Lockboxes, A Change is Coming, For Some
For several years Northern Virginia real estate agents have enjoyed the convenience of using the same lockbox system. This allowed real estate agents to travel freely with their clients from Caroline County north through the Northern Virginia counties. In late 2008 three Realtor Associations decided to switch their lockbox system. The Prince William Association, the Northern Virginia Association, and the Greater Piedmont Association will all be converting to the Sentrilock Lockbox system in January 2009. The Fredericksburg Area and Dulles Area will remain in their contract for the current system and will be keeping the Supra Lockbox.
What does this mean for real estate agents? Agents will now have to join multiple lockbox systems in order to service their clients or Buyer’s Agents will have to either be given access to a property by a home owner or the Listing Agent. If real estate agents decide to have access to both lockbox systems, this will be an additional cost to these agents. Agents will also have to carry multiple access keys to gain entrance to the various lockboxes that will be placed on houses. Many agents who can not afford the multiple lockbox system membership costs will no longer be able to effectively service areas that use a competing lockbox system without the assistance of those agents that are a member of the system. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Listing Agent to facilitate access to ALL cooperating Brokers, regardless of lockbox system membership. It is in the Seller’s best interest for as many real estate agents as possible be able to show the home to their purchasers.
What does this mean for consumers? Consumers lose out the most in the lockbox system changes. It will be the responsibility of the consumer to ask which lockbox system their REALTOR is a member of. Your REALTOR should be using the lockbox that is compatible with the local Association if you are listing your home for sale, this may require multiple lockboxes on properties that are on the market so that your home is available to the most agents. Multiple lockboxes on a property can create a security threat to the property owner. Not all lockboxes are created equal. Some are extremely easy to manipulate. Your REALTOR should also have access to the lockboxes that are on the homes you are looking to purchase. This may involve planning your house hunt in advance so that Listing Agents can meet you at properties you would like to view. Remember some agents are choosing to be a member of various lockbox systems, but many are not. (There are numerous, legitimate reasons for not being a member of two lockbox systems, other than the cost factor. Many agents feel that the Sentrilock lockbox is an inferior product to Supra). Be sure that your REALTOR is aware of the lockbox changes and that they explain how this change will affect you and your housing situation.
Ok, let me play the part of ignorant customer for a moment. If my agent couldn’t get me into a house, I’d probably ding that agent on customer service. A little background might help: I thought, based on NVAR based forms used in this region, that the f’burg area was part of the Northern Virginia Area Realtors. Perhaps that’s bad info, but from the non-real estate point of view, our homes end up in homesdatabase.com, many of the real estate forms are nvar released forms, and quite frankly we’re in the nova market (almost).
On the nvar website is states:
(Googled Sentrilock Lockbox supra)
http://www.nvar.com/MembershipbrnbspServicesnbsp/LockboxInformation/SentriLockLockboxConversion/tabid/342/Default.aspx
Yes, NVAR will issue SentriCards® to non-members. You do not need to become a member of NVAR to purchase the Sentrilock solution. Once NVAR completes our conversion, you are welcome to come to one of our three centers to apply for a SentriCard®. Between January 17 and January 30, you will pay $ 99.75 to receive your card. After January 30, the non-member price will be $150.
If my buyers agent, or the office, didn’t spend $100 to be able to get into overlapping homes, I’d say that’s a critical oversight, and not very customer friendly. After all, even though the seller pays the fees, the “buyer” is the reason the agent is making the money.
Yes this sux, but we’re addicted to instant gratification – expect more grumbling. What seems to be even more intesting/troublesome is the expense if an agency outside of f’burg wants to keep their key for the supra, looks to me like it’s twice as expensive. I do see on the NVAR site an option for “Day Codes”? Having worked for GE at one point (and still holding onto some stock in an old 401k) it’s a shame to see the area going away from the supra. Was there any explanation as to why? With the differences in subscription fees, looks like maybe they undercut the competition. Realistically, no lockbox is secure, you’re putting a key in a box. If someone wants it bad enough, it’ll come out.
The other question is which box gives better logging. Our last sale, agents were terrible at not bothering to sign the sign-in sheet, maybe a digital lock box that remembered agent codes would nix the sign-in sheet altogether.
