You have no idea how many copies of that key exist. Neither does the seller.
The keys you were handed are not the only keys
At closing, you usually get a small set of keys and a garage remote or two. That only tells you what made it to the table that day. It does not tell you how many copies were made over the years, who kept one, or which old key still works. Most houses collect extra keys the same way they collect old paint cans and spare parts: one at a time, for perfectly normal reasons, and then nobody keeps track.
The obvious people are the previous owners and anyone in their family who had regular access. Adult kids may have had a key. Parents may have had one for emergencies. Neighbors sometimes get a spare to feed pets or water plants. Then there are the work keys. Contractors, handymen, cleaners, landscapers, dog walkers, house sitters, babysitters, and home health aides are all people who might have been trusted with access at some point. Real estate agents may have had keys during showings. If the home was ever rented, previous tenants may still have copies, and so might a property manager or maintenance person from years back.
That does not mean the seller is hiding something from you. Most of the time they are not. They genuinely do not know where every copy ended up, especially if they have owned the place for a long time or inherited it from someone else. Keys get loaned out, copied at a hardware store, left in junk drawers, attached to old keychains, or never returned after a job. We see this all the time in houses around Elkton: the keys handed over are the known keys, not all keys.
That is the real reason to deal with the locks right away. You are not accusing anyone of bad intent. You are closing off unknown access from people who may still have a working key and may not even remember they do.
Rekeying is not the same as replacing
A rekey keeps the lock you already have and changes what key operates it. Inside the cylinder are small pins cut to match the grooves of a specific key. We take that cylinder apart and reset those pins to a different pattern, then cut new keys to match. After that, the old keys may still slide in, but they won't turn the lock. The outside hardware stays the same: same lock body, same handle, same finish, same look on the door.
That matters because replacing hardware is a different job. New locks can mean pulling trim, swapping handles or deadbolts, lining up screw holes, and sometimes dealing with doors that have settled and never fit quite right to begin with. If you like the hardware that's there, rekeying lets you keep it. There's no need to change the style or try to match finishes across every exterior door just to make old keys stop working.
Rekeying is usually the cleaner option because it changes the part that controls access without changing the whole assembly. On a house in Elkton or out toward Route 40, that often means less disturbance right when you've already got movers, boxes, and utility appointments stacked up. We're working on the cylinder, not redesigning the door. If the existing lock is solid and functioning the way it should, rekeying solves the actual problem: unknown keys out in the world.
It's also worth knowing what rekeying does not do. It doesn't fix a worn-out lock, a loose deadbolt, or hardware that sticks, wobbles, or fails to latch properly. If the lock itself is in good shape, rekeying is the direct answer. If the hardware is damaged or unreliable, that's when replacement starts to make more sense.
The doors people forget
Most people think about the front door and stop there. That's the one they use every day, so it feels like the obvious priority. But the locks that get missed are usually the ones someone could use without being seen right away: the side door into the garage, the basement door, the shed, the gate, even the mailbox. On an older property, those locks often got added at different times by different owners, and they may still be on older keys the seller hasn't had in years.
That matters because one forgotten lock can undo the whole point of rekeying. If every main entry is updated but the back basement door still works on an old key, you haven't really closed the loop. The same goes for a garage service door or a gate that gives someone access to the back of the house. We've seen homes around Elkton where the front was handled properly, but a side entry or detached shed was still wide open to anyone holding an old copy.
Before you book the work, walk the property and write every lock down. Start at the front, then go around the house and outbuildings in a full loop. Check both sides of the garage, any walkout basement entry, fence gates, storage doors, and the mailbox if it locks. If there's a door you only use once in a while, that's exactly the one people forget. A quick list helps us make sure nothing gets skipped, and it helps you avoid finding the one old-key door after you've already moved everything in.
Getting every door onto one key
If the locks on your house use compatible cylinders, we can usually rekey them so one key works the front door, back door, side door, and the door from the garage into the house. That's called keyed alike. The big advantage is simple: less confusion. You're not standing in the driveway with a ring full of similar keys trying each one, and everyone in the house knows which key is the house key. It also makes life easier when you're giving a copy to a spouse, a dog walker, or a family member helping during the move.
The part people don't think about is what happens if that one key goes missing. If a single key opens every exterior door, then losing it means the whole property is exposed, not just one entry. That matters more for some households than others. If you've got teens carrying keys, a lot of people coming and going, or a key that's likely to be left in a gym locker, on a jobsite, or dropped somewhere along Pulaski Highway, one-key convenience may not be the smartest setup.
In those cases, two keys often make more sense. A common setup is one key for the main entry doors you use every day, and a different key for a less-used door like the side or basement entry. Another is keeping the house on one key and a detached garage or workshop on another. You still cut down the clutter, but you limit what one lost key can do. When we rekey a new house, we usually talk through how you actually use the doors, not just how many locks are on them. That's how you end up with a setup that's convenient without being careless.
