Since 1996, Dale has helped more families buy and sell real estate without commissions than any other person in the history of Kansas City real estate. During this time he as assisted more than 17,000 Kansas City area families buy, sell or trade real estate commission-free. Dale is owner and publisher of Pearson's KC For Sale By Owner magazine, KC's #1 most-read real estate publication since 1996, www.fsbo-kc.com - KC's #1 FSBO listings of private home sales on the internet since 1996; www.FSBOfurniture.com - KC's only online photo furniture sale site; www.kcHomeList.com - KC's most comprehensive listings of homes for sale, one-stop listing of all MLS properties AND active FSBO listings in the 7 county KC metro area, and 3 FSBO retail stores located in Overland Park, KS, Independence, MO and North Kansas City, MO. Pearson is also owner of Owners Land Title Company, www.OwnersLandTitle.com, KC's only direct-to-the consumer title agency with 2 KC area offices. Pearson also owns Caroline Pearson Real Estate with offices in KS and MO since 1999, KC's premier low-cost relocation and flat fee MLS agency.
Submitted by Anonymous from Wichita, Ks
Q: My husband and I purchased a property 10 years ago as an investment and have been renovating it since then... It has a second mortgage only. Recently, we have had some financial setbacks and want to sell the property. Our neighbor would like to purchase it but has a low credit score due to a recent divorce and bankruptcy. My husband has discussed selling the property as an owner carry. What would be the best way to do that, considering that we do not have sufficient funds to pay off the second mortgage?
Answered 12/06/07 19:34:34 by Dale Pearson
A: First check with mortgage company holding your note and see what the terms of that note are, and if you even have the option of financing another party. Ask them or a local attorney for your options.Submitted by Anonymous from Missoula, MT
Q: I live in MT and have a house for sale in MO. I recently received an offer on the house, which I accepted and the buyers put down $3,000 in earnest money. On the last day of the inspection period they backed out claiming there were problems with the inspection. I in turn, made repairs addressing all of the problems listed in the inspection, with the exception of concerns about the furnace. Although I doubted the concerns, we wanted the sale to go through and offered to pay to replace the furnace, thus negating all items of concern in the inspection. The buyers still did not want to go through with the contract, but want their earnest money back. I think they just changed their minds and don't have a legitimate means for getting out of the contract and thus should forfeit their earnest money. Who's right?
Answered 12/06/07 19:33:01 by Dale Pearson
A: They are, the buyers.Submitted by Andra from Mtn Grove
Q: The 2 1/2 month long ordeal of selling our farm is over. Buyers backed out with 100% financing/great interest rate. Got mad at her broker. She has been contacted by the title co. to sign the refund form for the earnest money to us (18 days+ now).She refuses to return the messages. What is our next move? How long to we have 2 wait? Thanks!
Answered 12/06/07 16:47:33 by Dale Pearson
A: Yes, you may have to hire an attorney to contact them. The title company has a duty to hold the funds until the parties agree as to what to do with them or a court order. Ask the title company for suggestions and/or attorney to talk with to see your options. Good luck!Submitted by Darrell from san mateo, ca
Q: does the state of kansas have advertising laws that differ from california in regards to real estate?
Answered 12/06/07 16:45:28 by Dale Pearson
A: Yes.Submitted by Anonymous from Martinsville, VA
Q: My son signed a contract on a home, at the time of the contract he ask was it a stick built home and was told it was after the inspection it was found to be a modular home, he ask to be release from the contract but the sellers have said they would take him to court. I called the realtor and she has faxed me the letter from lawyer, is this legal for her to share this kind of information with me as I am not a party to the contract etc.? she also has gave me indepth information about the buyer and seller
Answered 11/27/07 19:47:23 by Dale Pearson
A: Agents do weird things, most are not attorneys. That is why they carry errors insurance. Talk with a local real estate attorney to see what your options are, could well be worth your time.Submitted by Anonymous from Overland Park, KS
Q: We sold our house by owner and signed a contract. The buyer gave us a check for $5K which we deposited. The check was returned as insufficient funds. The buyer indicated he would deposit funds, but never followed up to say the funds were available to us nor did he make an attempt to get us any other money. There has been no other communication. The contract we signed showed a closing date of 11/14/07 - and was never amended to extend the date. My question: if the closing date has passed and there has been no other communication or extension in the date, are we still bound by the contract to sell him the house?
