If you have been on holidays and rented a self-contained apartment or house you might have encountered a Lock Box at the property for key collection. They are an ingenious little contraption that are making their way into mainstream real estate practices throughout Australia and New Zealand. Our realtor friends in the US have been using them consistently for years for nearly every property whether it be PM or Sale.
Lock boxes are very economical and can save staff and customers many hours of frustration of handling and returning keys, but they must be managed correctly. They should be coded and monitored just like client keys are at an agency, they can also accompany a main set of keys to a property for a duration of a Sale campaign or during a renovation and more. There are lots of types of lock boxes including door hanging style or general small boxes that can be mounted or hidden at a property. You can buy them online, hardware and major office suppliers easily.
Our Keylog dashboard can maintain keys and key boxes with either barcoded tags or durable waterproof labels. You can even take a photo of the keys and boxes, code them and add the access code plus attach photo to the desired property via our system.
Special Note: Brad Larson from Larson Property Group USA was speaking in Australia recently about systems they use in their office, he is a huge fan of locked boxes because it directly helps maximise efficiency in their office. Catch up with his article in Elite PM Magazine April/May issue.
