I stumbled upon a FSBO website (flafsbo.com) today that gets the prize for misinformation. It’s scary to think that people would actually buy into this propaganda…

Check out what their website says:

MLS is for agents only. No buyer ever sees the MLS and agents do not buy.
Contrary to popular belief, MLS is only viewed by agents. The public does not have access to the MLS or its data. Tiny bits of information from the MLS are available on certain national websites.

"Tiny bits of information" - Yes, only about a million tiny bits of information that together comprise just 99% of what is on the MLS. The only things the public can't see are what? - the co-broke percentages? And what else? I can get days on market from Yahoo.

You generally must sign a long-term listing contract to be on the MLS.
To be listed on the MLS, you must sign a long-term contract listing agreement with a broker which is extremely hard, if not impossible, to cancel. Once listed, you are trapped with that broker.

For a full-service listing, you generally must sign a long-term listing. That's what it should say. What a joke! They mention flat-fee companies earlier. Why would they say you generally have to sign a long-term listing contract just to be on the MLS?

Home buyers always shop FSBO homes first, not MLS homes!
Home buyers are smart. They know that every home listed with an agent has an inflated asking price to cover the agent's high fees. Today home buyers always shop private home sales first (FSBO). They know it's a win-win for both the buyer and the seller.

I don't think they can just make a statement that home buyers "always" shop FSBOs first. What about all the people relocating to Florida? How many of them drive down here and just start driving around random neighborhoods? I bet most relocators use a Realtor®, since they don't know the area. Also, I think most people shop Realtor.com first, before ever going to any house. It's a lot easier to spend a few minutes on the Internet than drive around neighborhoods looking for FSBOs.

FLA FSBO - You are dumb! And I think you made your website from a template!

This should be their slogan - "FLA FSBO - Empowering FSBOs with Misinformation!"

This really…

We have an exclusive advertising arrangement with GatorCountry.com which is the #1 Gator fan site in the world with over 5-6 million page views per month.

GatorCountry.com is the #1 website for Gator fans…and this has what to do with home buyers? Well, I’m sure they're right…it probably does beat the lesser known sites like Realtor.com and Yahoo.com. I’m sure it is also the #1 site viewed by people relocating to Florida from other states who have no connection to the Florida Gators whatsoever.

Look at this quote on their website:

NOTE: Current statistics show that 44% of the US population is not online the internet and that's a large group of folks - hundreds of millions. We help bridge that gap and reach those folks an internet-only FSBO presence would miss! With us you get the best of both worlds - "online" and "offline"!

Now look at this, from 3/26/07:

Park Associates, a Dallas-based technology market research firm, said 29 percent of U.S. households, or 31 million homes, do not have Internet access and do not intend to subscribe to an Internet service over the next 12 months.

The second annual National Technology Scan conducted by Park found the main reason potential customers say they do not subscribe to the Internet is because of the low value to their daily lives they perceive rather than concerns over cost.

Forty-four percent of these households say they are not interested in anything on the Internet, versus just 22 percent who say they cannot afford a computer or the cost of Internet service, the survey showed.

44% is the percentage of the 29%. Not 44% of households. Also, I don't think 31 million households translates into "Hundreds of Millions".

What dummies!

Hey, if you're selling your house for $30K, some of your potential customers may be these cave people who don't have Internet access. But if you're selling your house for $300K - $400K or more, I don't think you have to worry about the non-internet customers you aren't reaching. Maybe if my house looked like "Little House on the Prairie" I'd try to reach those people.

Currently, it is estimated that over 60 million people have internet access.

Yes, I guess that is accurate that it is over 60 million since 1 billion is more than 60 million. See Report from 2005 that I found online:

More than one billion people in the world have access to the Internet, with a quarter of them with broadband, or high-speed connections, according to a survey.

The report by the firm eMarketer said the milestone of one billion was reached in late 2005, and that nearly 250 million households had broadband connections.

The firm estimates that of these people, 845 million use the Internet regularly.

The United States is still number one in terms of numbers of Internet users with 175 million, and broadband households, 43.7 million.

When I looked at their listings I realized most of them are sold already. I guess they just keep them on there forever to make themselves look good. Unbelievable!

These people get the prize for misinformation.

M. Redmer, Jacksonville, FL

Now go to a real company, www.getmoreoffes.com and get the most value for the money and a straightforward business model. Plus they actually built their own listing management software just to service their clients as efficiently as possible! Now that's impressive!