Rekeying a occupied home

Careless is one thing - but to rifle through someone else's belonging and the take some of them is another.  I'd be talking to the that persons broker and then the RE Board!

That is an outragous story, I would have called the police to say there was a break in, no question about it.

Sounds like breaking and entering to me!

Tina in Virginia

The agent did wrong.  He can't do that to a family.  It has to be foreclosed and even then he needs to work with the family.  He must be a brute

HOw awful.  The banks that I work with won't even let you do a rekey until they know for sure that noone is living in the home. I have one home that we assumed to be vacant.  I asked the neigbors and contacted the utilities.  The bank at that point suggested that I go with a locksmith and open  up a back door and take pictures.  Even though we learned that it was vacant they are still going through the eviction since there are so many personal items in the home.

I represented Seller's whose home was rekeyed just just before closing.  They were selling later that week.  The company that rekeyed the house had the wrong address.  Freaked everyone out.

Wouldn't that just make your day!  The other agent should have been picked up for breaking and entering and theft. Your poor friend.  What was the outcome?

Very interesting.  Usually, we do rekeys after we know the occupants are out (either via CFK or after the sheriff gets involved).   Remedy?  Need to contact agent and agent's broker and demand return of missing personal items.  Bank will not accept responsibility for actions by the agent or his broker.

I spoke to my friend today and a couple of updates, She had been in contact with the agent and

1) he admitted that he was responsible for the re key

2) made some financial restitution

3) admitted that it was not going to be his listing as he was only to do a DRIVE BY BPO.....

You gotta love this business

I would say at the least a breaking and entering charge, and to go after his license.

Lynette

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAY!!! I would have his lic. if it was my friend. What a ding dong. He got orders for a BPO and then changed the locks instead??? Who does that?? In CA if the home is still occupied and the asset manager/bank is in process of eviction then eveyone waits till there is a scheduled lock out day. The lawyer, sheriff, realtor, and locksmith all meet at the property. If there are personal items left on the property valueing over 500 dollars then there needs to be a posted 18 day notice and agent information left....(Shaking my head) That agent has a fiduciary duty to the asset manager and bank he got orders to do the BPO from. Agents like that should NOT get BPO orders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAY!!! I would have his lic. if it was my friend. What a ding dong. He got orders for a BPO and then changed the locks instead??? Who does that?? In CA if the home is still occupied and the asset manager/bank is in process of eviction then eveyone waits till there is a scheduled lock out day. The lawyer, sheriff, realtor, and locksmith all meet at the property. If there are personal items left on the property valueing over 500 dollars then there needs to be a posted 18 day notice and agent information left....(Shaking my head) That agent has a fiduciary duty to the asset manager and bank he got orders to do the BPO from. Agents like that should NOT get BPO orders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAY!!! I would have his lic. if it was my friend. What a ding dong. He got orders for a BPO and then changed the locks instead??? Who does that?? In CA if the home is still occupied and the asset manager/bank is in process of eviction then eveyone waits till there is a scheduled lock out day. The lawyer, sheriff, realtor, and locksmith all meet at the property. If there are personal items left on the property valueing over 500 dollars then there needs to be a posted 18 day notice and agent information left....(Shaking my head) That agent has a fiduciary duty to the asset manager and bank he got orders to do the BPO from. Agents like that should NOT get BPO orders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I currently have an asset that has been re-keyed with no sign of activity at the house or anyone even living there, but the inside of the house looks like the people just walked out.  My info is posted and nobody has called saying "YOU LOCKED ME OUT!"  While walkaways are becoming more common, we are doing an eviction to play it safe.  If anyone calls to say that I locked them out (doubtful), then I will grant them access to the home until the day of the eviction.

I felt weird being in the house.  I did not touch anything, took my photos and got out in record time.  I felt like somebody was going to pop up around the corner -- or I was afraid I'd encounter a corpse on the bed or something.

Luckily, I have never had anyone accidently locked out.  I send letters, leave a note on the back of my business card at the door, check for overflowing mailboxes, check utilities in cases where I am uncertain, ask neighbors when I can and check for other signs of "life" before making the call.  I always err on the side of caution just in case.  I've had a few houses in the last year that I feel are vacant but that show too many signs of possibly occupancy.  In those cases we proceed with an eviction.

Hey Andy,

I might as well chime in.

In Virginia-- you are able to do drive-by BPOs to your hearts content.  However, this does not grant you access to the interior, if the house (PERIOD).  The exception to this-- is if the owner allows you in.

One of my contractors told me that if a house is vacant and clearly so-- and has "Open Access" then he can go inside to secure the house prior to foreclosure. 

Pre-foreclosure -- the house still belongs to the owner.  Post Foreclosure-- every state has different rules and laws regarding personal contents.

If the offending agent offered restitution-- then they are admitting that they broke, entered and committed larceny.  Also, I would think that their client could be drug into court for having this person do a re-key. 

Prior to making entry into any property-- I verify that the bank is the owner.   Then I make entry.  If it appears that there is someone living there (or I have doubts)  -- Then I take my pics-- and leave.  I let someone at the bank make the decision if we are to evict or just trash out.

-Jason 

There's absolutely no reason that I know of to do a rekey on a drive-by.  Particularly since an agent who is doing the drive-by is probably not going to do the listing - the listing agent will be instructed to do an interior BPO.

The process - as I understand it from the Banks that I work with - is to determine if the property is vacant or not.  If it is order a rekey and do an interior BPO.  Order a trash-out if the value of personal property on site is less than $500 (this may vary).  The contractor who bids on the trash-out may very well search remaining personal property - if any of it has "yard sale" value it may influence his bid.