Realty Agents

In the early days of real estate, there were no lockboxes.  In some parts of the country, some homes didn’t even have door locks!  And why would they.  Someone was always home.  The best security device was probably named Fido!

FACT - There are an estimated 2,329,9501 annual burglaries nationwide, with an annual loss by victims of approximately $3.1 billion.

FACT - A burglary takes place every 12 seconds and produces an average loss of $1,675 per event.

FACT - This year, one in six homes will be burglarized.1 Burglars will spend no longer than 1 minute to break into a home.

FACT - 60% of residential burglaries occur during the daylight hours.

Here are a few easy-to-follow suggestions to keep yourself and your home or business safe:

Keep the exterior of your home or business brightly lit at night. Burglars will be less likely to approach a well-lit area.

Lock windows and outside doors whenever they’re closed. Don’t do the burglar’s job for him. Ensure that all entries to your home or business are secured.

Burglars will generally try to enter your house unseen, favoring rear doors, and particularly sliding doors that are usually left unlocked. Secure sliding glass doors with a dowel in the inside track.

Never hide a key outside your house. Everyone thinks to look in the same place for a spare key (including the burglar), so don’t leave keys above the door frame or under the doormat.

Prune shrubs to keep them from concealing doors or windows. Stealth is the burglar’s best friend, and the more you do to remove that advantage, the less likely you are to be a victim.

Source: National Crime Prevention Council & FBI 1999 Uniform Crime Reports

Well times have changed.  Supra proclaims to be the original lock box company. In 1955, they sold their first product to real estate agents.  However, it would take approximately 25 years before lock boxes became commonplace in the real estate industry.  In my market, before lockboxes, a seller would trustingly give a key to their home to their real estate agent.  When another agent wanted to show the property, they would have to drive to that agents office and pick up the key and then return it back to the office after the showing.  Can you imagine that process today with $3.00+ gas prices?

This spring, Supra (owned by GE) introduced to our market the new ActiveKEY lockbox access device.  Coupled with the iBox, home sellers have the security of knowing that thier home is only accessible through the iBox from a real estate agent using the ActiveKEY.  Let’s take a look at both of these components.

The iBox is simplistic in looks.  A soft, yet protective blue case covers the lockbox.  Unlike previous lockboxes, there are no electronic contact points on the box.  In fact, the only method of opening this keybox is by infrared remote.  The lack of physically moving part or contacts that can be affected by weather elements makes this system almost totally maintenance free.  An agent with an ActiveKEY or one of several approved smartphones with infrared senders can open the iBox.  There are no combination wheels are key slots that can be picked.

The listing agent has access to a Supra website where they can match an iBox lockbox to their property listing.  This is important for tracking showings on a property.  When an iBox is opened, the iBox identification number is registered on the access key of the real estate agent opening the box.  At the same time, the real estate agents key card identification number, date and time are registered on the iBox.  This “double security” allows an agent to provide detailed reports to their sellers telling them when and who has opened the lockbox.  Occasionally, a showing agent will lock the key inside the home accidently.  A quick “reading” of the iBox by the listing agent will tell them who the last agent was that opened the box.  For agents now using the ActiveKEY to open lockboxes, the listing agent is instantly notified when the keybox is opened.  In the past, agents had to wait overnight for showing agents to cradle and syncronize their keypads.  More about the ActiveKEY in a moment.

One last security feature of the iBox the ability to require showing agents to “Call Before Showing” (CBS) when accessing the iBox.  This is particularly useful in situations where sellers have a security system and the showing agent needs to be given a deactivation code upon entry to the home.  Some sellers also prefer the additional security of CBS if they are day sleepers or have small children in the home during the day.

ActiveKEY is Supra’s latest and greatest addition to their lockbox system.  Users of the old keypad were required to place their keypads in a cradle each night to charge it and at some point in the middle of the night it would automatically dial a local number and synchronize showing activity.  It also updated the keypad for use the next business day.  Skip the overnight sync and the lockbox key would be rendered useless.  Agents using an approved smartphone didn’t have to go through the cradle process each night, but they would still automatically update through the cell phone.  Again, an unsuccessful update and the agent can not access any lockboxes.

So what’s so great about the ActiveKEY?  Well, for one thing, it updates all on its own by wireless access connection.  You can’t make a phone call using the device but it uses the same technology to update the key.  Because it has it’s own internal wireless connection, when you are using the key to show properties, it instantly dials and connects to Supra’s website registering the showing.  The listing agent then is instantly notified on their keypad device that one of their properties have just been shown.  Remember above where I talked about the iBox being registered to a specific property?  This is what allows Supra to alert you as the listing agent which agent and which property has just been shown. 

Each ActiveKEY device has a backlight button for night time use as well as a mini flashlight.  The ActiveKEY requires a charge up every two to three days depending on the useage and you can even plug it in to a car lighter charger.  Many agents charge using this method because then they can simply leave the device in their car at all times.  And since the agent using the ActiveKEY must enter a secret code each time they use the device, even if it is stolen, it is totally unusable without the secret code.

Key lockboxes have came a long way from the days of old.  No longer should there be keys hidden under mats or should you need to drive to the listing company and pick up a key.  It’s the perfect solution for security and showing activity for real estate professionals.  Some MLS systems even have agreements with Supra and integrate Supra showing activity that is accessible right from within the MLS software.  If your MLS uses Supra lockboxes and don’t yet have the ActiveKEY, you will eventually.  They are retiring the eKey.  You will still be able to use your smartphone to open lockboxes if you choose.  For more information about Supra Lockboxes and Key access solutions, click here.

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