Here are a few questions we get asked frequently. Please e-mail your question to info@fsbo-kc.com.

What's the deal with the agent's MLS and discount brokers?

Good question. There is certainly no shortage of discount real estate brokers offering to put your FSBO property on the MLS for what appears to be small amounts like $95 or $149 or whatever. But be very leery of these offers, as your true cost will be much higher than you can ever imagine! When its all done and over, you can figure on it really costing you 10% - 20% or more of your original asking price. Seems most discount brokers "forget" to tell you some vital information. For example, when anyone opts go on the MLS, they must pay two (2) commissions...one to a listing broker and one to a selling broker. The discount broker listing frr of $95 is one commission, then you must declare how much you are willing to pay an agent with a buyer if they bring you an offer you accept. The average is about 3%, but it is highly negotiable. So, in essence, you are willing to pay a buyer's agent 3% of the selling price, to beat you up and get the lowest price from you!?! You must pay for all your advertising outside of the MLS which is very expensive. The MLS is not available to the public. It takes the discount broker all of 5 minutes of their precious time to list you on the MLS, not bad $95 for 5 minutes work! Your property will NOT be advertised on any major local broker sites. Most brokers only put listings which offer the highest commissions and do not display certain types of listings where the seller has the right to sell themself. In addition, many brokers only list MLS properties that pay the highest commissions and do not list the discount broker's listings. This is borderline anti-trust (price fixing) but that's another issue. Also, do not count on getting full asking price from a "buyer's agent" as they work for the buyer, not you the seller. Their duty is to get the lowest price from you the seller, for their client, the buyer. You can also expect the buyer's agent to request expensive repairs and maintenance after the buyer does their home inspection, many times this is thousands of dollars. Plus, you can expect the buyer's agent to ask you to pay for an expensive home warranty for the buyer. Most important, today's home buyers are very smart, and they know if any home is listed, it has an inflated price to cover agent fees. Study both the advantage, and the disadvantage of this listing. We suggest you sell FSBOLawrence, our customer's proven track record of success speaks for itself.

What is the difference between you and some of the other FSBO companies in the Lawrence area?

Actually, there are no other true FSBO companies in Douglas County. There are many companies disguised as FSBO but they are either real estate agents in disguise trying to fool sellers and get your listing or mortgage loan companies trying to sell mortgages. These type companies do not have the sale of your house without a commission as their objective. They want to trick you into believing they can help you sell, when in fact, they really want something else. In fact, they really hope your property will never sell because the longer it is for sale, the more leads they can get from your potential buyers! Don't put a middleman between you and your buyer. Our only mission is the fast sale of your house...no middleman to interfer.

Why should I advertise my home on FSBOLawrence.com?

Buyers. We have more active buyers, looking to buy, than all other Lawrence area FSBO sites combined! Since 1996 our only business is working hard to proactively attract buyers to our web sites. We invest thousands of dollars to make sure buyers know about our sites. We'll drive buyers to your home from our web sites, yard signs, photo flyers, referrals and seminars. We are the Lawrence and Douglas County leader in private home sales. We have more active buyers, more exposure, more experience and more resources. Our low one time fee includes multiple web sites and top positioning on the world's top search engines. Ordering is simple and easy and most important, we are with you every step of the way with any questions or assistance you may need. Selling with FSBOLawrence does not mean selling alone!

Seach Engines are where most buyers start!

Go to google.com, yahoo.com, msn.com and type in Lawrence for sale by owner, or Lawrence houses for sale by owner, or anything a potential buyer will start their search with. You will see our name on the VERY TOP first page...anywhere in the world! Yes, there are FSBO sites out there where you can list your home even for free, but many of these sites are not listed on search engines and will not catch the attention of buyers looking for houses in Lawrence. Most buyers will use search engines to start their home search. Our site is designed to capture the attention of BUYERS anywhere on earth.

Your property will be on YAHOO.COM and GOOGLE Base real estate sites!

