Real estate 3.0 | Update

Back in June we covered Igglo, an innovative Finnish company that lets potential buyers earmark houses that aren’t for sale. The concept seems to have caught on, as we recently spotted two related initiatives in other parts of the world. In The Netherlands, Elkhuistekoop.nl (Every House for Sale) encourages people to fill in an online form if they’ve spotted the house of their dreams and it isn’t yet for sale. Elkhuistekoop then contacts the property’s owners to find out whether they have short or long term intentions to sell. If an owner’s dormant desire to sell is awakened, Elkhuistekoop hooks up the buying party with a real estate agent, and the agent pays a finder’s fee. The service is free for house seekers. Elkhuistekoop is definitely less elaborate than Igglo, which took pictures of every building in Helsinki. On the other hand, it offers consumers an easy and discreet alternative to knocking on dream house doors themselves. In the U.S., online real estate service Zillow lets home owners take the initiative, by allowing them to set a Make Me Move price without actually putting their house on the market. Once owners set a price (“that magical number you just can’t refuse”), potential buyers can contact them anonymously via email. It’s then up to the owner to decide whether they really want to sell. Zillow identifies a few different reasons for owners to use Make Me Move. If they’re thinking about selling in the near future, the service helps to start gathering interest. Or they may have long term plans to sell, but could be motivated to do so sooner if the right offer comes along. Zillow launched Make Me Move a week ago, and already has 3,682 prosperities listed with MMM prices.