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These days, the home buying process has moved from newspaper classifieds to mobile apps, making it easier than ever to shop real estate listings. The best real estate apps put thousands of listings right in your hand.
But it's not just home buying -- some of our favorite apps can help you buy, sell, and even rent property. We've put together a list of the top real estate apps to help you find your way home.
Our favorite real estate apps
Zillow: Best home buying app overall
Trulia: Best app for rentals
Realtor.com: Best app for finding a real estate agent
LoopNet: Best app for commercial properties
Redfin: Best app for selling your home
Homesnap: Best app for real-time data on contracts and sales
Zillow
Best home buying app overallZillow
What we like about Zillow:
Zillow.com has long been a popular website for home buyers, and the Zillow app keeps up the quality. This full-service app offers both a user-friendly interface and a wide array of tools for every step of the home-buying (or selling) process. Users can search and filter real estate listings -- including a detailed map view -- as well as view photos and 3D home tours.
You can save, share, and get updates on listings. Plus, you can use Zillow's proprietary Zestimate tool to see if a listing price is fair. The app also has tons of mortgage tools, including payment calculators and pre-approval options. You can even use the Zillow app to find and contact a local realtor. Zillow's Premier Agents are vetted for customer service, and agent listings come with user reviews to help you make the right choice. This feature-rich approach makes it a go-to pick for seasoned real estate buyers and first-time home buyers alike.
Whether you're in the market to buy or rent, the Trulia app has you covered. You can sort real estate listings and available rentals with tons of filters, from number of rooms to dozens of amenities. Listings can include photos and videos, as well as price histories and property details.
Plus, you can use Trulia's highly customizable map view to see area overlays for useful local data like crime, traffic, shopping, and even natural disasters. This can show you which neighborhoods to focus on -- and which to avoid. Renters can contact the leasing agent right from the app. Buyers can use the built-in mortgage calculator to estimate costs. And you can request more info for a promising property or even schedule an in-person or video tour.
The Realtor.com app is another popular place to find your next house or apartment. It also shines as a great way to find a local real estate agent. In fact, it's backed by the National Association of Realtors, the largest professional real estate agent association. You can contact local agents by phone, email, text, or even video chat.
While it's a great place to find a real estate agent, Realtor.com's mobile app is no slouch in the listings department. Search and filter all the important criteria, from price to property type to keyword. The map view has several overlay options, including schools, crime, and noise data to help you find the right area. You can even mortgage shop right from the app.
Although most of the picks on our list focus on residential properties, LoopNet's app is a good go-to for commercial real estate. You can find commercial properties for sale or for lease, search commercial property auctions, and find local businesses for sale.
Listings can be searched with the standard filters like area, price, square footage, and lot. You can also search for submarket, tenancy, cap rate percentage (an estimate of how much an investor might earn on a property), and specific keywords. Property types include everything from office and industrial to specialty and shopping, letting you view only properties that fit what you need.
RedFin is ideal for folks who want only the latest listings, as the mobile real estate app updates its listings every five minutes. You can personalize your search with all the usual filters, like price, rooms, square footage, and keywords. Compare prices with recently sold homes, and check out the market insights to learn more about homes in the area.
With the RedFin app, you can favorite potential picks or "X out" properties that just don't work. (You mark them as ones you're not interested in.) You can also use the RedFin app to find a local real estate agent if one is in your area. For eligible listings, you can contact a real estate agent, set up home tours, and even read comments from RedFin agents. One standout feature is the 1% listing fee when selling your home through a RedFin agent.
Best app for real-time data on contracts and salesHomesnap
What we like about Homesnap:
The Homesnap app is a comprehensive tool for finding residential properties for sale (no rentals, though). Search with numerous filters, such as price, beds, square footage, homeowners association fees, and even school zones. The map doesn't have overlay features like some of our other best real estate apps, but it does let you see local schools and estimate commute times.
Homesnap has a number of helpful tools for finding a local real estate agent, including a database searchable by agent name or address. When you connect with an agent through the app, you can share homes, request tours, and trade messages. You can also unlock advanced, real-time data on contracts and sales.
Real estate apps are apps for your mobile device (like your phone or tablet) that let you search real estate listings. Some of the best real estate apps also let you search rentals and contact local real estate agents. Other apps are more specialized, only offering specific types of listings.
Types of real estate apps
Real estate apps can range from bare-bones to full-service, including both residential (where people live) and commercial (where people work). The best real estate apps combine multiple features. For example, some of our picks for best real estate apps will show you both real estate for sale and for rent. Here's a look at some common types of real estate apps:
Residential home buying
Residential renting
Residential real estate agent directories
Real estate education and resources
Commercial property purchasing
Commercial property leasing
Business and franchise listings
How real estate apps determine home value
Some of the best real estate apps offer customized or proprietary home value listings to help you gauge the fairness of the listing price. Each app has its own method for estimating home value based on a range of factors, including:
Recent comparable sales
Property location
Number of rooms or bathrooms
Square footage
Amenities
General market trends
These apps don't make their algorithms public, so we don't know every factor that goes into how they assess value. The amount and age of the available property data will also impact the accuracy of an app's home value estimates.
One important distinction to make is that the home value estimates in real estate apps aren't actually home appraisals. It's more of an approximation of what the value is based on the app's own calculations. You'll likely want a proper appraisal before you purchase any property.
How much do real estate apps cost?
It's usually free to download and use a real estate app to browse listings. The best real estate apps on our list have no cost to download or use. However, you may be charged a fee if you use a real estate app to list your home for sale or to work with a real estate agent.
What to expect from real estate apps
What you get from any specific real estate app varies, but many of the best apps have the same basic features for home buying:
Searchable listings
Zoomable map view
City and neighborhood filters
Property type, size, rooms, and bathrooms filters
Property photos or videos
Public property data
Listing agent contact information
The top apps offer more than the basics, such as features for finding rentals or searchable real estate agent directories. Many apps also provide mortgage calculators, today's mortgage rates, and local lenders.
FAQs
We've listed Zillow as our top app for home buyers. It has all the basics plus a robust database of real estate agents to help you find, tour, and make an offer on your favorite properties. The best real estate app for you as a home buyer depends on your specific needs, but all of the top real estate apps offer the same standard features.
In general, the publicly available information in a listing should be accurate. Many home buying apps pull their data directly from the same places that real estate agents access, including publicly available property details. This data is regularly updated. Some apps update as often as every five minutes to make sure the information is current.
However, some information in a property listing -- such as the written description, photos, and videos -- comes from the person or company that made the listing. This information may become out of date as the listing ages if the lister doesn't update it.
Finding the best real estate app to sell your home depends on a few factors, including the method you're using to sell. For example, if you're using "For Sale By Owner," you may prefer apps that don't charge a fee to make a listing. You may also want to consider listing your home on multiple apps for the extra exposure. If you're using a real estate agent to list your home, they may be able to recommend an app they've had success with.
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Brittney Myers has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Target and Zillow Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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