Just because it's not `for sale' doesn't mean you can't offer

There is no "For Sale" sign in front of his four-bedroom, four-bath, mountain-view home. But he just might part with it for the right amount.

"My wife and I love the home. We love the view," Zamani said. "But we think, 'Wouldn't it be great to get another house like this with the kids' bedrooms closer to the master bedroom?'

"We're not actively listed, but if we got an offer and could sell it immediately," he said, he would be tempted.

How many people who fall in love with a house that is not on the market are willing to make an unsolicited offer? Zamani is betting that thousands will.

His website, Reply.com, launched a new service Aug. 23 that allows consumers to make a bid on just about any house in the United States.

The site won't sell the names of buyers who use the new feature to its network of 15,000 real estate agents, according to Zamani, although Reply.com makes money by generating leads.

"As a consumer, you do your research on our website, and you select the homes that you are interested in making an offer on," said Zamani, who is the founder, chairman and chief executive of the Walnut Park, Calif.-based company. The data provided by the site -- ranging from valuation to square footage to past sales history -- are based on public information.

"You select one or as many as you like," he said. If a prospective buyer is unsure of how much to offer, he or she can indicate a price range.

"At some level, this is a game of numbers. If you truly want to buy a house, the chances are in the ZIP Code that you are interested in, out of thousands of homes there are 20 homes that meet your specs," Zamani said. "You send offers to 20 homeowners, engage with four or five homeowners and you will essentially find a home."

For $24.95, the website will send the offer by Priority Mail to the homeowner. (There is a volume discount after the first nine offers.)

The owner can respond on the site, using a special code that will allow the prospective buyer to retrieve the information.

Of course, that homeowner could ignore the offer, but Zamani believes 20% to 25% will respond one way or the other.

That's much more optimistic than the 5% rate of response predicted by another Internet entrepreneur, Glenn Kelman.