Okay everyone....here is my view on Supra Lockboxes/e-keys...
I HATE using them!
Here at 360 Realty, we do not use the Supra lockboxes on any of our homes, and have no plans to in the future. We however do show homes with e-keys and have the equipment to do so.
WHY you ask?
We feel that you limit the amount of people that will show and sell your home. Here is a likely scenario...
I was showing 6 homes to my clients on a Saturday afternoon, and all were combo lockboxes. I did not have my e-key with me, while showing...and we drove past a home that they fell in love with! They walked around the home and said, "WOW, if we could see inside this home...we would most likely make an offer". Unfortunately for me, the office was a mere 30 miles away! We had to drive all the way back to the office, then back to the home. The buyers were aggravated, my wallet was hurting from the gas prices, and they ended up NOT liking the home.
Here is another scenario...
I was showing homes in a city next to mine. The appointment desk told me that I needed an ekey. I showed up at the home and my key would not work, and the box looked different. It was blue and we used the grey box. I called the office and they said that they used a different lockbox for that county, even though the MLS was the same! So here I was with my flaccid ekey in hand and the buyer was pissed! Not my favorite afternoon.
So can you see why I dislike using ekeys? Anyone want to throw out another view?!
Tracey G. Shrouder
sorry- you have trouble..here in las vegas, we have the supra lock boxes and they are great- so easy to work with...
Hi Tracey. If we got married, you would be Tracey Tracy.:)
Anyway, I disagree. Supraboxes kick butt. It allows listing agents to track showings.
Anyway, good luck.
Ken
Hi, Tracey,
I'm sorry you had that problem. We use Supra in my jurisdictions and they work great. You just have to remember to take the key with you at all times when showing (and, of course, keep it charging and syncing overnight). The blue boxes are especially terrific. You just have to point the infra-red top of the key at the little red window and it pops right open. If you did that and it didn't open, perhaps it was jammed.
Ed
I love the Supra lockboxes. I love the feature that allows you to track who is showing your listing. This makes follow up for feedback easy, as some inconsiderate/forgetful agents forget to leave a business card when showing homes.
Betina
Hi Tracy, I can agree with you we use Sentricard and I love it we had Supra and the next county over still some areas still use Supra but they will be changing. I had to borrow a Supra key last week they are big and cumpersome. Then some are still on combination. It sure would be nice if we would only have one type of lock box.
No, Sentrilock is better! I do not like Supra keys at all. Sentrilock is like a credit card and it only needs updating once every 3 days.
Here in Indianapolis, we switched to the SentriLock. There are issues from time to time---such as a bad battery, the box overheating or sometimes taking on water---and then of course we agents have to remember to update our cards. Still for security reasons, they are nice. We know who has been in the home. These boxes also allow us to turn on a 'contractor code' so someone could potentially get in without a card if necessary. The people who use the contractor code the most are the sellers when the buyer unknowingly locks them out of their home by locking the door from the garage into the kitchen!
You are not using the entire system with Supra if you only think it's about lockboxes. Plus why would you expose your sellers to such an old system that can lead you to being sued?
We only have to update every 2 weeks with our SentriLock. So I am guessing that somewhere someone decided how long it is in between. But we love it./
We love the Supra Key and our entire local MLS switched over to them last year.
Wth this system we know who has opened the lockbox, date, time and their contact information. The clients tell us that they feel really safe using this system.
We also use Feedback.com so the agent gets an automated email with 5 questions about the home. Our response rate from that is at least 80%. Can't imagine using anything else.
Dick Betts wrote:
"You are not using the entire system with Supra if you only think it's about lockboxes. Plus why would you expose your sellers to such an old system that can lead you to being sued?
What do you mean about people being sued for using Supra? This is the first I've heard.
I prefer the Supra's. If all the agents here used them, I could just carry my key and need nothing else! But some don't, generally for money reasons. and so I must hunt them down (most of the combo boxes seem to be for REO's that say Vacant go show!), get them to call me back with a code, so that I can write it down on the paper, because I'm not going to remember every code for 20 houses. I think that exposes some security risks for me to have to write that down. Then half the time I get there and it's been left on the code anyway so any joe blow could walk in.
That's as a B.A. As a Listing Agent, I like that Supra is easy for showings, lets me know who/when someone was there, can be setup to page me whenever its opened, and is more secure than a $30 combo box. For some sellers, I do also put a combo on the property as they are prone to locking themselves out. :)