Just Bought a Home in Truckee–Tahoe? Your First-Week Security Checklist

Congratulations on the new place. Now the uncomfortable fact: between listing agents, stagers, inspectors, contractors and the previous owners' decade of spare keys, you do not know who can open your front door tonight. Here's the first-week checklist we give every new owner.

Day one: rekey everything

Every exterior door, the garage side door, and the door from the garage into the house. Key them alike so one key runs the property. This is the single highest-value security dollar you'll spend.

While the locksmith is there

• Test every deadbolt's throw. Mountain doors swell and sag; a deadbolt that only half-extends into a shallow strike is decoration. We adjust strikes and extend screw length into the stud — 3-inch screws turn a kick-in from trivial to difficult.
• Garage opener: clear old remotes/codes from the opener memory and re-pair only yours.
• Reset every keypad — door codes, garage keypads, gate codes, alarm master codes.
• Find the water shutoff — not a lock thing, but every Truckee plumber will bless us for saying it.

Nice upgrades while you're at it

A keypad deadbolt on the mudroom door (never get locked out again), a small fire-rated safe for documents, and — if this is a second home — a smart lock you can check from the city after the cleaner leaves.

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