Zillow Proclaims, “Make Me Move!”
December 10th, 2006 | Categories: strategy
Do you own a house or condo? Have you ever wondered how much you could get for your property without having to officially list it? Then Zillow may have what you’re looking for.
How did they come up with this idea? Zillow co-founder, Lloyd Frink, pondered the question many home owners often consider. He asked, ”What number would it take for you to call the movers and hand over your keys?” Hence, this is the basis for their new “Make Me Move” service.
This new service is yet another example of cool meets useful. In the new web world, this a sweet but rare occurrence. But when it does come along, watch out.
A downfall of the service is that it is only available in the US. This means that my native Canada and the rest of the world is out of luck for the time being. It is my hope that Zillow eventually expands beyond American borders. My guess is that they are polishing off the system before doing so.
The “Make Me Move” service uses an anonymous e-mail system (similar to that of Craigslist). Therefore, personal details and information do not need to be exposed. In addition, the service is offered free of charge. Company revenues are generated via ad sales.
What do I find most interesting about the whole service? Well, people can passively ‘list’ their homes to see what kind of offers they might receive. Everyone has a threshold. There comes a certain point where no matter how comfortable you are in your current place of residence, you would seriously consider selling for a given monetary amount.
For example, if your house was appraised at $500,000, but someone offered you $950,000, it is my guess that many people would pack up and leave - no matter their attachment to the dwelling. Everyone has this threshold point. For some, it is lower than others. For many, the emotional attachment and memories would suggest a much higher asking price. But eventually, 99% of people would sell were the offer high enough. The higher the offer, the closer to 100% moving we achieve.
So if you live in the US and own a property, try out this new service and explore your threshold. Let me know how it goes…