Old Locks = House Party

Great blog and post.  This is an absolute must to do with every closing.

That's the first time I've ever heard of anything like that!  I always tell my clients to make sure they change the locks but I think I'll be telling your story a few times along the way now!

Man, I wasn't invited to the party.....lol.

Jeff Burnham, Rosen & Co West, Las Vegas NV

Your clients did get very, very lucky. It isn't worth it not to as it only takes maybe $20 and an hours time to change all the locks on a house and you can do it yourself. Their delay could have cost them thousands, I'm just glad it turned out well, but it certainly could have been bad!

 

Rule #1 when having parties... Always invite the neighbors so they don't call the police!

GREAT Story to use to make an impression on excited buyers.

Yikes, what a break that the son was a decent kid.  I always advise it but with REO's you just don't know who still has a key.  My last foreclosure, 'someone' changed the lock and neither the asset manager, listing agent, or condo assn knew who did it.  They just happened to forget about the back door and we got in that way.  That was that buyers #1 thing to do.

That is funny only because there was no damage and nobody was home.  I moved around with the military 12 times in 26 years.  I always changed the locks.  I even added bolt locks at my own expense to government quarters.  You can never be too careful when it comes to safety.

Funny Michelle. It could have been a bad situation. Since it was okay in the end...it is very funny.

After 25 years in this business and many many mistakes in gift giving.  I gave wine to an AA member and candy to a diabetic to name just a few.

Then we gave return address stamps to make all of the changes to bills and subscriptions.  Got ripped off by that supplier, but so much is online now, that it isn't as pertinent anymore.

Finally landed on the idea of paying a locksmith to re-key the locks.  We negotiated a slightly better than average rate because they get regular promotions from us on each closing.

This makes us feel better that we are assisting in making it THEIR HOME.

So happy to hear that your story had a "Relieved Ending".

Joy & Jeff-

Great closing gift idea!

There are soooo many ways this could have gone wrong, and your story is well taken. Funny story to tell to break the ice at a dinner party and to get the point across to a buyer. Of course, don't tell the end until after a long pause.

Wow, this story sounds very familiar but it was well before I became an agent.  My stepson ran away from home for 5 days. He would call us from pay phones but we didn't know where he was (before cell phones).  We found out when a neighbor called saying there were a bunch of police surrounding his mother's home which had just sold (she moved to Hawaii).  All that time he had been 2 miles away staying in the basement of his old home (he slipped in through the basement window)!  I almost forgot about that until I read your blog.  The homeowners didn't press any charges, lucky for him.