Latest / Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life / Biggest mistake is not coordinating key day when buying your home - it involves more than you think and other considerations

Transcript

Biggest mistake is not coordinating key day when buying your home - it involves more than you think and other considerations · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good to everybody.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're at the 7th of September, 2025.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever you're watching this, we're going to talk about what's happening here in real estate.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let me get these back on.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right now we have 770 total active listings on the market for sale.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to encompass single-family residences, condominiums, townhomes.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I do have a great tip for you buyers out there and also sellers on how to get things coordinated so you can have a successful closing.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Usually in a real estate transaction, everything goes through okay, but a lot of times the sticking points are locks and keys and garage door openers and fobs and access uh devices.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll talk about that here as I get to the end of the show.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I just wanted to cover the daily inventory.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, we still are very much in a seller's market.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Buyer's market's starting to uh we're starting to see some hint of that just because we're now past the school season, school's back into session.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess I should say past the school break, and people are now more motivated than ever if they were trying to sell during that time period and weren't weren't unable to.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: We also see inventory starting to lessen up a little bit.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: We did start to build quite a bit, going for over 800 units for sale about three weeks ago prior to school going back into session.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's dropped off.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've also seen quite a few listings expire per week, uh, 25, 30 listings per week actually expire.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Not selling, could be issues with the properties themselves.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they weren't uh priced correctly, or there might be some other things.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's why it's really important to have somebody go out there and have a look at your property, make a determination, and have a discussion with you where your property happens to be situated, which you really can't do a lot about those things.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: But as far as taking care of the things inside that people are most looking for in this present market, yeah, you can change quite a few of those things.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in most cases, it's not that expensive.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, you don't have to go through full remodels, but it also depends on the competition and the price point you're trying to achieve when it comes to selling your house.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Very simple, just A, B, C, D.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So looking at the coming soon listings, 10, 82 new listings hit the market this week.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: 74 properties had their prices changed, 37 went back on market, 33 active under contract, 58 went pending, 58 properties closed this week.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We have 25 expired, 13 canceled, eight put on hold, and five have withdrawn.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So here's keys.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of a transaction, usually sellers, they're moving out or in that process, they will leave keys in the residence.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Usually garage door openers, too.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of buyers assume assume if it's a two-car garage, there's going to be two garage door openers.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: If that's what you assume and expect, you might want to make that very clear.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe with your original offer, there should be two garage door openers, keys for the residents, keys for every door, maybe all the locks to be re-keyed the same way, which might be a little bit of a stretch in an offer.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But when you get towards the end, it might not be a bad idea to at least ask your agent about the key exchange process and what you should expect.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you happen to have the residence located in a homeowners association, and you happen to have a community pool, for example, usually the access to that pool is not via code, it's via some kind of a fob, a magnetic latch release device, or some other type of encrypted device that usually cost a lot of money and require deposits.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're moving into an area, townhome, condominium, and there's some kind of a FOB for key access, you might want to make sure that you're getting that.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because after escrow closes, you're so busy trying to get the deal closed, trying to get the lender of the last minute items, trying to get your moving and everything coordinated, you might not even think about it.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, your agent should, but you know, human beings are what they are.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So then I would move and ask for those particular items.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: I would put together an email talking about exactly what you would expect in a key exchange.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to this, here's something a seller or excuse me, a buyer safety point.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: You purchase a house.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times all the locks aren't going to be the same key.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Some locks are going to be of such a nature they're not going to be able to re-key be re-keyed with the same key as other locks in the house.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: But it is kind of nice to have everything keyed the same, if that makes sense.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: One key fits everything.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: In some cases, that's not going to be able to work out unless you actually change the locks.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Having said that, let's say you have one or two or three keys for the residence.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Point is, is you need to have all those locks re-keyed.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you really trust the seller, you just don't know where those keys are.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: If the sellers have been there for any amount of time, maybe Aunt Joshua, would that be a Aunt Jane has a key, or Uncle Teddy, or you know, some boyfriend or some girlfriend of the kid, they went out and made a copy so they could sneak in at night.