The Custom House Key and Your Brand

December 16, 2014

Let’s take a few moments and discuss one of our more unique branding items – The Ann Lee Interior Custom House Key.

The founder of Starbucks, Howard Shultz once stated that it’s “the small details that matter“. With that in-mind, one of the initial things we realized is that the first item that a potential buyer touches are the house keys.

When I first started out in real estate investing, I noticed that most investors would take all of the property-related keys and place them in the lock-box. From the get-go, this is something that I’ve tried to avoid at all costs. I have learned that having that many keys in the lock-box can be frustrating. It can also be confusing and can have a negative affect on the potential buyer. Especially in states where weather is extreme during certain seasons. We place one key in the lock-box – the front door key. We want it to be quick and easy to enter the home, hence, we place only one key in lock-box…and its a custom AnnLeeInteriors.com key.

Well, after a while, other investors began mirroring us in that they started placing only one key in their lock-box. So, our competition had finally caught-on! After some quick thought and discussion, I figured out a new way to one-up our competitors and stand-out. Sure, we still only place one key in the lock-box, but we made it into a custom AnnLeeInteriors.com key! We even brand our keys!

Our custom keys cost us about $1.75 each. Now you tell me – is $1.75 worth it for something that might just make the difference in your sale? That answer is a resounding “yes”!

Since we want our buyers to not only remember us, but to pass our good name on to others, we ensure that every single house-related key is a customized AnnLeeInteriors.com key upon closing. Also, before you hand the keys over for good, ensure that all the locking mechanisms on the door are working flawlessly. Make sure that the keys slides in and works smoothly. Ensure that the locks line-up perfectly.

You want the locks to work perfectly as this all goes back to the buyers experience. The entire experience should be just like the customized key and locks – everything is smooth and easy!