✍️ Editor’s Note
Zillow has ended its Make Me Move program. But there are other ways to see what buyers would pay for your home:
- Get a quote from an iBuyer
- Get a free cash offer comparison from Clever Offers
- Shop offers from reputable cash buyers
For the most competitive cash offers, we recommend Clever Offers. Simply fill out this form to receive multiple offers from a range of cash buyers, ranging from iBuyers to local investors — with no added fees or commissions.
What was Zillow Make Me Move?
Zillow Make Me Move catered to home owners who weren't 100% sure they wanted to sell, but could be persuaded if a buyer came along with the right offer.
Rather than having to go through the process of finding a realtor and listing on the MLS, Zillow Make Me Move let homeowners test the waters by creating a listing directly on Zillow, setting their dream asking price, and allowing buyers to contact them directly. If they got an attractive offer, they could choose to sell without ever "officially" listing their house.
Homeowners can still list FSBO on Zillow. However, Zillow's Make Me Move feature has now been replaced with its Opendoor partnership, allowing homeowners to compare their Zestimate with a cash offer estimate furnished by Opendoor.
Top alternatives to Zillow Make Me Move
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Clever Offers provides a hassle-free way to source and compare competitive cash offers. When you want the speed and ease of an all-cash sale, this 5-star rated company can bring you multiple competing offers from a variety of sources — including iBuyers, small and large-scale investors, and even your local MLS. You can compare offers side-by-side with no added fees or obligation to move forward. Start here to compare offers.
Pros
- One source for multiple competing offers
- Buyers are screened for experience and proven success at closing deals
- Clever stays with you to ensure a smooth closing and resolve any issues that arise
Cons
- Some offers may be low
- Alternative deal types may have longer closing timelines
- Cash offer options may be limited in some areas
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With Homeward, you get the advantages of a cash offer, plus the additional upside of selling on the open market. Homeward can also help you buy before you sell or buy a new home with a competitive cash offer. But you’ll have to pay a program fee of up to 6.5% on top of the usual home-selling costs. Read our full Homeward review.
Pros
- Get a cash offer worth 89% of your home value, then list for additional proceeds
- Or, make a cash-backed offer on a new house before you sell
- In-house mortgage and title solutions that reduce program fees
- Bring your own real estate agent
Cons
- Program fees added to your realtor commissions and closing costs
- Stricter purchase criteria than a typical cash buyer
- Some customers express confusion over fees
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Opendoor pays much closer to market value than traditional house flippers while still offering the benefit of fast closings and no repairs. For that convenience, you’ll need to contend with stricter purchase criteria, repair deductions, and a service fee of 5%. Read our full Opendoor review.
Pros
- Pays closer to market value than traditional home flippers
- No need to make repairs or prep your home for sale
- Choose your closing date and change it if needed
Cons
- Final offers can be significantly lower than the initial estimates
- Stricter purchase criteria than traditional home flippers
- Repair deductions and 5% service fee can eat into profits
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Customer Rating
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Offerpad pays more for homes than traditional house-flippers and also offers great perks, including free local moves and flexible closing windows of 8–90 days. However, customers claim it charges high fees for repairs uncovered during the home inspection. Read our full Offerpad review.
Pros
- You can close in just eight days (15 in FL and GA)
- You can stay in your home for three extra days past your closing date at no charge.
- Sellers get free local moves and a 3-day free extended stay after closing
Cons
- Strict purchase criteria compared to traditional house flippers
- Repair deductions can greatly reduce your final offer
- 1% cancellation fee for backing out after accepting the final offer
» MORE: The top companies that buy houses for cash
Zillow Make Me Move Explained
» JUMP TO: Pros and cons | Creating a Make Me Move listing | Tips for success | Cost | Reviews
All of the Make Me Move listings on Zillow are for sale by owner listings by sellers that are not technically selling their house, but are willing to hear offers and may sell for the right price (most likely higher than market value).
The benefit of Make Me Move is that you get the benefit of exposure on Zillow without the downside of having a "stale" listing in the event it doesn’t sell. If your house sits on the MLS too long, buyers might think there’s something wrong with it – why hasn’t someone snatched it up?