Answered 11/27/07 19:46:10 by Dale Pearson
A: Probably not...depends on the exact terms of the contract. Where you make your money selling FSBO is the commission savings. It is not how "cheap" you can get the deal done. If you hired an attorney to write and oversee the paperwork, and a title company to hold escrow funds, this problem could have been solved or identified sooner rather than later. Next time come see us as we include an attorney at no cost for our customers and provide massive exposure to buyers. Thanks for the question.Submitted by Anonymous from Overland Park, ks
Q: I'm thinking of using Owners Land Title company for various services. I don't know much about them and looking for any positive or negative feedback
Answered 11/27/07 19:42:27 by Dale Pearson
A: Owners Land Title is the only title company in the metro that specializes in real estate closings directly for buyers and sellers. Most title companies cater to agents, and give them preferred treatment and rely on them for their business. OLT goes direct to the end users, buyers and sellers, eliminates the middleman, and passes the savings on to the customer. You can learn more about them, and their unique business model, at www.ownerslandtitle.com. Be sure to ask about their senior citizen, military, investor and repeat customer discounts!Submitted by Anonymous from Searcy AR
Q: Was wondering how to "word" in a sales contract of a home.... an agreement to sell for $45.000 but will allow about $6-7000 or so on repairs needed on the home, therefore giving the "buyer" a check for this amount in return. This ia a personal transaction between family that will have notarized,,,,just need a little help on how to word it. Thanks
Answered 10/29/07 13:11:58 by Dale Pearson
A: Hmmm, talk to a local real estate attorney to be certain.Submitted by Frustrated from Kansas City, MO
Q: Currently I have my home listed with a agent but at no success, I haven't been able to sale or get a offer on my home. I understand its a buyer market. I live in a high end home with newer homes being built in my area. So, I'm wandering if FSBO is a good choice for me since I've tried the traditional way. I really don't understand the processes and would like to know how to get started sense my contract is getting ready to expire.
Answered 10/29/07 13:11:04 by Dale Pearson
A: Yes, you will enjoy a HUGE advantage in today's buyer's market as a private seller (FSBO) than with any agent. You see, the whole premise our business is that buyers are smart and sellers are smart. Agent premise is that buyers are dumb and sellers are dumb therefore you need me in the middle! Today, our FSBO customers enjoy selling twice as fast as agent listed homes. Because today, buyers ALWAYS shop FSBO first because they know every home listed with an agent has an inflated price to covertheir high commissions and that agents always overprice homes to get the listing. Our customers with homes over $300k skew a faster sales time than homes less than $300k! Since 1996 we've assisted over 23,000 KC area familes buy and sell FSBO, we can help you too. Call me direct at 913-498-3726 to get started today.Submitted by lb1 from pascagoula,sm
Q: before i purchase my house, i had a home inspection done, which discovered that the house a/c wasn't cooling normal. before closing on the house i was told that the a/c was serivce and repaired. less than two months later i find out the a/c is not cooling normal. what can i do?
Answered 10/19/07 22:41:37 by Dale Pearson
A: Talk with the agent who sold the house or your agent and ask them to take care of this for you. If no agents were involved, talk to the seller and ask them to fix the problem. If no results, talk with a local real estate attorney to see what options you may have. Good luck to you.Submitted by Anonymous from San Diego, CA
Q: We put down an offer for a house in California which was accepted. However, we had to back out after that since we had a lot of problems with our agent. Now, the house is off the market and we think the owner is still interested to sell it. I was wondering if we can ask the owner to sell for us by owner. How long we have to wait after the cancellation before we can talk to the owner?
Answered 10/19/07 22:39:52 by Dale Pearson
A: Good idea! You can certainly talk with the owner at any time you want, there is no "law" against that! Talk to them, today! Ask them what their listing contract states in regards to them selling to you. Agent contracts are written to protect agents and their commissions, not necessarily the buyer and sellers. I can assure you that somewhere in that listing contract it will have so many days after it expires, before they can sell the house to somebody who looked at it during their listing period. So, simply find out how many days, and after that expires, buy the house. Now both the buyer and the seller win!Submitted by Kris from Olathe
Q: I'm thinking of remodeling my kitchen before I sell my home (3br 2.5ba) and one thought is to take down the wall that divides the kitchen from the formal living room to create a larger kitchen with a breakfast nook. Which is more valuable for the current market, a larger kitchen or formal dinning room?
