Stop Beeping!

Yes, here I go, again.  My keypads don't last very long.  Maybe, I use them, too much?  What is too much when you are trying to enter homes to show to your buyers?

Funny, if it's too hot, they malfunction.  If it's too cold, I live in New England, they malfunction.  I put my last keypad in my freezer for ten minutes.  It was beeping nonstop for two days!  That stopped it and made it work again:)  Though a temporary measure, I was desparate.  I needed to show a few homes.  It lasted for all three properties!  Whew!

I love the little messages that come up on that tiny screen.  My latest message was, No Radio Signal.  Others have been, communicating, wrong entry, please enter, reading lockbox, etc.  You've seen them, you get the idea.  Who is this secret person sending me these messages?  They show up at the oddest times.  Just when you want to show a home that's for sale! Please work, let me show this home!

I made my trip to a Board of Realtors office, who has taken on the additional job of lockbox and keypad maintenance issues.  No surprise there!  There are issues.  I suggested we go back to the key.  The young lady who sat at the desk looked at me like I was from Mars.  What?  She is much too young to remember those good old days when we had a key.  It worked, every time.  It cost $50.00 for the year.  Can you imagine what a boost that would be to your budget?

This young lady made the mistake of suggesting to me that these lockboxes and keypads were so much safer than the others.  Well, no, that has not been the case for my clients and I.  I had thirty eight of these lockboxes at the last turn in.  Yes, we turn them in every few years for a newer, better lockbox.  I only took eight lockboxes this time. 

I had a bad experience, a few years ago.  My clients were home, with their two very big dogs.  A man with a couple opened their front door and was standing in the foyer, when they met, the dogs.  The man, quickly called me.  He told me that he had tried to call me for days to set up this showing, but, when he didn't reach me, decided to just go and show the home.  Really?? I spoke with my clients and we agreed to let this man show their home.  They stayed home for that showing.  My clients asked the man for a business card.  He had none, but, offered my clients a business card of a nightclub where his cousin worked.  Really??  The next morning, I called the Board to ask for their assistance with this crazy situation.  They looked up  the person's name that came up on the computer from the keypad entry.  I had done the same, the night before.  It did not match with the name given by the man who showed the home. The keypad owner's name was no longer listed as a licensed real estate agent in our state.  What now?  I don't know, was the reply.  So, now I have to call my clients and let them know, we have no idea who the man with the couple was.  I tried to call back the phone number I had from his call to me.  It was a non working number.  Really??  Needless to say, the deadbolt was kept on, in this home.  We did sell the home.  To my buyer clients.  It all ended well, but, you just have to wonder about these lockboxes and keypads.  What good is recording the name of the agent, if it isn't the agent.   If the agent is no longer in business?  The Board had no solution and could offer no assistance with this issue.  I advise my clients to be sure to lock their doors, so that, only people with appointments, may enter their home.

Electronic lockboxes, safer?  No, I don't think so.  I use them, sparingly.  Need the keypad, to show other listings:)  Just need to figure out, why my keypads keep going crazy on me.