Hey, sometimes it happens. You get locked out of your house. I've done it twice and have put a system in place so it never happens again. The first time I tried to crawl in my second-story window. Except my ladder wasn't high enough, and I had to jump from the top rung. Not to mention, tear out my screen. I could have killed myself.
The second time I was taking out the trash late at night. The trash can was in my attached garage. I wasn't appropriately dressed to seek help, either, because I was wearing a nightgown. Opened the side door to the garage, and when I heard it click behind me, my heart sank. I knew it was locked. Did I want to sleep in the cold garage? Or did I want to knock on my neighbor's door and ask him to kick in my back door? I suppose it could have been worse; I could have been naked.
Last night, the seller of my new West Sacramento short sale listing called. Her home was on Lyon broker tour yesterday. An agent, in an attempt to secure the home, no doubt, locked her door to the garage. The seller, I discovered, doesn't carry a key with her. She had already driven over to our Lyon office in West Sacramento, but the lights were out and the place deserted.
I called an agent I know at the Lyon West Sacramento office, but received her voice mail. I thought about jumping in my car and driving over there myself, but it would have taken me at least 20 minutes from my home in Land Park.
Instead, I pulled up the Lyon website, plucked a friendly looking face from the West Sacramento office and called a Lyon agent at random, Patt Kregelo. Patt was driving home from the grocery store, 5 minutes away from my listing, and she offered to run over there. I added that if she hadn't yet seen this home, perhaps it would be a good time to preview it, but Patt had frozen food in the car. See, this is the thing about our vast network of Lyon real estate agents, even if we don't know each other, we stick together. Thank you, Patt, if you're reading this, for helping me out. I really appreciate it. So does the seller.
For the rest of you, though, to avoid getting locked out of your own house, you should hide a key somewhere on your property. If you don't have an extra key, get one made today and hide it. Consider a place in the garage. For about $30, you can attach an outside wireless garage door keypad, which will let you open the overhead garage door by entering a code on the keypad.
You can also give a key to your neighbor. Or buy one of those fake rocks for keys, put the key inside and hide the rock in the garden. Just let me say that I've already had a reason to use my hidden key. The trick for me was remembering where I hid it. Plus, if you don't think that you'll ever get locked out of your house, just wait.
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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
