Getting the keys to a new house is an important milestone and among life’s great thrills. It suggests that the house is officially yours. You can start to move in your family. Your precious possessions. Giddy with excitement, you’re anxious to give the tour of your new digs to family and friends. So why isn’t it that one of the first things you do is toss that valuable new key away and get a brand-new key and new locks? “It’s not stupidity, it’s ignorance,” says Vikki Flam. Without slipping in to paranoia, home security is something to consider when buying a new house or shoring up a beloved old home. You should consider installing a lock box. Whether it be immediately getting new locks on your recently purchased homes or performing a security check on doorways and windows you’ve had for years, protection should be a goal well above painting, decorating and landscaping.
It’s imperative to re-key the house. You don’t know who has keys to the house. Over time, plant caretakers, babysitters, puppy sitters, house sitters, housekeepers, handymen and the like might have had their own key to your home. You can find no guarantees that most keys issued to your home are accounted for. Flam says that a minimum of just $15 per tube plus service call can provide for that very basic safety measure of changing locks. Further measures, such as Interlock avoiding the door from being pried open provide additional safety precautions. You can also install a key lock box. It’s not so neighborly abut the purpose of security to send the person attempting to break in to your house outside instead.