Mailing lists for Kansas

[Jim Viens]

I'm having a bit of a problem with my first direct-mail campaign. I'm in Kansas City, KS and am trying to get a mailing list together but it appears there is an issue due to a rather inconvenient Kansas law. My question is how are other wholesalers on the Kansas side marketing for motivated sellers? One other twist in this is that I work a full-time job so anything that involves going to the courthouse is not viable. I've also contacted the county codes office and they will not provide any code violation lists. All I've got so far is a list of about 100 properties I've accumulated through driving-for-dollars.

Your help is greatly appreciated, BP Nation!

[Blair Halver]

@Jim Viens - I know this thread is a little old, but I've recently been looking for Kansas property record lists for a client, so I've found some interesting information...

KORA = Kansas Open Records Act

A good FAQ page on this law (from the KS gov site, no less):  http://ag.ks.gov/open-govt/kora-faq

Answers from that page that are pertinent to our situation:

"May someone use a third party to obtain names and addresses from public records in order to use them for commercial solicitation?

No. Requesters of public records cannot lawfully circumvent the provisions of K.S.A. 45-230 by doing so indirectly; a third party who obtains this information from a "requestor" violates the law if it is used for commercial purposes. For example, a newsletter service which provides lists of names and addresses obtained from public records for its subscribers to solicit sales is still prohibited. A.G. Opin. No. 86-1."

HOWEVER...

"May someone use names and addresses from public records in order to offer to buy something from those listed?

Yes. K.S.A. 45-230 does not prohibit use of lists of names obtained from public records in order to try to purchase property from the persons listed. A.G. Opins. No. 96-68 (water meters); 98-55(promissory note underlying contract for deed)."

So as long as you are contacting these people as a BUYER, not a seller or solicitor, then you're good (in my opinion. I'm not an attorney!)

Yet the problem still remains - where do we get the list??

ListSource does not have it.  Click2Mail does not have it.  ListabilityOnline does not have it.  Believe me, I just checked (and contacted them for confirmation).

You have to go direct to the underlying data compilers - the companies that all these other list providers buy their data from.  Normally these compilers only work with commercial mail houses.  

However, I happen to share an office suite with the owner of one of these commercial mail houses. And guess what...

HE HAS KANSAS LISTS.  

PM me if you want his info...