Zillow’s iPhone App…and “Make me Move: The offer I can’t refuse”

Today, Zillow.com launched their iPhone app and the one thing I can say is that it will probably cause a few Realtors to gasp for air.

Not that that is Zillow’s intention and in fact, it could be a great tool for them. But the features look so easy for the consumer to use that it will make home buying a pleasurable experience. With this tool in their hands, you can research prices, comps, five and ten-year home values, and of course, Zestimates for 88 million homes…that’s 95% of all homes; not just those on the market. And if you are driving around, Zillow offers the answers to the types of questions you would ask a Realtor.

So, I’m sold on the app; you get everything you would get if you were online at a desktop such as my favorite feature called "Make me Move" - it’s a "name your price" feature of Zillow that let’s a homeowner broadcast their interest to sell…if the price was right. Amy Bohutinsky, VP of Communications for Zillow said that of the 3.6 million listing on Zillow, about 144,000 have a "Make me Move" price. But, here again, is a perfect example of an application that was made for a LBS. Bohutinsky posed the question: how many times have you heard of someone slipping a note under the door of someone’s house to ask if the homeowner wanted to sell? She said that the average price of the "Make me Move" house is about 17% above market value…not really that unreasonable, especially if it was someone’s dream house.

Bohutinsky said that Zillow has thought for sometime that it would be perfect for a mobile platform but commented that they were "waiting for the right mobile platform to do it well." Will it be on Blackberry? "It’s likely that it will be on other platforms," said Bohutinsky.