When I want to show a listing to a buyer, I use a lockbox to enter the house. Typically, in this area (Prince William, Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock and Warren counties) that generally means an electronic lockbox that often looks like this:

To access this box and get the house key out, I use an electronic device that's been updated with a special code within the last 24 hours. It's an extra level of protection for the homeowner in case my "ekey" is stolen. Within 24 hours it's essentially worthless unless you know my passwords in order to get it updated.

The other advantage of this lockbox is that I know who has shown my listings. If something is missing, left unlocked, etc. I likely know who to track down to ask about the problem.

There have always been a few holdouts who still used combination (combo) lockboxes:

These boxes require only an alpha or numeric code in order to open them and access the key. If I know the combination I could, theoretically, give that information to someone else and that's all they'd need to access the keys to your home. It's a less secure method of access. The advantage in some agents' eyes is that if someone from outside our area wants to show the house, there's no problem if they don't use the same lockbox system used in this area.

With the large number of foreclosures in our area, we're seeing a big increase in the use of these combination lockboxes. Most banks will mandate that a combo box be used on their listings. I've had trouble coming up with a good reason for this. The only thing I can think of is that they want bank personnel to be able to access the property if necessary, without a real estate agent present.

I was troubled this week to learn that a local agent had mentioned that if he's unable to show a home when his buyer clients want to see it and he can't find any other agent to cover for him, he'll simply give his clients the combination and let them go in the house on their own.

Hmmmmm! The number of reasons this is a bad idea is very long. The liability to the agent should anything go wrong, is huge. It could be that his clients are good people with the best of intentions but they have trouble getting the keys back into the lockbox. It happens all the time. It is, of course, highly unprofessional and, I'd suggest, unethical. The listing agent should definitely be making a phone call to the agent's broker at the very least, to protest this behavior.

By the way, when the agent was confronted with what a bad idea this was the response was "Everybody does it." I never got that one by my Mom. And, I'm not buying it now!