Answered 10/19/07 13:05:51 by Dale Pearson
A: Larger kitchen. Open spaces like you describe are also popular now. When the time comes to sell, sell FSBO and sell faster and pay zero commissions! Thank you for your question.Submitted by Andra from Mtn Grove MO
Q: I'm sorry but this will have to be a two part question since it exceeds the 1,000 character requirement. We have sold our farm here and put earnest money down on one in Texas and we've had to extend closings-the one here until the 24th to get our buyers new lender time to do appraisal etc and the 31st in Texas. They were pre-qualified but failed to tell their lender it was 91 acres and not residential, so they had to scramble for another lender. THey have the credit etc but not 20% down. Our purchase in Texas was contingent on selling this place and getting financing (which is no problem if we sell)At the time we put our earnest money down in Texas,the realtor gave us a paper to sign that is a waiver of contingency. We failed to ask if it was required.What this does is that if our seller gets another offer and accepts, (see next email)
Answered 10/15/07 12:50:52 by Dale Pearson
A: Well, first, good job on making your purchase in TX contingent on the closing of this one. Second, bad job of signing a "waiver" of the contingency. Agents representing sellers work solely for the seller, not you, the buyer. You may have to hire an attorney in TX to see what you signed and what your options are. Now, on to question #2...Submitted by Andra from Mtn Grove MO
Q: Followup to your reply. Thanks so much. As far as terms in the contract, there were no terms at all. Just they had to get financing. No interest rate, no down etc. Also I just sent her an agreement to amend/extend the closing and she says we are getting the cart before the horse again (something I had told her in the beginning and relating to her wanting to jump in with contracts before getting us the earnest money) She said the Farm Credit Serv will take more than a week to approve and next Friday wouldn't be enough time. I replied to her to say we could do another extension and explained that if we dont' sign an amendment and just let the closing be "pending" (her words) then our original signed contract will expire and we'd have to do another one and the earnest money is up for grabs. Thanks for your help.
Answered 09/27/07 18:27:31 by Dale Pearson
A: Well, your sale contract should have contained this information. If it did not, shame on you. If closing date comes and goes without a closing, the contract is done, void, gone. Have your title/closing company explain what will happen to the earnest money.Submitted by Andra from Mtn Grove MO
Q: We have an offer to sell our 91 acres and home for $230,000. We had the signed offer Aug 28th and closing was set for Sept 28th. Buyers were pre-approved BUT for a residential loan not one with ove 20 acres, so they are scrambling to get approved. They have been approved with the Farm Credit Services but they say they down is more than what they can do. We did a stupid thing and went ahead and put earnest money down on a place in Texas (to close Oct 5th) and also cleared out our home and barns to give them possession at closing. NOW we may not be able to sell. We're about over $2,000 and not sure what we can do. THey qualify for our place -even with not selling their current home/mortgage. The down is the stoppage. We have even offered to help more with closing costs. Our contract only says they must have financing by closing. If this does fall thru (bawl) will we be able to keep the earnest money? Thanks!
Answered 09/27/07 17:23:32 by Dale Pearson
A: Probably. Depending on the terms of the sales contract, if they do not get financing in accordance with the terms, you propably can keep their earnest money. This is one reason we have earnest money in real estate deals. Another reason is if you do what you did and put money down and pack up your stiff and they do not show up at closing. My first suggestion is to do everything you can to help them get financing that works for them. Talk to bankers, lenders, anyone who will listen, some may have options for them that work. Worse case, you may consider coughing up some money to help them yourself...could be cheaper to give them $5k (or whatever the amount) than moving twice and waiting for another buyer to come along. Try to make their deal work. In regards to your contract, you can also talk with a local real estate attorney to review it with you to see what your options are. Good luck!Submitted by Anonymous from No location specified
Q: We entered the contract with the realtor, however, the experience with them has not been very good. We are so frustrated as they are not very responsive and proactive in selling our house. We just feel that they are not acting in our best interest. What can we do to get out of the contract without paying penalty? Thanks much.
