Closing day is one of those days you remember for a long time. After the paperwork, the handshakes, and the handoff of keys, you’re finally standing in a home that belongs to you. It’s a good feeling.
And then you start the mental list. Change the address. Set up utilities. Figure out which boxes are going where. Find the coffeemaker before anything else.
Here’s something that should be close to the top of that list, and it rarely is: get your locks rekeyed before you sleep there the first night.
The Problem With Keys You Didn’t Cut
When you buy a home, you get the keys the sellers had. Maybe it’s two copies. Maybe three. You take them, you sign the paperwork, you move on.
But think about how long that family lived there. They may have handed out keys to a housecleaner who worked there for years. A neighbor who watered the plants while they traveled. A family member who stayed for a few months. A contractor who came in to fix something and never returned the key they were given. A pet sitter. A repair person. Kids who lost their copies and got new ones made without anyone tracking it.
None of these people are necessarily bad actors. Most of them have probably forgotten all about that key. But a key that exists is a key that works, and you have no way of knowing exactly how many of them are out there.
Rekeying the locks when you move in means all of those keys stop working. The existing locks stay on your doors, but the internal pins get reconfigured to match a new key. Your new key works. Everything else doesn’t.
It’s a simple, inexpensive step that closes a security gap you probably didn’t even realize was open.
What Asheville Homes Specifically Are Worth Thinking About
Asheville has a lot of older housing stock. Neighborhoods like Montford, West Asheville, North Asheville, and Kenilworth have homes that have changed hands multiple times over the decades. Some of those homes have had renters. Some have been through estate sales. Some have been through renovations with multiple contractors coming and going.
Older homes are also more likely to have locks that were never upgraded, which means even if the rekeying question didn’t matter, the hardware question might. If you’re moving into a house with original hardware from the 1970s or 1980s, it might be worth upgrading to modern deadbolts while a locksmith is already there.
Even in newer subdivisions and developments around Arden, Fletcher, or Weaverville, the construction process involves keys being held by builders, subcontractors, and inspectors. Rekeying after the previous owners move out and before you move in is just good practice.
What Rekeying Involves
The process is quick and doesn’t require replacing your door hardware. A locksmith removes the lock cylinder, changes the internal pins so that only a new key will work, and reinstalls everything. The whole visit for a typical home usually takes under an hour depending on how many locks you want done.
You can rekey every exterior door in one appointment. If you want all the locks to work on a single key, that can be set up too. That’s called keying alike, and it means you only need to carry one key to get into any door in your home. A lot of homeowners find that much more convenient than managing a separate key for the front, back, and garage entry.
Should You Rekey or Replace?
For a new home purchase, rekeying is usually the right call if the existing hardware is solid. If your doors have good-quality deadbolts that are functioning properly, there’s no reason to replace them just to get new keys. Rekeying accomplishes the same security goal at a fraction of the cost.
If the existing locks are worn, low-grade builder locks, or if you want to add electronic keypads or smart lock features, that’s when replacement makes sense. A locksmith can look at what you have and tell you honestly whether rekeying is enough or whether you’d benefit from something better.
Don’t Forget the Less Obvious Entry Points
Most people think about the front door and call it done. But look at your home and count the actual entry points. There’s probably a back door. Maybe a door from the garage into the house. A door to a side yard or a basement entry. Any door with a lock is a potential entry point.
If a key from the previous owners’ time can still open your back door, it doesn’t matter that the front door is secured. Take a walk around the house and identify every exterior lock, then make sure all of them get included when you schedule the rekeying appointment.
What About Smart Locks?
Some new homeowners use a move as the opportunity to switch over to keyless entry, either on one door or throughout the house. Smart locks let you set access codes, control entry from your phone, and set schedules for who can enter and when.
If you have family members, a regular housecleaner, a dog walker, or anyone else who needs access without a physical key, a smart lock can simplify that significantly. Instead of cutting multiple keys and trying to track them, you assign each person their own code. If someone’s access needs to end, you delete their code without changing anything else.
At A.L. Odom, we install and program smart locks and electronic keypads along with traditional hardware. If you’re not sure whether traditional or electronic is the better fit for your home, we’re happy to walk through the pros and cons with you.
Make It Part of Your Move-In Plan
Moving is busy. There are a hundred things demanding attention at once, and it’s easy to push this one off with the intention of getting to it later. But later tends to become much later, and in the meantime, you’re sleeping in a house where you don’t actually know who has a key that works.
It only takes one call to take care of it. Most appointments can be scheduled within a day or two, and the job is done before you’ve finished unpacking your first bedroom.
A.L. Odom Locksmiths has been serving Asheville and Western North Carolina for decades. We’re a family-owned business located at 1240 Brevard Rd, Suite 4, and we work with homeowners throughout the region including Hendersonville, Weaverville, Waynesville, Burnsville, and Buncombe County. Give us a call at (828) 274-6613 to set up an appointment around your move-in schedule.