Do you hate the idea of listing your home, scheduling open houses and having to put everything away and spruce it up every time a prospective buyer wants to do a walkthrough?
It's a lot of work. And even if you keep a spotless house, home selling is a frustrating and time-consuming experience.
Zillow wants to remove the hassles, by buying your home directly from you through a new service called Zillow Offers, sometimes called Zillow Instant Offers.
It is currently in almost two dozen cities, and in the coming year will be expanding to many more.
How it works
All you do is fill out a form on Zillow's website, allow them to do a home inspection, and Zillow will make an offer to buy your home directly, often within 48 hours — no fuss, no muss.
Zillow will take a small fee to complete the transaction.
Once the deal goes through, Zillow will then list your house on its site, and sell your home to someone else. You won't have to worry about a thing, because it is their house at that point.
It's that easy.
But will you get top dollar?
But from the "doesn't that stink" file — some skeptics feel the service is just an online version of home flipping.
Forbes Magazine says Zillow may offer 10% to15% percent less than a local realtor.
That's how home flippers work: They buy low, then resell for a nice profit. If you forfeit thousands of dollars in a flipping deal (to anyone), you might say "doesn't that stink!"
But think about it: Zillow needs to make a profit reselling your home because they are not a charity.
So you probably won't get the same top dollar you could get listing it yourself, and holding open houses.
But as with many things in today's new service economy, you are paying for convenience, and not having the stress of trying to sell your own home.
A recent Forbes report says for many homeowners, Zillow Offers will be well worth it, for the elimination of stress and hassle.
Zillow Offers plans to be in 26 markets in the next year.
If you can't wait for it to offer this service in your neighborhood, your best bet is contacting a local realtor, and that way you'll get some help, and you don't waste your money.
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