Welcome to the future. The digital age in home buying has arrived. Now, you can use mobile apps to help you find the home of your dreams. Gone are the days of the inky fingers you got from thumbing through classifieds while looking for that perfect home.
By using your smart phone, you can find a cozy apartment, a condominium downtown, and even a multi-room mansion overlooking the city — all with the help of mobile apps. So, what’s the best mobile app to find the perfect home? Check out this list of popular home buying mobile apps with a rundown of what makes them good:
Six Popular Mobile Apps for Homebuyers
- House Hunter. If you’ve resorted to driving around neighborhoods to find a house for sale, this app can help. It uses a ranking system to help you locate your dream home. House Hunter lets you choose from more than 80 features to narrow down your search to the perfect match. Once you select a promising place and walk through that home or apartment, you can use the app to give it a score and upload pictures. Home Hunter calculates your score for the home, taking into consideration things like the age of the house, size and location. If you’ve narrowed you’re choices to several homes, this app then helps you pick the finalist.
- Realtor.com. This mobile homebuying app is on the top of many lists. It includes up-to-date listings from real estate agents all over the country, including homes for rent, for sale and those recently sold. All of the listings include property details, photos, pricing and other information. The app also allows you to share listings with your spouse, family or future roommates.
- Doorsteps Swipe. You like photos? This app has photos. Similar to some dating apps, this Realtor.com app lets you choose the features you want, and then it presents you with a series of photos of places for sale. Swipe right to like it or left to discard it. It’s a fun way to narrow your search — or just come up with redecorating ideas.
- Zillow. Known for its proprietary feature called “Zestimates,” Zillow also features the largest collection of properties among all mobile apps for homebuyers. If you’re looking for a transactional history of a house or condo, Zillow also has this data, as well as mortgage rates that are state-specific.
- Dwellr. Developed and administered by the U.S. Census Bureau, this app is perfect for anyone looking to relocate to another city. It provides detailed demographic and climate information specific down to the neighborhood. You can even choose what’s important to you, and Dwellr can help you find a match.
- Homesnap. This cool app allows you to take a photo of the house for sale that you just stumbled upon and get the details of the property through your smart phone. It connects to the local MLS and public records database to pull up information you can use. You can even message your discovery to others.
- Real Estate by Trulia. Another photo-based mobile app, you can search for houses based on a map or by photos. There’s a Discovery feature, too, that lets you find places you might have missed. Because it’s so picture-rich, this app is another good idea generator for redecorators.
Whether you’re looking to buy or rent a house, condo or apartment, these are just a few mobile apps to get you on your way to moving into a new home. If you need any help with home purchase, please contact Zachery “Zack” Adams of Prime Mortgage Lending of West Asheville (dba PrimeRate Mortgage). Happy hunting!
