Does Every Owner Have a Price?

Justin Roth's Capitol Hill rowhouse isn't for sale, exactly. But for $779,000, it could be.

Roth owns a four-bedroom rowhouse on Third Street NE. He recently placed that "Make Me Move" price on Zillow.com, a Web site that displays aerial photos, estimated prices, tax assessment data and other information for 72 million U.S. homes.

Unlike most real estate sites, Zillow's database aims to cover all homes, whether or not the owners are interested in selling. And that's what makes it interesting. You can cruise it every so often just to keep up on what's happening in your neighborhood, or you could amuse yourself by looking up the reports for practically anyone whose address you know. Did I mention the site has aerial photos? Any sense of privacy you may have cherished is just an illusion now. The info is all out there in public, like it or not.

Roth's home is not listed for sale with a real estate agent, and he's not even trying to do a "for sale by owner." He's just fishing, by setting what Zillow calls a "Make Me Move" price for his house.

"If someone really did offer me this price, I would move," he said. "This is kind of a way to put your house up for sale," he added. By way of bait, Roth posted four photos of the exterior and interior, without paying Zillow a penny.

Nationwide, nearly 55,000 people have set such prices, according to Sarah Mann, a Zillow spokeswoman. The feature has been available for six months. You might think these would be pie-in-the-sky, but Mann said they tend to be only about 17 percent higher than Zillow's value estimate, which the company calls a Zestimate.

Zestimates, however, can be quite off the mark, especially if Zillow doesn't know about home improvements. And for many homes, Zillow doesn't offer a Zestimate, displaying only tax assessment information.

For Roth's home, Zillow offers neither the tax assessor's value nor a Zestimate. He set his price based on the sales prices he's heard about for nearby homes. Zillow offers a list of recent transactions for what might (and that's a key word) be comparable sales. For example, it shows that a house just a few doors down from Roth sold in February for $620,000. That's handy information.

Mary Ruth Calhoun recently posted a Make Me Move price of $649,500 on her Cape Cod in the Rosemont section of Alexandria. She did it pretty much on a whim.

"I love Zillow," said Calhoun, who years ago spent an unhappy few months as a real estate agent. The site lists the tax assessor's value at $594,300. "I claimed my house and straightened the facts out," she said. She noted, for example that it was remodeled in 2005 and has four bedrooms, on-street parking and hardwood floors. She unsuccessfully listed her home for sale at her Make Me Move price a year ago.

Just a few days ago, Jay Snyder posted a $280,000 Make Me Move price on his one-bedroom condo on Arlington Ridge Road near Pentagon City. It's sort of a pre-sale sale for him. "I am not actively trying to sell my condo, but I also don't intend to stay in my condo long-term," he said via e-mail. "If an interested buyer fell in my lap at a price point that I consider fair . . . I would pursue it." The tax assessor's value is listed as $243,800. Snyder updated his home's profile with details about the appliances, walk-in closet and off-street parking.

Surprisingly, none of the homeowners I spoke with had been contacted by a real estate agent after posting a price. It would be easy enough for agents to approach them by e-mail, as I did.