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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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
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 the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
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That was very kind of Patt to help! I used to depend on being able to get in my home with the garage remote until one day I discovered the battery was dead. Now I carry a key to the front door, but I should hide one on the grounds somewhere for a backup plan.
Elizabeth - Great story. And I felt your pain with the window jumping to get in! How nice that Patt helped you out. Realtors need to stick together!
Elizabeth, hiding the spare key, and also GOING SLOW before closing doors on homes and cars is a key to preventing this aggravation. I hate it when we all turn into stupid people but going slow and checking really helps out in this area, and not getting distracted by others.
Featured @ Club Chaos
Elizabeth- Can't tell you how many times I''ve been locked out because of those nasty little doorknob locks. I always hide a key somewhere that I can access but that hopefully potential unwanted humanoids will not find. In fact, it's one of the first things I do when I move into a house. Also, even if you have the keypads, if your power goes out, your garage door will not open, so those of you who rely on these or just use your garage door openers as keys, need to still hide a key.
BTW: what a nice thing for Patt to do!
One day I'll have to share my babydoll nightgown locked out experience with you, now that I know you would understand. LOL I know have a combination lockbox outside my home with the spare key. I did when my teenagers couldn't keep up with one and I got tired of changing my locks. It's wonderful and secure.
I great story, however I strongly recommend that no-one use the fake rock method, I saw a show on TV about burglars and they mentioned that they always look for those first, a locked keypad sounds good, but stay away from the rock..
Elizabeth, having locked myself out a few times, I smartened up. I made extras and hid them or put them in a file. Problem is, I don't know where I hid them!
Ty
Elizabeth - Excellent advice. I also see that when sellers rely on the "door to the garage" left unlocked. Of course, the good buyer's agent, locks ALL doors when done with the showing...
Elizabeth...great story. That has happened to me several times. Seemed to have worked out.
Thanks
Hi Elizabeth, it takes getting locked out about once before hiding the key somewhere and provides peace of mind. It was really nice that Pat could go over and help out.
Elizabeth, those are great ideas, and great that the agent helped out also!
Elizabeth - Your locked door plight reminds me of being back in 1999. The company I worked for decided to put an elaborate Y2K plan in place. We felt it necessary since our business was computer software development. Anyway, just to get into the buildings on the corporate campus you needed a badge that would go through a slider at the door and allow you access. A group of us were standing outside in front of the door wondering what we should do if Y2K reared its ugly head and didn't allow us access. . .I said, "See that rock in the landscape over there. . .Isn't that what it's for?" Of course nothing really came out of Y2K. The millennium rolled in. The mainframes (even those hidden in the closet that we had forgot to tinker with), churned on without issue:-)
Thanks Elizabeth...Indeed, it't happened to all of us. One solution that has helped me a couple of times is to get one of those little key boxes with a strong magnet and put the house key, car key and any other in it and attach the magnet to some secure location up under the frame of the car. That's helpful for being locked out of the car or any where else.
Cheers,
john
How awesome is it that Patt helped you out?! That's one of the biggest reasons I put a keyless entry to my garage
Elizabeth - I have been locked out before, but thankfully my wife was home with the kids when it happened.
This is one of those things we don't think about until it's "too late". It's happened to me in the past, so I'm VERY aware of the problem. IN fact, I always make two keys for my listings. One goes into the lockbox while the other goes on a key ring I have in my car. There have been many times when that extra key has come in handy.
The police actually recommend NOT hiding keys. The criminals know all of the usual spots. I used to have a combo lockbox on my house. Now I use a keypad for my garage door opener and since my son likes to lock doors, I disabled the locks on the door from the garage to the house.