Zillow is one of those real estate resources you hear in daily conversation with your friends. Even if they aren’t planning to buy or sell a home, they have usually looked up a few spots out of curiosity. It’s popular because the site gives an estimate (or “Zestimate“) for every property, on the market or not.
There’s always one in every neighborhood: A monster house with huge gaudy Christmas decorations that suck up all the electricity in the area; a place where you never see anyone, but the neighbors try to guess what kind of people live there. This morning I saw this house in our neighborhood had a “Make Me Move” price offered on Zillow.
Zillow describes this price designation:
Make Me Move is a free and easy way to tell others the price you’d be willing to sell your home for, without actually putting it on the market. It’s that magical number you just can’t refuse.
It was high for the current market, I think, but that tells me it would take a good amount of money for them to move from it. Of course, it also made me think of what it would take for us to move from our house, what would that number be? Something based on the market value? Or maybe based on the cost of the next house we would choose? Everyone has a price, right?
We love our street and our neighborhood. If we encouraged our friends and neighbors on this street to enter a “Make Me Move” price for their houses, I think we would find prices much higher than current market value. Does this say anything about our street?
If you saw Apple street on Zillow with lots of “Make Me Move” prices that were double or triple market value compared to Orange street with “Make Me Move” prices close to market, would you think Apple street was a more desirable place to live? Or are Apple street homeowners being ridiculous and you would want to live on Orange anyway because the neighbors will at least be reasonable and realistic?
Is it better *not* to enter a “Make Me Move” price if you’re not planning to move anytime soon? Or should every homeowner do it, because…why not? It’s your magical number.
