Buying A Home
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To key or not to key?

JanessadawnJanessadawn member
100 Comments 25 Love Its Second Anniversary Name Dropper
edited September 2013 in Buying A Home
Hey all,
So we will be closing and moving in about a month. It's going to be here before we know it! I can't wait, even though the next month is going to be stressful. Anyway, here's my issue: should we re-key our home, or is it safe enough to leave it with the locks (all deadbolts) it comes with? The home is 13 years old and has had a few owners over the years; it may also have been a rental but we don't know for sure. The neighborhood seems quiet and secure and the back yard has a 6' fence, but I've always been rather neurotic about security. I think we should re-key (DIY, not hiring a locksmith) but others I've talked to think it's overkill. It's just H and I plus 2 cats and we don't have a ton of stuff. He's in the Army reserves and will occasionally be gone for anywhere from 2 nights-3 weeks, so sometimes I am home alone.

Moving expenses add up quickly and I don't want to add anything unnecessary, but I also don't want to expose us to risk. What do you all think? What did you do when you moved in, or what are you planning on doing?
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Re: To key or not to key?

  • We are still looking for a house but I will for sure push for re-keying.

    If it's something that will make me feel more secure, sleep better at night, and is one less thing you have to worry about as a new home owner than I think it's more than worth it.

    That's my thought though. My Significant Other recently had his house broken into though and a bunch of stuff stolen - I've personally always lived in 2nd or 3rd floor apartments (and my current condo is a 3rd floor unit). So, I haven't had to worry about break-in's as much but after his recent experience I will for sure be doing it!

  • I've always felt most comfortable rekeying the house whenever we move into a new place. In fact, that was the first thing we did when we bought this house a few months ago. If memory serves we actually did it the same day as the closing, we just stopped over at Lowe's on the way to the new house. My H works nights so I'm a bit paranoid about being home along and like to make sure all the sliding glass doors are locked, and all the deadbolts in place.

    In my mind, it's not that expensive and it makes me feel more secure so it's worth it. Not sure how many doors you'd have to do, but we only had to rekey our front door and the one that goes out into the garage and it didn't cost all that much. I think you can even buy new knobs and stuff at Costco so you may want to check those out.
    ?Laugh whenever you can. Keeps you from killing yourself when things are bad. That and vodka.?
  • I would re-key just to feel safe.  We knew our house had been a rental before, so it was a no-brainer for us.  I don't think it would be a frivolous moving expense--you should only have to do it once.

    Best of luck on your new home! :-)
  • Rekey.

    I once heard of a family who sold their home, but their estranged son didn't know it and he let himself in to the home, using his key, with the new owners inside.

  • Rekey the house. You never know who the sellers have given keys too. It is best for your own safety. It is not that expensive. We bought new locks and have them all keyed alike so we did not have a different key to each lock. You can also take the lock out and take it to a locksmith and they can make that lock fit any key you would like.
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
  • Re-Key no doubt
  • Thanks ladies! I thought it was a prudent idea too, but enough people told me it wasn't needed that I started to feel like I was just being paranoid. I did a little bit of research on it and I guess sometimes you can replace the guts of the deadbolt without having to buy a new housing and everything. To be thorough I'd wanna do all 3. Our "big" moving day (truck, friends, the whole 9 yards) is a few days after closing. We're gonna take little stuff in cars before then so I think we'll probably re-key on one of those trips.
    imageimage
  • We re-keyed even though our sellers move out of state. You never know who has a key.
  • Turns out, we may not even have to buy new hardware at all. There is a thing called a re-keying kit that comes with new keys and pins to change the locks to fit the new keys. Apparently it's a bit challenging but not too bad; there are instructional YouTube videos. I wasn't terribly worried about the cost of new deadbolts but if I don't have to, even better. I'll let y'all know how that goes.
    imageimage
  • You also might want to check out local locksmiths.  For us, we looked into all the options and actually having a locksmith come in to rekey the house and the garages were cheaper.  

    Congrats on the new house!
  • moonprincessdmoonprincessd member
    100 Comments 25 Love Its Name Dropper First Answer
    edited September 2013
    We rekeyed, it really wasn't that expensive compared to other things, only about $150. Look at the various lock smiths in your area and compare their prices. Usually they charge a service fee, which is around $50 - $70 and then like $10-$12 per lock. Keys are dirt cheap, ours were only $2 per key. 

    Our house was previously rented out though, so we didn't know who might have a key out there and chose to be on the safe side. My parents when they bought their house, never rekeyed, but they bought it from a home that was family owned (not rented). Never had issues of anyone breaking in.
  • I would 100% rekey it.  You never know who had a key in the past!  It is better to be safe than sorry.
    wedding countdown
  • I just sold my house a few months ago and I know that I found an extra key I didn't give them and I know my sister (my sister lived with me) has a friend who had a key and I'm not sure if she got it back.  So after selling I have no idea how many keys are out there so the sellers certainly don't.  So yes, I would rekey.
  • We had new knobs on both our exterior doors within 2 hours of picking up the keys. It was the first thing we did. You have no idea who the seller has given keys to. I do wish I remembered what the old knobs looked like, though. It was the first thing we did in a long string of renos, and you really forget the before details after all of that. 
    Life is good today.
  • We just bought our house a month ago and putting new locks on our house was the first thing we did after signing our papers at closing. Once we knew when we were closing we went out and bought our electronic keypad keyless dead bolt for the main door we use. We also replaced the other locks as well. As others have said you don't know how many keys to your home are floating around out there. I love my keyless entry lock I can change the code to get in and I will never be locked out go my house. It has a key though just in case the batteries die. But after having the keyless dead bolt I will never go back. Good luck and congrats on your new home
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