Sunday, September 14, 2008

Re-keying a Critical Issue - Our Technique

In my conversations with property managers, I am still surprised at how few PM companies do not change locks after acquiring a property from an owner. I am guessing the same goes for home buyers when they purchase in a consumer deal.

The fact of the matter is that you DON'T KNOW the property is secure unless you personally had the property re-keyed while it was under your management. From a 'plausable deniability' perspective (yes... a huge West Wing fan) this is huge. From a liability perspective, this is life/death.

At Echo Summit, a good system we have employed is to have the Owner pay for initial re-keying (we hire the vendor to conduct it), and have the Resident pay for subsequent re-keying after they leave the property (we withhold from their security deposit).

Scott Lukes
Founder
Echo Summit Properties
http://www.echo-summit.com/

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