Real Estate Agent · Boise, ID · Member since 2017 · 592 posts · 381 votes
I recently had a tenant turnover at one of my properties in Florida. Since I self-manage my rentals, especially the ones out of state, finding ways to make turnovers easier is always a priority.
One thing that's been a game changer is having Kwikset SmartKey locks installed. Rather than replacing locks every time a tenant moves out, I can have them re-keyed in minutes using a new key.
It's a small thing, but when you're managing multiple properties, these little efficiencies add up.
Curious what other landlords are doing. Are you using the same system, traditional locks, or have you moved to electronic keypads?
Always looking for ways to make managing rentals easier!
We've had reliability issues with smart keys and gave up. Bought 30 or so deadbolts on a black friday deal, within a year more than half had pins fail and keys not work. Gave up on them pretty quick. Lot's of people say when doors slam enough the pins shuffle a little. This especially sucks if you have one keyed point of access to a home and a contractor needs to get in.
I'd lean toward SmartKey for regular rentals, especially with how easy it makes rekeying between tenants. Keypads have their advantages, but batteries and maintenance are another thing to keep track of. For properties managed from a distance, having a simple way to change keys without replacing the whole lock is pretty practical.
This is my thought too, I have just noticed a lot of people personal residences have the keypad, but i agree when the batteries go out etc. it would be a pain.
Ryan, anything that makes a turnover quicker is a win in my book. Whatever lock you use, I'd jot down who has keys or codes at each turnover, because the sneaky problem is usually a copy nobody remembers....
@Ryan Spath We've been using Kwikset SmartKey for years, and it's worked well for us. Now we're looking for options to prevent tenants from rekeying or changing the locks.
We've had reliability issues with smart keys and gave up. Bought 30 or so deadbolts on a black friday deal, within a year more than half had pins fail and keys not work. Gave up on them pretty quick. Lot's of people say when doors slam enough the pins shuffle a little. This especially sucks if you have one keyed point of access to a home and a contractor needs to get in.
I love posts like this, because the small wins are the ones that add up when you self-manage from a distance.
Randy's point about keeping a record of who has keys stuck with me. The rekey takes minutes, but the part that slips is the paper trail: who got a key, when it was changed, and which vendor still has one. A simple log that updates every time you rekey or hand one out saves a lot of guessing later.
How many properties are you managing out of state now?