Zillow Make Me Move lets you test the waters without committing to a full-blown listing. You can put your house up at any point on your own, and you do not need an agent to get your house on Zillow under Make Me Move.
How is Make Me Move different from a FSBO listing?
The major advantage of a Make Me Move listing vs. the FSBO listings on Zillow is that leads on FSBO listings are encouraged to contact agents (contact form submissions go to agents by default) whereas the contact information that is submitted through a MMM listing goes directly to the homeowner.
That part is really powerful.
Those leads are gold, and most FSBO leads that fill in that contact form to "learn more" about the property end up going to agents that are not affiliated with your property in any way.
That’s the killer advantage of Make Me Move over an FSBO listing.
Other than that feature, MMM is very similar to another other listing type on Zillow. It’s filtered under the "potential listings" category, which by default is included in searches on Zillow.
Make Me Move pros and cons
As with any service there are always going to be some upsides and some downsides. Zillow’s Make Me Move feature is no exception.
Pros:
- Exposure for your property
- Does well in hot markets
- Can get a great price for your home
- Gets direct leads from Zillow instead of leads going to a real estate agent
Cons:
- Real estate agents will cold call you
- You might not appear in Zillow users’ searches
- You might need to be ready to sell tomorrow
- You need to put together a solid listing and be ready to show your home
One specific downside of a MMM listing is that some buyers may turn off the potential listings category on their search, so your property won’t appear in the results, which can be frustrating.
Buyers may also think it’s not worth their time because you aren’t serious about selling your house yet.
Make Me Move is a great way to ease into selling your home and figuring out what a good list price might be for your property and in your area without the formality of a traditional listing.
How to post a Make Me Move listing on Zillow
It’s very straightforward to get a MMM listing live on Zillow.
Step 1: Visit the Make Me Move page.
Step 2: Enter the address for the property you want to list
Step 3: If you do not already have a Zillow account, you will need to create one
Step 4: Verify the location of your property on a map, if the location is incorrect, you are allowed to update it
Step 5: Once that is done, you will land on the property details page. This is the most important page for any seller and buyer. It houses all the information, photos, videos, and the listing price and status for your property.
Pro Tip: Use this section wisely.
Here are some best practices:
- Turn facts into benefits; eg: the house is 1,200 square feet can become, the house is spacious with an open floor plan boasting over 1,200 feet of livable space.
- Use creative language and offer features buyers typically look for, like parking or renovated kitchen, etc.
- Offer promotions like a home warranty or seller financing
- Fill out every section with as much detail as possible
- Reframe negative aspects in a positive manner, eg: no yard could become, low maintenance exterior
- Upload professional photos, at least 10-15
- Good lighting
- Not blurry
- Up-to-date
- Add Accurate Contact Information (and answer calls and emails when they come in)
Step 6: Accept Zillow’s Terms of Use and click "Post Make Me Move Listing"
Step 7: Your listing will then be submitted for review. It can take up to 72 hours for your listing to be moderated by Zillow’s verification team, so keep checking on it but be patient.
You get maximum exposure when you post a new listing – that will generally be the time when you get the most saves and views, so make sure you dot your Is and cross your Ts.
How to use the Make Me Move on Zillow for success
If you really want to have success with the Make Me Move method, you need to keep two things in mind:
- Price the home accurately, but competitively
- Take professional photos
When using the MMM feature, it can be tempting to price your house way over market value, since it’s just a test. This behavior will only drive away potential buyers. Make sure you do your homework by looking at Zillow’s Zestimate and other online real estate estimation tools, or even have your house professionally appraised so you can put out a realistic price.
Taking professional pictures is paramount when putting a listing online. This is the only interaction buyers have with the property and they need to have a good understanding of the home and its benefits. If the images are blurry or dark they will assume you are not trustworthy and immediately move on to another option.
According to a blog on Zillow, a seller in the Seattle area posted a MMM listing with the intention of actually selling it in two years once the capital gains tax penalty expired.
They actually had to raise the price because the demand was very high.
They bought the house in 2015 with the intention of selling in 2017–which just so happened to be the peak of the market (perfect timing).
They found someone willing to pay cash and willing to wait until just beyond that two year mark to close.
