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Something New For Home Owners

By Marlene Bridges

Real Estate Agent with Village Real Estate Services, Inc.

July 26, 2007 05:08 PM

Seems like there are new inventions that come along every day that when we hear about them, we say to ourselves, "Why didn't I think of that?" Today there was spot on the Today Show about just such an invention. Something that's so common to our everyday lives. How would you like to get to your front door and instead of fumbling for your keys, simply swiping your finger across a hidden keypad and voila, the tumblers turn and the lock opens.

This type of lock has been available for industrial use for many years, and now the technology is being incorporated into residential hardware for our homes. There is a wide selection available now at affordable prices. Here's a website where you can take a peek at a number of this type of lock that's already available on the intrnet at Akme Lock.

These locks are pretty smart. The can detect your fingerprint even if your hands are dirty. And, they can be programmed for certain people to enter during specific times. Many of these new locks will be equipped to open using both fingerprint imaging and traditional keys. No more getting locked out of your own house!

Pretty amazing huh? Amazing that this type of technology hasn't been available before now.

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Marlene Bridges, REALTOR® 800 777-1775

South Orange County Real Estate Website

Orange County Seniors Lifestyles Blog

SRES - Seniors Real Estate Specialist®

CRS-Certified Residential Specialist®

President - Laguna Hills/Laguna Woods Chamber of Commerce

Marlene is a highly experienced South Orange County CA REALTOR® specializing in residential Real Estate and the sale of Homes and Condos in South Orange County, California and Saddleback Valley cities of: Laguna Woods, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo.

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William Johnson

Retired - La Jolla, CA

Retired

Hello, I am experienced with this with this type of technology. I have a similar system on my Tablet PC, it requires my thumb print on the edge of Tablet to access it and my passwords. It's called Omni pass and works really well.

I like the system for the house. I went to site your had in your post and book marked it as a desirable resource. Very cool Marlene. have you decided to buy one for your home?

Jul 26, 2007 06:19 PM

Todd and Danielle Millar

Glenn Simon Inc. - Edmonton, AB

Nineteen years of excellence!

Wow that sounds great. How many times have we seen the movie of the girl running and fumbling to get into the house before the psycho killer comes??? This is a good idea- Danielle

Jul 26, 2007 06:42 PM

Darrel Quebedeaux

Evergreen Realty & Associates Inc. - Newport Coast, CA

Interesting, thanks for the tip i am book-marking the site for my remodel.

Jul 26, 2007 06:44 PM

Ashley Drake Gephart

Drake Intel Group - Albuquerque, NM

Way cool! I love this kind of stuff. It really is getting affordable now.

Jul 26, 2007 08:32 PM

Sondra Sheckler Realtor,ABR,SRES,Historic Home Specialst

Coldwell Banker, Award Of Excellence & Million $$ Producer - Knoxville, TN

Marlene, it is interesting but it reminds me of a movie with Tom Cruise in which the retina of the eyes were used for accessing places in the advanced technical world and folks were stealing others eyeballs and I saw another one where fingers were cut off t use those fingerprints - so not so sure about this type of technology, plus we all know that technology fails very often and it wouldn't be a "movie" as mentioned above if the girl was running from the psycho (as mentioned above ) and the technology failed and she is still outside digging for the good old fashioned way of accessing locked places!

Interesting though to say the least!

Sondra

Jul 26, 2007 09:10 PM

Susan Raposa

South Dakota Real Estate Company - Rapid City, SD

We have a friend who has a computerized lock at his vacation cabin. He can program it from his home PC and it allows him to change the code between renters and there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of different codes so he can give cleaning ladies a code, repair people, etc!

Technology - gotta love it!

Jul 26, 2007 10:05 PM

Linda Reynolds

Bradenton Real Estate - Linda Reynolds - Bradenton, FL

Bradenton Real Estate

Cool stuff, depending on the price, wouldn't that just make the coolest closing gift!!

Jul 26, 2007 10:32 PM

Katrina Madewell

Charles Rutenberg Rlty- More than 5,000 agents(813) 777-1196 - Tampa, FL

Tampa FL Homes for sale | Tampa Bay - (813) 777-1196

WOW Marlene, this is really the coolest thing I've seen in a while!!!!!!!! great post!

Jul 27, 2007 03:30 AM

Jeff Belonger

Social Media - Infinity Home Mortgage Company, Inc - Cherry Hill, NJ

The FHA Expert - FHA Loans - FHA mortgages - USDA loans - VA Loans

Marlene.... yes, I read about this in another blog about a month ago. Question though, what happens if someone cuts your hand off? They can break in then, right? lol thanks for sharing this...

jeff belonger

Jul 27, 2007 04:23 AM

Lynda Eisenmann

Preferred Home Brokers - Brea, CA

Broker Associate ,CRS,GRI,SRES, Brea,CA, Orange Co

Marlene,

Interesting, you know how I am with keys...this would be perfect.

