For any property manager or landlord, changing door locks and keys is a big part of the expense report each year. With costs ranging from $25-$50+ per door lock change, there has to be a better landlord based solution. Luckily there is, SmartKey^TM! We recently caught up with Kim Cina, from Balanced Property Management in Topeka, Kansas. Here’s what she had to say:

Kwikset [KW]: Let’s start with the basics, how long have you been in business, how many/what types of properties do you manage?

Kim Cina [KC]:  We have been in the property management business for over 10 years. We currently have 65 units, and are working to grow our footprint to 200 units in 2015.

KW: What first brought you to SmartKey^TM by Kwikset?

KC: As property owners ourselves, changing locks became an additional but necessary cost during a turnover. In 2013, when our business started to expand, and we were hired as a Property Management Company, we started working to reduce costs, not only in our budgets, but in our client’s as well. That’s when we found the Kwikset Deadbolt with SmartKey^TM

KW: And how many Kwikset Deadbolts with SmartKey^TM have you installed to date? KC: We have them on all our properties, 47 in total, and we plan to use them for any properties we add in the future.  It’s the first thing we do when we get a new property to manage.

KW: What has been the biggest benefit for your team?

KC: This saves us time and money to be able to change the locks quickly and efficiently for our owners and tenants. We are hired to take care of our owners’ investment properties. This enables us to show them that we do take into consideration time and money and that we know what we are doing as a team working as acting agents for them.

KW: What about the owner and tenants? What do they think of SmartKey^TM?

KC: The owners appreciate that we have taken the time to find a secure deadbolt, with a master key option, saving them time and money in the long run. The fact that SmartKey^TM is both highly pick resistant and bump-proof, also gives our owners and tenants peace of mind.

KW: Anything else you want to mention?

KC: Kwikset’s advancements over the last few years have made easy to train our team to rekey locks. Kwikset’s customer service is absolutely amazing as well. They have offered to come train our maintenance staff or do a video tutorial.

KW: What’s next for your properties?

KC:  We are now using Kwikset Deadbolts with SmartKey^TM and know that once we start expanding our business to more property owners and clients, that we will be able to eventually switch to the Kevo technology. We were shown a demonstration on the new Kevo locks this last summer and cannot wait to make that investment. We know it will pay off as the SmartKey^TM Deadbolts have paid themselves off already.