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The moment you acquire a new home, a number of things go on in your mind at that moment. All of a sudden you realize that you have new neighbors and new environment. You also realize that paying your mortgage is now a priority among other things. Finally, chances are that you’re thinking of doing some renovation, decoration, packing, unpacking and so on. The list of what you do can be endless.
Resources:
LosAngelesLocksmithpros.com
homedepot.com

So, the common question is, ”should I Rekey or change my locks when I acquire a new home?”

You see, there is no one complete answer to this question especially if you consider the fact that there are several things that will influence your decision. Remembering the Realtor’s ceremonial presentation of the keys to your new home will make you feel nostalgic, especially if you begin thinking about replacing the keys altogether.

However, as far as your security is concerned, rekeying may be the best option for you. After all, it’s easy to see the reason why you must rekey. First, if the previous owner of the home had extra keys they managed to keep even after handing over the home, chances are that you won’t have that peace of mind, knowing that they have the keys to your house, hence access to your house is made easy. Again, this freedom to access your home can be extended to people they might have shared their keys with. That is certainly something you don’t want to go through, right?

Here’s the story of one homeowner who encountered this experience first-hand

A certain family man leased a nice home in a good neighborhood. Then one day, he dashed out in his pajamas and bare feet to buy a newspaper within the vicinity. His youngest son followed him, dutifully closing the door behind him, thus ending up locking both of them outside.

Realizing that the door was locked shut, they searched for a locksmith for another 3-4 hours. It was a futile mission anyway because they wanted a locksmith whom they could trust. Suddenly, one of his neighbors mentioned that someone had rented that house 1 year ago when he was building his own house down the street. This previous homeowner came to their rescue, and for the first time, he was surprised that this previous owner of their home still had the keys to the house he had left a year ago. It prompted the man to wonder who else might be having the keys to his locks. It’s a horrifying experience indeed.

To this end, should you really focus on changing locks to your house?

Definitely you should because most homeowners produce a spare set of keys for their homes (as seen in the case above). And when they produce an extra set of keys, they tend to distribute them to a few trusted family members, friends, neighbors and sometimes contractors. The chain is endless.

So this alone should frighten you when you imagine the idea of strangers gaining easy access to your home. When you’ve moved to a new home, you want utmost security and comfort, knowing that your home is safe from any kind of intrusion.

The two options you have

You can either rekey or replace your locks. However, replacing the locks is the most expensive, invasive as well as complicated method. Keep in mind that your house will have many doors. What this means is that you will have to replace each lock with a new model for all doors. Stick to this option if you have a strong feeling that the current locks are not reliable. You can also change the locks if you like the idea of upgrading to stronger and more efficient locks.

On the other hand, if the locks are indeed good and your only worry is that there is a set of extra keys still floating around, then rekeying would be the best option to go with. Rekeying basically means that you’re changing the lock so it can be operated with another key altogether. This is achieved through changing the water configuration, altering the tumbler, or just forcing a new key exchange. After these changes have taken effect, the new keys will comfortably operate the locks while rendering the old ones invalid.

Conclusion

Only choose a trustworthy and reliable locksmith to do this job for you. Most homeowners don’t bother to change or rekey their locks once they’ve acquired a new home. It’s hard to understand why this is so yet it’s quite easy, simple and affordable. You shouldn’t refrain from doing so where your security is concerned.