It's not for sale but you want to buy it? The intention economy...
A few years ago, every 3 months or so, a letter would arrive from a realtor saying they had a buyer interested in buying a home in the neighborhood. Now we may consider moving - kind of. Enough so that I actually listed a "Make me move" price with Zillow - http://www.zillow.com/postings/MakeMeMove.htm
Now ING in the Netherlands launched a service called "Live where you want" that works the other way around - similar to those letters I used to receive from Realtors. If you can read Dutch, check it out over here: www.woonwaaruwilt.nl If you can’t read Dutch, this description will help a lot: http://www.springwise.com/homes_housing/bank_helps_clients_buy_homes_t/ A buyer can use the service to make an offer to buy a house from a property owner who does not have their property listed for sale.
Do you think there's a market to be created this way, an economy in matching people with an intent on buying or intent of selling at the right price? It could be a winner in a few specific property markets or certain high end segments. However, unless the property market is seriously restricted the majority of buyers will probably want to get a good deal and not pay an exorbitant premium to buy a home from a reluctant ‘seller’.
Ebay's "Want it now" service http://pages.ebay.com/wantitnow/index.html is another model, except it is one potential buyer who could be matched to multiple sellers instead of a single property owner. The problem is unless a potential seller is looking to sell, they won't find out somebody is willing to buy it (in which case the 'seller' probably would have tried to sell it).I have a boat that I may want to sell in another season, and if a buyer approached me now with a premium price I'd most likely sell it. Problem is there is no way for a buyer to know that or present an offer to me unless I place a classified ad to announce my intention to sell. But there could also be a buyer out there, an Ebay "Want it now" person but since I'm not currently selling I'd never troll the listings to see if someone wishes to buy my little Carolina J-16 skiff. This is a challenge not even Match.com may be able to solve.