Once you list your home on LawrenceFSBO.com, your listing will be automatically listed on the Yahoo.com and Google Base Real Estate website. These great real estate websites that offers great worldwide exposure. This is free to FSBOLawrence customers, but would cost you $49.00 every 21 days if you went directly to Yahoo real estate! Additionally, LawrenceFSBO can be found at the top of major search engines worldwide! In fact, thousands of buyers from across the U.S. browse LawrenceFSBO.com to look for a home prior to moving to Lawrence. This is an extremely important ingredient in your exposure due to the high number of people moving to the Lawrence area from around the country and world who are associated with the University of Kansas.

What makes FSBOLawrence different from other FSBO Services?

Before you pay to advertise with any other internet FSBO service ask questions and get answers.

Here are just some of the many reasons successful homesellers have chosen Pearson's over the competition.

1. We are a local, kansas business, started in 1996, whose sole mission is to provide the best exposure and marketing support to help you sell successfully "by owner."  Other so-called FSBO services are really tied into mortgage companies and discount real estate agencies who have other agendas. That is, they want to sell you a listing, or mortgages, or whatever. Our sole mission is to help you sell your property with no commission.

   We are the only local FSBO service that knows the FSBO business. We are local experts, just an email or phone call away. Not just a cyber space site owned by some New York company with no contact info, no phone numbers, no knowledge of local laws and customs. Don't be fooled into paying double the money for half the exposure or heavy upfront fees. Our web sites enjoy top exposure on major search engines worldwide. 95% of buyers purchase locally. While the internet is great and many of our sellers report their buyer having seen their home on our website, our local FSBOLawrence sites reach thousands and thousands of LOCAL buyers every month too!

   Buyers call YOU, not a call center, not an agent. Phone numbers are always posted in your ad, and buyers can also email you securely. Companies who don't publish your phone number and redirect buyers to their business are more interested in THEIR phones ringing, not yours. Some websites only allow email and sell the addresses to other companies for profit. You end up getting more spam..

   Pearson's FSBO essentially "wrote the book" on for sale by owner in Kansas City . Nobody has sold more or help more people sell their property in the history of KC real estate. Since 1996, Dale Pearson has helped over 20,000 area families successful sell FSBO. Our sellers learn from the experts. Our famous "How To Sell Your Own Home" seminar is conducted three times every month, and boasts over 16,000 attendees since 1996. Our seminar is also used by regional FSBO services throughout the country.

   Our photo ads are current, not filler to make a website look successful. Companies, especially national FSBO websites, that offer free listings, or one-time payments are LOADED with outdated and expired properties. They don't take them off because it makes them look bigger. Buyers soon figure out they're wasting their time however and move on to other websites, like ours, www.FSBOLawrence.com that take care of their inventory.

   Sellers can receive an email (upon request) when your property goes live on our website. This is a great service that very few FSBO services offer.

   We post your Open House events and even give a Mapquest or Yahoo map link for directions. Many websites don't allow location or time sensitive information, again because it's seldom removed making the ad look stale. They also don't want anyone to have direct contact with you. When you make us your first call, we will give you free use of your AD# to use in any other advertising you choose to do.

   Need signs, information holders, open house supplies? We've got them all - many are included in our package plans. Pearson's has convenient FSBO retail stores stocked full of everything and anything you need to buy or sell your own property! The largest selection of signs, directional arrows, forms, contracts, disclosures, how-to books & videos, pagers, banners, radios, shoe covers, flags, info boxes, info tubes, radon & lead paint test kits, for rent signs, estate sale sales and much more! See and order online at our national site www.FSBOstoreUSA.com.

   Have questions? Wonder how to work with agents to your advantage? We've got the answers. Because we're local, we know the local market. We know that things may come up during the process and sometimes just a few marketing pointers can make a difference. Our motto is, "No commission & plenty of assistance!", so don't be afraid to call and ask questions along the way.

   We provide the best Virtual Slide Show tour with color photos and descriptions. Many call this the absolute best home tour available in the midwest! No fished lens distorting photos, no waiting for pictures to load, simply the best presentation of your property to active buyers. This is way over what other sites offer.

   Buyers NEVER have to register to use our website. Sites that force visitors to register track calls and make annoying calls to the buyer. This does not benefit you as the seller.

We noticed some area real estate companies have FSBO sounding names but they charge commissions and a lot of money upfront - what's up with this?

