheapo listing agents. I have seen some in use that I used for handyman entrance back in 1983… with the same combination!
The combination is either put in the listing, or you call the listing agent to get it (a waste since they never answer their phones or get back to you, since it would interrupt their daytime TV schedule. This means active, professional realtors do not show their crappy listings since there are so many better ones out there, …or they call you two days later after your client has returned to her current home in New York)
The best use of combos is when they are registered with a service known as the Centralized Showing Service…those people DO answer their phones and record your identity before giving you the combo(each agent has a special password that identifies them to the folks at the service).
The electronic boxes come in two forms…one requires the insertion of the Realtor’s electronic card key …the other will read a signal from a key when you point the key at it. These are known as Supra keys.
2 Types of Keys
Tammy: What is a Realtor’s key?
Steve: Each realtor who pays his dues in a timely manner, has an electronic key to the lock boxes within the metro area. My identity is coded into the key….it is very cool and adds good security and follow up potential. When I enter a property with my key, the lock box on the property sends an identity message to my key, recording the date, time, and property I was in.
At home and at my office, I have a key cradle connected by telephone lines to the Metropolitan Regional Information System (MRIS). (That is the name of the local multiple listing service which has all listed properties in MD DC, and VA)
When I put my key in the cradle or up date my key card (it expires every day), a message is sent to the listing agent of each home I visited, telling them who I am and when I was in their listing. Pretty cool, huh?
When we get notified that someone was in one of our listings (homes we are marketing), we do two things. We email the showing buyer’s agent a picture and summary of the listing they were in, along with a form with questions about what they thought of the home. This makes it easy for them to respond. We can then gather the comments of the agents who viewed the property and send them to our client who is selling the home. We also call the showing agents to answer any questions they may have, in order to facilitate the sale.
So True
Tammy: Thank you for that complete answer. When we are ready to sell our old place and buy a new home…you and your wife are the only realtors we intend to contact… we just love the way you work, your attention to detail, your thoroughness, your professionalism, your kindness, compassion, and understanding, your nuanced yet deeply meaningful way of communicating your care for us personally, the knowledge that you and Jan will go the extra 10 miles for us, meeting handymen, inspectors, carpet people, painters and I just know it will be the best experience of our lives outside the birth of our children. (I made up this last part of Tammy’s note...I couldn’t help it)
Steve: Thank you for the kind words Tammy, we will do our best.