Not many of us have skeleton keys for our main entry door anymore. My key ring has one which fits my office door. A young whipper snapper might not recognize this funny contraption as a key were it not for cartoons.
The joke among my clients is that gaining access to the house is the hardest part of my job. The primary means of access is through keys that fit in locks. In the same vein, the assumption is that real estate agents know how to use a key in a lock!
Last week a frantic call came from one of my listings. The sellers were locked out of their house! Usually the call is just the opposite: "Would you please call the agent that went through our house this afternoon and tell him/her that they didn't lock the doors behind them?" Oh, ouch. That one's a hard one to explain away. The locked out of my house scenario is a bit different however. It was a lack of experience with different lock styles which precipitated this problem.
Most real estate agents get no training in different locks. It's one of those experience issues that come with time. The St. Paul agent that showed my listing and locked the sellers out was really trying to do her job. The careful agent could not figure out how to re-lock the front door which she had opened with a key. She had tried to re-lock the door but every time she turned the key the door opened! She did not know that the door was the old style that remains locked unless the push buttons on the face plate are changed. The key acts as a latch allowing one time access. Had she left and closed the door behind her without using the key she would have been locked out. She locked the storm door and exited out the back door using the push button on the handle (the door for which my clients do not carry a key). Her attention to the safety of my clients meant they had to climb in a window that evening.
I was remiss in assuming other agents could figure out the lock system. My new showing instructions now say in bold letters: "THE DOOR REMAINS LOCKED EVEN AFTER OPENING WITH THE KEY. JUST PULL THE DOOR SHUT BEHIND YOU AND IT WILL RE-LOCK WHEN YOU LEAVE". So far this has solved the problem.
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