Coming to a Door Near You

The Memphis Area Association of REALTORS has informed me and my 4200 fellow REALTORS that we are changing to new lockboxes after the first of the year. For those of you who don't know, when you list your house with an agent (hopefully Crye-Leike Realtors, and yours truly, Eric C Russell), there has to be this little secure, only-we-Realtors-can-access-it box hanging on your doorknob, porch rail, water faucet, etc to hold your house keys. This is because the "under the doormat" and "buried under the fake rock that says 'Spare Key'" method was deemed unsuccessful. Part of the rites of passage of becoming an agent is dropping around $75 apiece for these necessary and integral parts of conducting business.

The new units, by Sentrilock, are more technologically advanced, and our access method will change from a small, square, battery-powered keypad (that goes in a pouch, that goes on your keyring, that isn't very pocket-friendly) to something that looks and feels like a credit card. And I think they look cool. I doubt that anybody will jump off the For Sale By Owner train just because we have cool looking keyboxes, but I'm kinda anxious to check out the new toy. I don't know yet if our local association will activate the feature, but one thing it is capable of is allowing the homeowner to temporarily block access--something that I suppose might come in handy if one was redecorating the bedroom in the nude or hosting the first ever indoor paintball tournament.