Why You Should Change Your Locks After Moving Into Your New Colorado Springs Home
At real estate closings in El Paso and Teller Counties, the new homeowner is given keys to the property, opening up a range of options for increased or decreased security, depending on the course of action.
Over the last twenty five years, I’ve done literally thousands of key changes on newly purchased residential properties in the Colorado Springs area. Some courses of action are better than others, but the most dangerous option is probably taking possession of the keys, and doing nothing.
Whether the property is new or a resale, the chances that multiple people have keys is almost a certainty. It’s hard to build a house without providing keyed access to many trade people, and some of those workers and contractors, and even real estate agents, might just hold on to, duplicate, or pass along one or more of those keys.
In the case of older homes, the chances of family members, trades people, contractors, or a multitude of others having working keys to that property are a near certainty. A simple key change or lock change-out at the time of sale is a simple expedient to deal with this critical security risk. No one wants an unknown person simply opening up their home, either at night or when they are away, especially if that someone lives in the neighborhood, and can watch what is going on with the property, and its new owners.
Key Changes vs. Lock Changes
Key changes are inexpensive and effective, but often the best course of action, both for security, lock function, and to get the most out of dollars spent, is to simply change out the locks.
New hardware on entry doors is always the best option, not just for esthetics, but for basic economics. Instead of paying for the labor of rekeying, it is far better to have a locksmith provide you with locks at cost, bring you the receipt, and charge only for installation.
Mountain Locksmith in Colorado Springs provides this service.
In our experience, most residential hardware is cheaper at Lowes or Home Depot than through a lock wholesaler, although for high security, such as Medeco deadbolts, the wholesaler route is the only option. New hardware need not be expensive, and it has the benefit of much greater dependability, longer and better function, and includes a professional installation, which incidentally provides repair and correction of previous installation shortcomings, such as incorrect drilling, strike plate location, incorrect morticing, or incorrect set up. All in all, new hardware is definitely the way to go, unless the existing locks are fairly new.
Many residential locksmiths I’ve talked with over the years feel that installation of new hardware is nothing less than what constitutes a truly professional approach. At time of service, it makes sense to take look at all the locks in the home, make sure they are all functioning correctly, and if possible, all have a consistent style and finish. This security review need not have any additional cost, and is provided by Mountain Locksmith as part of installation and rekeying.