You are correct. Some real estate firms have recently popped up offering to help you sell your home in  non-traditional ways. Some use the words "by owner", others tout a low commission. We welcome having you compare us to any other program out there. Simply put, they charge a commission, we do not. We're confident we have the best program. Only through our great exposure will you get top dollar for your house fast, and keep more money in your pocket where it belongs.

Due to our customer's 12 years of success of selling FSBO faster than agent-listed properties, many start-up real estate companies have named their business with FSBO sounding names...trying to mooch off our customer's success. From them, you can expect very high pressure and forceful "salespeople" trying to get you to list immediately (they get a fat commission when they "sign" you). They boast of selling by owner, yet charge high fees upfront fees and/or high commissions to simply slap you up on the MLS. If they convince you to go on the MLS, you are agreeing to pay a buyer's agent to get the lowest possible price from you, and they never offer full price! In addition they 'forget' to tell you that they do not advertise your property and they have many hidden fees like charging extra to do your paperwork. Also do not assume that all buyers have agents - most buyers today will not be with a buyer's agent. Be very leery of these tricks. Our FSBO customers sell faster than agent-listed properties.

When should I put my house for sale?

We recommend that you begin marketing your home for sale before you start looking for another home. A good rule of thumb is at least 90-120 days prior to your desired closing date, start marketing. Do not try to "time" your sale with the purchase of another property - timed sales seldom work! If you are leaving the area or are building a new home, start advertising six months prior to the date you expect to leave or your new home will be finished. Also, do not assume you must move out within 30 or 45 days upon reaching a deal with a buyer. When you sell you negotiate 2 main items: 1) price and 2) closing date. So you can start selling in say, January and close in August, or September or March - whatever you negotiate!

How effective is your service compared to other free or less expensive web site only companies.

Extremely effective. The fact is, since 1996, our FSBO customers sell twice as fast, on average, as homes listed with agents and they net more money. Plus, we save our customers in closing cost fees ($100 to $300). The whole beauty of our proven FSBO internet packages is that most of our customers actually save more money than they invest in our packages...not to mention thousands in commission savings. We are local, we know the business, we answer the phones, we answer your questions, we know the laws, we are honest and fair. Ask any of our over 20,000 satisfied area customers. No brokers, no commission, no excuses, no kidding!

Be careful - if you go with other internet only services, you may be very disappointed when you don't get the exposure and assistance they claim you'll get. Assume nothing. Do your research first before you spend a penny or sign anything. Ask some questions...

- Are they a web-based company in some other part of the country - or are they based in Kansas so you have local representation?

- Do they know local real estate customs and laws?

- How extensive is the advertising exposure and assistance will you get?

- Will you be listed on just one website or many?

- Will your phone number appear in your ad so you get calls directly from buyers, or are you paying  to generate calls to a mortgage company or to a real estate agent? Think about it - if buyers have to go through a lot of trouble just to get your phone number they won't bother buying your house. Without the buyers you won't sell!

Do you recommend advertising my home in the local newspaper?

We believe in advertising. Classified newspaper advertising is expensive. Assuming a time on market being between 60 and 90 days a small classified ad, run just on Sundays for 2 months, can cost you $400 or more. Of course this is for 3 to 4 lines and no photo. If you advertise in the newspaper, we suggest you include our internet web address of your listing from our web site (see line 4 below in example). Now, you can show off your home with color interior and exterior photos! The following example has been used very effectively by our customers and helps your home standout from the other classified ads:

FSBO - 2 Story, 3 BR, 2 BA
finished walkout, $145,000

Open Sun 1-3   000-555-1234

www.FSBOLawrence.com/Listing.asp?on=0000

Or simply list your unique 4 digit ID number we assign to you  in your classified ad.

When I’m taking pictures, are there any special requirements?

The best photos are taken when it is raining or foggy outside.  Photos taken in sunlight have too much glare and harsh shadows. We accept photos in the following formats: color prints on photo paper, digital .jpg or .tif. Do not embed the photo(s) in any other software or program, i.e. MS Word, PowerPoint, PDF, etc. Try to back up far enough to get the whole house in the shot with some space left on either side.

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