I love the story, but this is a miraculous situation that you probably won’t find yourself in these days.
If you’re lucky enough to still be in a market that is rising enough where you have this sort of leverage, you might as well give it a shot!
You can read the full story on this seller from Seattle here: https://www.zillow.com/blog/got-an-offer-on-my-home-216774/
If you take it seriously, buyers are more likely to take it that way as well.
Also, be ready to answer any inquiries and be ready for sales calls from real estate agents.
Zillow Make Me Move cost
One of the biggest perks to posting a listing on Zillow is that it is free. Zillow makes their money by charging agents for premium services and by advertising agents, lenders, and other services on their webpages. This means you and potentially buyers will see a lot of clutter and it makes it much more difficult for FSBO sellers to find good leads.
Truly, the biggest benefit of the MMM feature is that the leads come directly to your phone or email whereas on a traditional FSBO or For Sale by Agent listing, the leads go directly to an agent if the buyer fills out the Contact form on the listing page.
A word of caution: Even though there's no cost, you'll likely end up paying the buyer's agent commission, around 3% of your home's final sale price. Zillow also wants to connect you with its listing agents, which will tack on another 3%.
It's best to explore all of your options if you're curious about selling but don't want to make a commitment yet. With Clever Offers, you can connect with a top local realtor who'll help you determine what your home is ACTUALLY worth. You'll be able to see cash offers from local home-buying companies, and your agent will help you decide if listing your home will get you more money in the end.
Zillow Make Me Move listing reviews
As mentioned in the pros and cons list, one of the most frustrating downsides of Make Me Move is that real estate agents will use the Make Me Move listings as a prospecting tool to try to get new listings. If you decide to list as a MMM, be prepared to get cold sales calls from agents that are looking for your business.
This also happens with FSBO listings as well, so keep that in mind if you think that’s something that will drive you crazy.
Here is an example of a Zillow Make Me Move review from a poster on Reddit:
This specific person received cold calls from realtors trying to pick up their listing without warning.
Some people had better luck than others. Here are two other posters via Reddit that had sold their house using the Make Me Move feature. One appears to have undervalued their price a little bit to make it happen:
A Make Me Move review on the City Data Forum (which has a ton of real estate related questions and answers) mentions that most of the success stories they have heard of took place back in 2006-2009.
Be prepared for success
Don’t be taken off guard when someone actually wants to see your house.
One poster on reddit claimed they had a legitimate lead from a family interested in purchasing their house, but they told them they weren’t ready to show or even sell the house.
It seems like they got caught off guard that someone would actually want to buy their house or that their Make Me Move listing would bring in a decent sales lead.
Don’t be like this person – why bother listing the house in any capacity if you’re not prepared to even show it to interested people? If you aren’t prepared to sell and post a Make Me Move listing, you could price it too low or spoil the deal.
Prepare for success and make sure you are ready for showings. If you want to qualify buyers before showing, ask them if they have talked to a lender and have been pre-approved for a loan (if they aren’t buying a house with cash). Develop a screening process that lets you only talk with serious buyers – just make sure you’re a serious seller before you list!
Conclusion
Since Zillow Make Me Move is no longer available, you'll have to look elsewhere if you want to sell your home.
Whether you're looking for a fast sale, or you want to save money on realtor commission, Clever Offers is a great place to start. It's free, there's no obligation, and you'll have the certainty of knowing what your home is actually worth.
Zillow Make Me Move FAQ
The top alternatives to Zillow Make Me Move include getting a quote from an iBuyer, Coming Soon listings are not officially listed on Zillow, but will be listed within 30 days. Sellers use this to create hype for their property. Make Me Move was a feature within Zillow's listing platform for sellers. Home sellers who wanted to test the waters could use Zillow's Make Me Move listing to see what kind of interest buyers will have in their property. Sellers could often get offers from buyers during this time, but they could turn off serious buyers by not being prepared to show the home or provide details. You could also expect phone calls from agents who wanted to help sell your property. What are alternatives to Zillow Make Me Move?
getting a free cash offer comparison from Clever Offers, or shopping offers from reputable cash buyers.What's "Coming Soon" on Zillow mean?
What is a Make Me Move listing?
Does Zillow Make Me Move work?