Community Corner
Who is Showing My Home?
Electronic lock boxes provides sellers' agents a record of when a home was shown by a potential buyer.
One concern sellers have is the security of their homes during the listing period. It has been a valid concern for sellers in the past but fortunately the technology of today allows sellers and agents to feel less reason for concern.
One of the best tools for ensuring the security of our listings is the electronic lockbox that is in place on or near the front door of a seller’s home. It is often placed on the doorknob but may be found in all kinds of interesting places on the front or back of a home.
The beauty of this lockbox is that in order for someone to obtain the house key, the agent must have an electronic key and enter a code to transmit the information to open the lockbox. Some agents have this information stored on their smartphone and simply activate the software, insert their unique code and point the smartphone toward the key box.
It is magic, or the magic of technology! When this magical exchange is taking place the key safe unlocks and the key is available to the agent showing the home.
The name, telephone, email, company and time of entry of the showing agent is sent over the cellular telephone network to the lockbox system central servers and is distributed to the listing agent almost immediately. This gives brokers, agents and sellers a permanent record of who visited the home and when the visit was made. The listing agent receives notification by email. This record of all showings was not available until the advent of these new lockboxes.
The listing agent is able to set the lockbox so that it cannot be opened at certain times of the day or night. To me as an agent, I love the control we have over who has shown our listings and the peace of mind it provides our sellers.
Open House this weekend:
5465 Fontenoy Court Sunday, Mar 25, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Find out what's happening in Peachtree Cornerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
6193 Forest Hills Dr., Sunday, Mar 25, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. ($245,000, listed by Lynn Hadaway Williams)
I just spotted another find. It won't last long at $399,900. It is located on 5950 Rachel Ridge in Neely Farm. Shown by appointment. The listing agent is Jim Lewis.