To fill my dance card, I have taken on inspections in the foreclosure market. This requires accessing vacant homes without a key and changing the entry lock out. There are lock pick tools, pick guns, bump tools, cylinder drills, ect. Any suggestions of what’s going to be the fastest and easiest?
Bob Drew
bob@cstonecci.com
So…your doing the lock picking, changing the lock, and doing the inspection? Isn’t there something in our COE that prevents us from doing any work on the properties we inspect?
There was thread not too long ago on “bump keys” you can either make yourself or buy off the internet. I believe Will Decker is the one who posted it but not sure.
Scott, I think you’d be hard pressed to claim a conflict of interest in changing a lock and then inspecting the home.
I’d have to re-read the COE to get the technicalities of this, but I don’t see any problems with this. A lock isn’t a defect. In a sense, I would put this in the same category as inadvertantly causing damage to the home during the inspection, then repairing that damage. No conflict of interest. Therefore it still meets the “spirit” and “intent” of the COE if not exactly the “wording” of it.
Robert, I do several of these a week; one of the best things to use is a pair of slip joint pliers; put it on the outside of the door knob and push your weight into it; most doorknobs will crack instantly; then you remove the screws and replace.
You can buy the set of Bump Keys online like was mentioned by Doug. I bought a set last year to help the private school I do consulting for remove student locker locks at the end of the year. Some of them work amazingly easily. I also wanted to make sure I couldn’t bump my own front door.
Bob its called a foot 
I used to get locked out tenants back in all the time.
I would know where to drill into the deadbolt in order to shear the pins on the cylinder
Deadbolts suck, now door knobs are just plain easy. That is why I will always lock my doors with the dead bolts.
I can open a dead bolt in less than 30 sec.
Locks are made to keep honest people honest.
Yea Yea thats what I thought till i warped a steel door and it cost me 450.00 to repair it and got 525 for the securementa whole whopping 75.00 for an hours drive each way…wowzers, now I have pick set and that works great
Doorknobs use a pair of channel locks. Drill is the quickest most sure way through a deadbolt. These usually aren’t inspections, but rather condition reports for the bank taking back the property, but take plenty of pictures to cover your arss
If it’s just a doorknob a sawzall works wonders in seconds!! Just cut the knob right off and wah-lah, you have access.