ON ZILLOW'S NEW "MAKE ME MOVE" FEATURE

AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE

Both GigaOm and TechCrunch have the scoop on some new features to be introduced on Thursday by Zillow, the very popular real estate site. 

Zillow, whose content has been described as "real-estate porn for middle-aged people", is taking things a little bit further.

The feature that likely will get a fair bit of attention is the following, as described by TechCrunch:

"Home owners who may have no intention of moving, but certainly would for the right price, can list information about their homes on Make Me Move so that gutsy buyers can try to make a deal.

“What number would it take for you to call the movers and hand over your keys?” said Lloyd Frink, Zillow’s co-founder and president, in a release about the new function. “Make Me Move is our twist on the traditional ‘For Sale’ sign.”

A homeowner can post a Make Me Move price without exposing any personal information. Zillow then enables interested buyers to contact the owner through an email “anonymizer.” The service is free."

It reminds me of the old story that goes as follows:

"A fellow sidles up next to a woman at a bar and asks "would you
sleep with me for a million dollars?". She smiles and says "I'd
think about it". 
At which point he puts a tenner on the bar in 
front of her and says "how about for this?" 
Incensed, she replies,"What do you think I am? Some kind of prostitute?" The man replies,
"That's been decided already. We're just haggling the price."

I guess if people start naming their price, we then move onto just haggling the price.  As Paul Kedrosky put it earlier this year talking about Zillow:

"...they'll have longer time-on-site metrics than anything except porn sites."

Even Rich Barton, the co-founder of Zillow describes the feature in amorous terms in the GigaOm post:

“Whether or not a home is for sale is not binary,” he continued — saying of Make Me Move, “it’s not like it’s a commitment; it’s kind of a flirtation.”

Boy, do they have the number of Main Street, USA.