Zillow's Make Me Move - Meeting Sellers

My wife and I have put offers on 5 houses now in Flagstaff. Ridiculous. All of them have been beaten by all-cash ($300+) or higher offers. I didn't realize before I moved here that I was getting into a California home market, or at least on this side of town it seems that way.

I kept seeing this "Make Me Move" property show up in my criteria, but ignored it because it seemed like a sham. Finally today in desperation I fired off an email to prospective sellers.

By God it worked! The interesting thing about this is that they want to meet us in person, and they'll need another 6 months before closing due to scheduled retirement. They don't want to sell to investors or college students, they want to sell to people wanting to make this town their home. In a town riddled with investors who jacking up prices, this is refreshing.

We'll see how it goes from here.

Sweet! I always wondered if anyone used that, I like the idea very much.

My one experience with it was certainly not bad--the house ended up not being what I wanted, but the woman had bought the house for her college daughter to live in at school, then during her senior year put it up as a MMM sale. If the house had had a different bathroom I probably would have bought it.

Nice. And you both save on closing costs... so on a 300k home that's 18k.

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Good luck. People say they don't want to sell to investors or flippers.

Who cares? The pile of cash is the same - both are the same color green.

Datsun310Guy wrote: Good luck. People say they don't want to sell to investors or flippers. Who cares? The pile of cash is the same - both are the same color green.

Some people do care actually. We live in an area near a major university that is pockmarked with student rentals. Many owner occupants care deeply about the neighborhood and go out of their way to transition their homes to new owner occupants, rather than buyers looking for investment property.

dyintorace wrote:

Datsun310Guy wrote: Good luck. People say they don't want to sell to investors or flippers. Who cares? The pile of cash is the same - both are the same color green.

Some people do care actually.

Hell, it wasn't even a house, but I wouldn't sell the old Poncho Le Mans to somebody who was going to donk it or try to make a half-ass GTO ripoff. I wanted somebody who was going to love it for what it is.

Let's call it "Socially Responsible Selling"

Or just sticking it to the all rich nozzles who ruin neighborhoods trying to make a buck. It's making our town in particular nearly unlivable due to the lack of housing, and any new housing expected to enter the market in the next 2-3 years will likely be priced even higher. That not only forces out lower wage folks who want $15/hr minimum wage, but is also is forcing out people like us, young professionals who can't afford a $350,000 houses because not only do they not make $100k/year, but they also don't have $70k in the bank.

Care to explain "Make Me Move" in newbie terms?

In reply to SVreX:

Zillow allows you to list your house for sale informally with a "make me move" price where technically your house isn't for sale but you're saying that if someone offered you that you would be willing to sell it. My experience with it was limited to looking at the listings and seeing a lot of dreamers priced beyond the market. But if that's not the case for you pheller it sounds great! Just make sure they actually own the house and get title insurance from a company of your choosing not theirs. :)

In reply to dculberson:

Thanks.

"Actually own the house"... I had a rental house I own rented 3 times last year by someone who did not own it!

In reply to pheller:

I've had family in Flagstaff for over 50 years. It's been a retirement Meca for a very long time, and a difficult place to live for lower income people.

You realize that $350K in cash does not make anyone a "rich nozzle", right? It just means people have had multiple homes before retiring to Flagstaff and are bringing the appreciated value of their previous homes and retirement accounts with them, which they have saved for 40 years or more.

The average per capita income in Flagstaff AZ is $25,412. That's because they are retired and don't have an income (but that doesn't mean they don't have money).

SVreX wrote: You realize that $350K in cash does not make anyone a "rich nozzle", right? It just means people have had multiple homes before retiring to Flagstaff and are bringing the appreciated value of their previous homes and retirement accounts with them, which they have saved for 40 years or more.

You're completely right. I just went on a class rant there.

In reply to pheller:

Bravo! That's a solid response.

Thank you.