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Those keys are going to exist out there.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: God forbid, somebody breaking into your house in the middle of the night.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Then when the cops come to take the report, they say, Well, there was no first forced entry.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Who have you given a key to?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, I just got here, or I got here several months ago, and maybe you didn't get all the keys rechanged.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: What can you look to pay for that?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Be careful when you're looking for locksmiths online.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh New Hall, Valencia, Lock and Key.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're actually a local company.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't uh get anything from them mentioning them, but they're real brick and mortar company, real people you can walk in there and go talk to.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're over off of Camp Plenty, if memory serves, over in the Kenya Countryside or Saga side of Santa Clarita Valley.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, New Hall, New Hall, Valencia Lock and Key.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And there are other locals, but when you start to do your searching online to get somebody to rekey your property, a lot of them are lead generation companies for locksmiths.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, there's a lot of low-hanging fruit in that business, and that's something that you might face.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: You might get somebody from the valley that operates out of their Toyota Camry, which there's nothing wrong with that, but you want to make sure that they're going to come and do a good job and they're going to be somewhat accountable.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Also, they're not going to have a copy for themselves for later on, if you know what I mean.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Reputable companies really do pay off.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, as a cop back in the day, I have heard of people masquerading as locksmiths to be able to come in, rekey, and then get a copy.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: So when the sellers go on vacation or away or whatever, they'll be able to go into the house without any issue.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And usually the police don't look very deep when there is no forced entry and it looks like and there's no semblance or sign that the lock was actually picked.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's just the way the investigations work in some cases.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Some comps are going to be incredibly diligent.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Detectives are going to do some fantastic follow-up, but you know, they're also looking at price point and all these other things.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's just the way the whole world works.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: But having said that, make sure you get all those locks re-keyed.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And with the garage door openers, if you request that stuff early or at least, you know, bring it up to your agent, say, listen, I would expect buying this property, I'm going to have two garage door openers.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to need to make a follow-up with that seller's agent.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I would do that more earlier than later, uh, just for the simple fact that once you get down to the wire, there might only be one and you don't have a lot of power in that position, especially when you removed all of your contingencies.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Once you are prior to the removal of contingencies and you start requesting things, you have a lot more power because if they don't respond, you could just not remove contingencies.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: That might put you in another situation that might not be exciting and happy, but at least you'll be able to make your point with a lot more power than you would after you remove all of your contingencies.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you get those keys, folks, sellers.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, put them together.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would take keys if you have, well, I've I've sold properties that have had many different keys for many different locks just over time.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't ever bother the seller because they didn't use most of those locks.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: But what was cool is they basically took a soup can holder, the cardboard, and they wrote what each key was and they placed it there on the soup can piece of cardboard or on a piece of paper, denoting where these keys are and what locks they fit.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that's very helpful for buyers out there.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if you do this, make sure after you get it all put together, set on the counter, and there's going to be some key exchange, you're going to be giving your property over at a particular time, or your agent or their agent's going to come get the keys.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you take pictures of that and make the record, send them to your agent so it can be added to your file as well, showing that you had all these things placed and they're organized and you had everything there that belonged to the property.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So the buyer would be able to access all the locks, fobs, garage door openers, access cards, magnetic cards, all of those things.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: All right, everybody, have a fantastic rest of your Sunday.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Today's a big open house day, Santa Clarita Openhouses.com.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can go there, you can see what happens to be held open.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Also, it's all the other inventory as well.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be placing this video on the home page if you haven't seen uh any of my videos there.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to the homepage every single day after 10-ish, 11-ish.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I do a lot of work in the mornings.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I'll get the video up.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can check that out.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't see the one I'm talking about, the one I might reference in a short, all you have to do is go to Santa Clarita openhouses.com forward slash blog.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And or click on the blog link at the site.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with honor.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you in the next one.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Have a fantastic Sunday.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Be well.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.