5 Must-Have Real Estate Apps for Home Buyers

Posted by Catherine Crawford , January 04, 2014 at 06:10 AM

 

If you are headed out to open houses this week, you may want to download a few apps first.

Prospective home buyers increasingly rely on mobile apps to help in their pursuit of the perfect pad. According to a recent study by the National Association of Realtors and Google, 68 percent of homebuyers used mobile apps during their search.

Take a look at five of our favorites below, and you’ll understand why:

1) Zillow: Listing many (many) homes, this app is the perfect starting place. It even uses your phone’s GPS to text you new listings.

2) Real Estate by Smarter Agent: This app is fantastic for getting to know a neighborhood with its ‘points of interest’ categories, providing information on everything from nearby restaurants to the proximity of an ATM machine.

3) Homesnap: Even if you aren’t looking for a new home, this app is fun. Take a photo of any home with your phone, and Homesnap identifies it, tells you how much it was last sold for, as well as other details about the property. Cool — if a little Orwell-creepy.

4) Wikihood: Another good app for learning all about a potential new neighborhood. Wikihood culls Wikipedia articles involving a specific geographic location on your smartphone. Be careful though, there may be some things you don’t want to know.

5) Mortgage Calculator Pro:  After you’ve fallen for a place and vetted the neighborhood, use the Mortgage Calculator Pro to get real. Not only can you calculate your monthly mortgage fee including property taxes and other fees, this app allows you to compare different loans.