Great comments Brian. I’ll handle them one by one.
1. The Fredericksburg area does use the NVAR forms predominately when selling and buying real estate, but this is purely by convienance. I have actually received and used 4 different association’s forms. The forms you use depend on the circumstances of your client. The NVAR forms best match the nuances of real estate in this area, but they are definitely not the best forms. I personally prefer some of the Virginia Association of Realtor forms. And, every consumer has the right to have an attorney draft a contract for them. My husband and I did this when we bought our current home. None of the forms suited our needs or represented our best interests, so we hired an attorney to write the contract. (In most purchasing situations, this is unnecessary). When the NVAR forms were written, Fredericksburg real estate attorneys did have input on the final product, so they do suite the area. However, we are far from being in Northern Virginia. We are very fortunate to have a local association handling the needs of the local consumer and REALTOR. Our issues are not the issues of NOVA and vice versa. An example of this is that Fredericksburg was not part of the Grantor’s Tax debacle last year. (The Grantor’s Tax was raised from $1 per $1000 to $5 per $1000 is some NOVA areas. This was later found unconstitutional and reppealed). You also have to keep in mind that the Fredericksburg area encompasses places like Caroline County, King George County, and Orange County. These counties have vastly different issues than NOVA. Having a local association allows these issues to be addressed appropriately and by people who are most affected by the decisions.
2. The NOVA Association did not agree to issue one day codes or non-member cards until last week. The only reason they decided to do this was because the Greater Peidmont Association and the Prince William Association had decided to not alienate the other Associations. It was purely a monetary decision for NOVA. They want to make money off of the sale of the Sentrilock product. The money you are paying that day is just for the card, not the lockboxes. Each lockbox is roughly $100. I have 20 Supra lockboxes. It will cost me $2000 to replace my lockboxes. Sentrilock also requires additional money when they update the data packages for their lockboxes. (Supra does this for free). So, it’s not just a small investment to follow NOVA. There is also a problem with day codes. I have to actually be able to talk to the Listing Agent to get a day code. (That is quite difficult). Also, who’s going to prove that everyone calling for a day code is actually an active licensee or a REALTOR? This is a huge liability and safety issue! And yes, Supra is a more expensive product up front, but has no maintenance fees or hidden costs.
3. As you can tell, the REALTOR profession is very political. Much more political than most consumers would guess. NOVA made a decision without their members approval. Only they can tell you why they made the decision. The Greater Peidmont and Prince William Associations made their decision based on NOVA’s decision and not wanting to be alienated from NOVA. Dulles took their vote to the membership and their membership decided that the Supra lockbox was a superior product and they would honor their contract with Supra. Fredericksburg is honoring their contract with Supra and investigating what is best for their consumers and REALTORS.
4. I will tell you that I have tested the Supra lockbox for security. It is very hard to break the Supra lockbox open. I even used a sledge hammer. It did not pop open. It is a very durable product and worth the small additional cost.
5. Both boxes log. Lockboxes have been digital for at least 6-7 years. The newest technology for Supra gives the best logging data. It is wireless and instantaneous. And, I am almost gaurenteed that a REALTOR is using the Supra lockbox to gain access. I believe the one day codes will make it harder to track who is going in and out of the lockbox. I don’t know if this area will go away from GE. My feeling is that we will pick the superior product, but our membership will definitely be involved with the decision.
6. Now to take this back to the purpose of the post. It was intended to inform the consumer of the changes and pitfalls of these changes. Now, more than ever, you need to be hiring agents that can best represent your needs. If you are going to be searching for a home in Fairfax County, your agent needs a Sentrilock card. If you are searching in Loudoun County, your agent needs a Supra key. If you are listing your home in Fredericksburg, you should have a Supra lockbox on your door. If you are listing your home in Prince William County you should have a Sentrilock lockbox on your door. This lockbox conversion fiasco has made real estate local again. Is that a bad thing? TBD.
Awesome post. Thanks for the info.
Can I suggest a great follow on post? What differences might sway a buyer to using different forms, some of the nuances of each, and perhaps what conditions would warrant the extra attention of a dedicated lawyer.
That is a wonderful suggestion! I will start working on that now.