Answered 09/24/07 19:54:34 by Dale Pearson
A: Well, it will depend on the terms of the listing contract you signed with the agent. We hear this complaint a lot...they promise the world to sellers, promise to "unleash" tons of buyers the minute you sign with them, then nothing. They certainly can not force you to sell, you have the right to take the house off the market if you want, hence canceling the listing. Also, remeber, while all listing contracts are written to protect agents and their commissions, they are a 2 way street. They must perform to the terms of the contract. Did they promise to advertise? To show? To hold open houses? etc, did they? You always have the right to have it reviewed by an attorney to see what your options are. You can also try a simple phone call to the listing agent's broker (NOT the agent) and ask to be released. Good, reputable companies often will let you out - bad ones will not. Try this first, good luck. Get released then sell FSBO, buyers today ALWAYS shop FSBO homes first because they know that every home listed with agents has a commission-inflated price. Price motivates in a buyer's market...and you net more. FSBO really is a WIN for the buyer and a WIN for the buyer. Try FSBO, you'll like it.Submitted by Anonymous from No location specified
Q: 1.COULD YOU SIMPLY DEFINE WHAT A LOCK THRESHOLD IS ? IN MY APT SEARCH I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE LOCKS OPERATE PROPERLY WITHOUT LOOSE OR MISSING THRESHOLDS. COULD YOU TELL ME WHAT TO LOOK FOR (SIMPLY)!!!!!!!!!? 2. WHAT IS A DOUBLE CYLINDER LOCK? 3. WHAT IS A DEADBOLT LOCK WITH A SAW RESISTANT BOULT PROJECTION OR RIM MOUNTED DEADBOLT? 4.WHAT ARE WINDOW SASHES? 5.WHAT ARE WINDOW CHAINS? 6.COULD YOU SEND AN ATTACHMENT EXAMPLES SHOWN IN PICTURES?
Answered 09/24/07 19:33:56 by Dale Pearson
A: Please call a local locksmith for your answers.Submitted by KS from Rock Tavern, NY
Q: We have signed a contract to sell our home and now may need to get out of it because with the current mortgage crisis, we may not be able to get a mortgage on the new home we are building. Plus, builders of new home may be going bankrupt. Can we get out of the contract to sell our current home ?
Answered 09/13/07 12:14:05 by Dale Pearson
A: Probably not. But it will depend on the terms of the contract/paperwork you signed. You also can talk with the buyers and see if they'll let you out. And, you certainly can talk with a local real estate attorney to find out your options. Good luck.Submitted by Jen from Ohio
Q: We are selling our house in PA and our agent became a dual agent with the buyers without our knowledge. We signed the initial contract with the realtor that states this can happen, but it also states that "owner hereby consents to Listing Broker acting in such dual agency, provided the Listing broker specifically advises owner, in writing of this dual agency relationship". We were never notified in writing. And the realtor is now pretty much working for the buyer. Can we get out of the contract?
Answered 09/12/07 12:29:13 by Dale Pearson
A: I am not a fan of "dual agency" which is outlawed in many states. It is hypocritical and never works - how can one agent represent to parties? Makes no sense to me. It appears that your listing agent did not follow the terms of your listing agreement. I'd suggest you review this situation with a local real estate attorney to determine your options. This is exactly why agents carry errors and ommissions insurance. Good luck.Submitted by Anonymous from Overland Park, KS
Q: Hi Dale, we bought a house in 5/06. The foundations are needing bracing-they are measured to have fallen in about 2.25". The Seller's disclosure indicated NO to: "Movement, shifting, deterioration, or other problems with walls, foundations, crawl space or slab." I now have in my possession an Engineer's report (dated 8/05) for this property that says the foundation walls have been pushed in 1.25" due to poor drainage. My "Whole House" inspector indicated the foundation was in excellent condition - as a result, I didn't have a structural inspection. Also, the previous owner claims knowledge that the foundation did not move during his 4 yr. ownership. I am hoping the previous owner will share the cost of repair, whether by choice or by law suit. Your comments are appreciated.
Answered 09/12/07 12:26:46 by Dale Pearson
A: If the foundation was in that condition when sold, and the sellers knew of the condition, they are required by law to have disclosed that information. I'd suggest you get a few quotes to repair and call the seller and ask for help in paying for it. If not, you certainly have the right to hire an attorney. Please call if you need names of attorneys for this purpose. Thank you for your question.