The Zillow Make me Move feature is definitely confusing for many home sellers.
It’s sort of like saying “we might be for sale for the right price.”
It’s an interesting middle ground for people that are thinking about testing the waters on a high price point before they have to get “serious” about selling their house.
In this guide I break down that Make me Move is, and when it makes sense to use this feature in Zillow to list your house.
Why You Need to be on Zillow no Matter What
No matter what type of listing you are considering, Zillow is the platform you want to be on.
Between Zillow and Trulia, Zillow Group owns a 70% market share in all online traffic when it comes to real estate searches–which means if you want to be in front of the majority of buyers online, you need to be on Zillow.
What is Make me Move on Zillow?
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 best use of Make me Move is you get the benefit of exposure on Zillow without the downside of having a “stale” listing in the event it doesn’t sell.
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 Make me Move is 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 submission goes 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 a 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.
The 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.
They may also think it’s not worth their time because you aren’t serious about selling your house yet.
If you’re someone that is considering selling your in the next couple of years, can move any time, and are in no hurry to go anywhere–Make me Move can be a great option.
A word of caution about the Make me Move listing feature
Some real estate agents will use the Make me Move listings as a prospecting list 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.
This poster on Reddit had this experience with the cold calling:
Some people had better luck than others. Here are two other posters via Reddit that had sold their house. One appears to have undervalued their price a little bit to make it happen:
A poster 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.
If you really want to have success with the Make me Move method, make sure you are pricing your house accordingly to the real market value, and take really good pictures. Treat it like you would a business you are starting–take it seriously.
Writing this in the summer of 2018, I can tell you that real estate market is officially cooling off in many metros across the United States.
So stories like this one below may not be realistic anymore, but check this out:
According to a blog on Zillow, a seller in the Seattle area was 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!
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.
Prepare for success, 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).
How to Post a Make me Move Listing on Zillow
It’s very straightforward to get a MMM listing live on Zillow.
The first thing you want to do is head over to Zillow and begin entering in details about your property: https://www.zillow.com/make-me-move/
Make sure you have your photos all ready to go before posting.
You get maximum exposure when you post a new listing–that will generally be the time when you get the most saves and views.
Don’t be one of those people that uploads their house on MMM with zero or one picture.
Get at least 10-12 pictures up there that shows off your house first, then go ahead and create the listing.
Conclusion
It’s not impossible to sell your house using Make me Move, but it’s certainly not easy. Please don’t be one of these people that ignores the leads that are coming to you through MMM (Don’t bother putting it up if you’re not serious about selling).
When the posting goes live, be prepared for sales calls from agents that are dying to get your business, be prepared for crickets, and most of all be prepared for success.
There have been people that have sold their house via MMM, but most that have sold were in extremely hot markets.
If you’re house is not super desirable in a hot market, you probably won’t have a lot of success.
If time is on your side and you really don’t care about selling, might as well give it a shot.
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