When replacement really is the right answer
Rekeying only makes sense if the lock itself is still worth keeping. The pins can be changed, but that does nothing for a deadbolt that's loose, badly worn, or built too light for an outside door. If the key has to be jiggled, the cylinder binds, the latch doesn't move cleanly, or the bolt only works if you pull or shove the door, that's not really a key-control problem anymore. That's a worn lock, a door alignment issue, or both. Rekeying a lock in that condition can leave you with a fresh key and the same daily headache.
We also tell people to replace locks that show real weather damage. On houses near the water in Kent County, and even plenty of places around Elkton, we see exterior hardware with corrosion inside the cylinder, rust on the screws, pitting on the face, and springs that no longer return the key smoothly. Once the internal parts are worn or corroded, rekeying won't restore strength or reliability. The lock may still turn today, but it's more likely to stick, fail, or stop working at the worst time.
Replacement is also the right move when the lock is the wrong grade or wrong type for the way the house is used now. A basic knob lock used as the main security on an exterior door, a deadbolt with excessive play, a mismatched setup that leaves one door easier to force than the rest, or hardware that no longer fits the household all point toward replacement. If you want a proper deadbolt where there isn't one, if the existing lock has obvious slop, if screws no longer bite tightly, or if the trim is cracking around the mounting points, the lock is past the point where rekeying is the smart answer. In those cases, replacing it fixes the actual problem instead of just changing which key operates it.
The strike plate is where most doors actually fail
A lot of people picture a burglar "beating the lock," but that's usually not what gives way. On most house doors, the deadbolt is still sitting there in one piece after a kick. What breaks is the wood around it. The short screws that hold the strike plate often bite into the jamb or trim, not the solid framing behind it. So the bolt stays strong, but the frame splits and the door opens anyway.
That's why one of the smartest upgrades after a move has nothing to do with a fancier lock. It's making sure the strike plate is fastened with long screws that reach through the jamb and into the framing stud behind it. That changes what the force is hitting. Instead of asking a thin strip of wood to hold the door shut, you're tying that hardware into the structure of the wall. On a front door or side entry, that difference matters a lot more than most people realize.
We see plenty of homes around Elkton where the lock itself is decent, but the strike side was never reinforced. Builders and handymen often use whatever screws came in the box, and those are frequently too short to do the real job. If the door is already a little loose, out of square, or rubbing, that can make the weak point even weaker. A proper strike plate setup helps the deadbolt do what you think it's already doing.
It's not glamorous. You won't show it off after you move in. But if you want the highest-value security upgrade in the house, this is near the top of the list. A strong lock on a weak frame is only half a lock.
Windows, sliders and the back of the house
Most break-ins don't start at the front door. They start where nobody on the street can see what's happening. Ground-floor windows, patio sliders, and basement doors sit on the quiet side of the house, and that privacy works for an intruder as much as it works for you. New owners usually focus on the keys they were handed and the main entry doors. Meanwhile, a weak window latch in the den, an old slider off the kitchen, or a basement walkout hidden by a fence can be the easier way in.
Patio sliders deserve extra attention because a lot of them are only doing one real job: keeping the door shut, not keeping someone out. If the lock is loose, misaligned, or worn, the door can sometimes be lifted, flexed, or worked open without much noise. A proper slider check means looking at the latch, the track, the rollers, and whether there's secondary protection to stop the panel from being forced or lifted. We also see plenty of houses where the slider hasn't been adjusted in years, so the lock never fully seats even though it looks closed.
Ground-floor and basement windows matter for the same reason: they're often out of sight and rarely tested by the new owner. People assume the lock works because the window closes. That's not the same thing. We find missing sash locks, bent latches, painted-shut hardware, and basement windows that don't secure tightly anymore. The back of the house matters more than the front because it gives cover. If someone can stand behind the house without being noticed, they have time to test a weak slider, push on a window, or work at a basement entry nobody checks until there's a problem. That's why we tell new owners to treat the back side of the property like the primary security line, not the afterthought.
What to do the same week you move in
Start with the locks that let someone straight into the house. First, have every exterior lock rekeyed so the keys from the closing table are the only ones that work. That means front door, back door, side door, basement door, and any lock on a storm or security door that takes a separate key. Do it first because every other move-in job can wait a little; control of the keys shouldn't. Once that's done, label nothing with your address. If a key gets lost at the grocery store in Elkton, you don't want it coming with directions.
Second, open each exterior door and look at the strike area on the frame. Tight screws, solid wood, and a latch or deadbolt that lines up cleanly matter more than most people think. Third, test every exterior door the way a burglar would. Close it fully, lock it, then push on it with your shoulder. You're checking that the latch actually catches and the door can't be popped open because it was only half-latched or badly aligned. A lot of doors seem locked until pressure shows they aren't really secured.
Fourth, deal with the doors people leave for later: the garage service door, the door from garage to house, shed locks, and any side gate lock if it uses a key. Those are common weak spots because movers are in and out, remotes get handed around, and older keys tend to stay in circulation. Last, decide now who gets a copy and who doesn't. Keep that list short. One spare in a controlled place is better than handing keys to relatives, contractors, neighbors, and dog walkers as the week gets hectic. The fewer copies out there from day one, the fewer problems you inherit later on Route 40 or anywhere else in the county.
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