I love the thought of condo living.
Not having to worry about cutting grass, shoveling snow, or replacing a roof, furnace, or AC. I could go on and on about some of the perks of living in a condo.
Yes, I know there are drawbacks too. You can say that about any property.
One of the drawbacks that really pisses me off about condos is a restriction on where lockboxes can be placed.
Some condo boards make it impossible to hang a lockbox anywhere in the building citing security reasons.
Could you imagine being restricted about how you can sell your own home? That is one thing I would go to war about if that happened to me.
I can just see it, the volunteer condo corporation committee made up of people who have never managed anything in their life suddenly in charge of running a building and deciding what can and can’t be done in order for you to sell your place.
They somehow reasoned that having a key box hung outside of the building on a bike rack or a fence is somehow safer than having a lock box in a stairwell or a dedicated lockbox room.
Lockboxes outside are always a hassle. In the winter they freeze shut. In better weather, they rust shut as soon as it rains.
Speaking of rain, nothing makes me happier than finding out the lockbox is right by a garden and I have to step in mud to get to it.
My favourite though is trying to find one at night. There’s no dignified way of propping my phone against my shoulder and chin, trying to find the right angle to shine the light onto the dial pad so I can enter the code to get the precious keys.
A dedicated lockbox room inside is the best option, even better than having the lockbox sitting in a cabinet behind the concierge desk.
The concierge desk can sometimes be busy in the evenings with residents picking up their Amazon deliveries. The last thing a concierge wants to do is go digging for a lockbox. And even better is when you have to take the lockbox with you.
That’s always fun when showing several units in a building.
But even with the convenience of a lockbox room, leave it up to some agents to screw it up.
I was relieved the other day when I got confirmation for an appointment at a condo downtown. The instructions were this:
“Lockbox in lockbox room with red tag”
Awesome. I’ll get in and out in a couple of seconds so my clients aren’t sitting in the lobby too long. Just find the lockbox with the red tag. In and out. Easy Peasy.
Wishful thinking.
This is what I was greeted with:
Yes, almost every lockbox had a red tag.
So instead of being in and out in a matter of seconds, it took me about 5 minutes to go through each one until the code finally worked.
I found out later that the tags are supplied by the building and numbered in order to make locating the key box easily.
If an agent can’t be bothered to take 5 seconds and provide the number that is on the tag to help out the agents that are, you know, trying to help them sell their client’s condo, you can imagine how they’ll be dealing with an offer.
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