Jul 27, 2007 02:31 PM

Joe Zapata

Keller Williams Realty Media World - Burbank, CA

Your Burbank Real Estate Expert

Way cool idea, kind of like Star Trek, lol. This is a great thing. Especially in an emergency situation like when I lock myself out of the house and have to send my 3 year old throught tho dossie door.

Jul 27, 2007 02:40 PM

Cindy Lin

Staged4more School of Home Staging - South San Francisco, CA

Host, The Home Staging Show podcast

They now have something similar in Japan where you can use your fingerprint instead of your visa card! How cool is that?!

Cheers,

Cindy

Jul 27, 2007 03:24 PM

Marlene Bridges

Village Real Estate Services, Inc. - Laguna Hills, CA

Laguna Homes|Laguna Condos|Laguna Real Estate

Bob & Carolin - Me too.

Kaye - If ya wants the toys, ya gotta buy em!

Andrew - I'll bet you'll be sure to buy one in another couple years when that son gets pretty heavy.

Ann - I've had the same difficulty with that technology. I think this is much more reliable.

Bob - Glad I could help you find another project and spend some money...LOL

William - Sounds like you've had better results with this than Ann and I have with our laptops. I may just have to get one for my home. My hardware is looking pretty shabby and I'm ready to shop for replacement hardware.

Danielle - Oh my---I guess I do need one right away!

Darrell - Glad to be of help.

Ashley - Yup, starting to actually be affordable. Regular door hardware is pretty much in theis range.

Sondra - You have a very good memory!

Susan - What an excellent idea! Now that's a WOW.

Linda - Great idea---cool closing gift.

Katrina - So glad you like it. I sure thought it was cool.

Jeff - Oh, I feel badly. I checked to see if anyone else had blogged on this. And yes, they could cut your hand off and then be able to get into your house. It would probably be easier to just use the old rock through the window method. LOL

This would be great for both of us. We are the reason hotel rates have gone up...all those extra keys! I'll keep this in mind for a Christmas gift for you. I'll just set it in your garage next to your flag pole. (Uh Oh---look who's talking?) We have flaws...but they're cute little flaws, right?

Joe - When your child gets to four, better get a larger dog or one of these locks.

Cindy - I think that's pretty fabulous!

Jul 27, 2007 05:29 PM

Gita Bantwal

RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA

REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

Very good idea. It will be great for seniors specially, sometimes they have to struggle to find the keys.

Jul 27, 2007 10:16 PM

Dionne Morgan

Realty World Solano Realty - Vallejo, CA

Broker REALTOR ,GRI, e-PRO

Thank you for the link. What a great closing gift.

Jul 27, 2007 11:15 PM

Marlene Bridges

Village Real Estate Services, Inc. - Laguna Hills, CA

Laguna Homes|Laguna Condos|Laguna Real Estate

Gita - Yes, I agree, this will be especially nice for seniors.

Dionne - Linda Reynolds also said that this would be a great closing gift. Isn't it cool?

Jul 28, 2007 01:10 AM

Dana Bostick

True Professionals, Inc. - North Hollywood, CA

LOL, Just remember.............Locks only keep out HONEST people. What's the point of locking the door if the window is open? Just get a nasty dog, or at least a large noisy one! I have three. Nicest dogs in the world, just don't try to walk in if I'm not there.

There's a great show on the TV where a "retired" burgler tries to break into various homes to show the owners how weak their security and habits are. He really trashes the place and they video the whole thing. (of course, they make it all right after the show and the people know it's going to happen) It's sort of funny to watch them watch the video after. They get really pissed! Then they go through the whole place and tighten up the security. Later, the same guy comes back and tries to get in again just to test the work. Very informative.

I prefer the sign on my gate that says "My dog can make it to the gate in 3.5 seconds, can you?"

LOLOL, Dana

Jul 28, 2007 02:32 AM

Jeff Dowler, CRS

eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA

The Southern California Relocation Dude

Very cool. Wonder what the pricing is? They have finger-print technology for laptop security as well. Hmmm, how about voice recognition...Open sesame!

Jeff

Jul 28, 2007 02:41 AM

Todd Clark - Retired

eXp Realty LLC - Tigard, OR

Principle Broker Oregon

I would rather seen ones like on my wife's van doors. Where I fumble for the keys while carrying groceries and the door not only unlocks, but opens for me also.

Jul 28, 2007 03:42 AM

Marlene Bridges

Village Real Estate Services, Inc. - Laguna Hills, CA

Laguna Homes|Laguna Condos|Laguna Real Estate

Dana - You're so right about locks - they are only a deterrent. Nothing is foolproof is someone really wantts to break in.

Jeff- They're actually pretty affordable. About the same price as any good door lock - around $200.

Todd - Now that would really be something!

Jul 28, 2007 06:16 PM