Trulia Review: Browse Listings and Get to Know the Neighborhood

Bottom line: The Trulia app is a good tool for browsing residential real estate listings. It also offers a lot of useful neighborhood information and buying tools. However, there are no tools for selling your home; you'll need to use partner Zillow for that.

At a glance

What is Trulia and how does it work?

Trulia is a mobile real estate app that lets you browse millions of residential homes. The search feature includes filters for properties currently for sale and for rent, as well as properties that have recently sold.

Of course, the filters go much further. Narrow your options by property type and home size, or choose your own keywords for must-haves. Listings are full of useful property details, and most have lots of photos plus video walkthroughs or 3D tours. You'll even get to know the neighborhood with helpful details and map overlays.

Save your searches and favorite real estate listings or share listings with a partner or friend. Turn on alerts to get notifications when new properties hit the market, and enjoy a custom feed of recommended listings. Home buyers looking for a little math help can also make good use of the mortgage tools like the mortgage calculator.

One big thing worth mentioning is that Trulia is actually owned by the same company behind the Zillow real estate app. Several years ago, Trulia was acquired by Zillow Group, bringing the two real estate digital giants together under one umbrella. But while both platforms now have one parent, the two apps still have different looks and features.

Top perks

Find properties for sale or for rent

With the Trulia app, you can browse millions of properties for sale around the country. But unlike some other real estate apps, Trulia takes it a step further by also including millions of rental listings. This includes plenty of alternatives to single-family homes:

• Apartments
• Condos
• Townhouses

That's not all, though; you'll also be able to search tons of recently-sold properties to get a big-picture view of the local market.

Filter and save searches

Having millions of listings in your hand is only useful if you have a way to narrow the options. Trulia has all of the search filters you'd expect, including property type and size, as well as home details like number of bedrooms.

You won't see quite as many detailed real estate filters as you might in other apps. For example, there's no filter for the number of floors. But Trulia does include a keyword filter so you can create custom searches. Rental searches offer more filters, including options to filter both building and unit amenities.

Once you get your search parameters just right, you can save your search and return to it anytime. Individual listings can also be saved, plus you can share them through dozens of linked apps.

Get alerts and browse recommendations

As helpful as it can be to save a search and revisit it often, sometimes you want the app to do the work for you. When you turn on Trulia alerts, you can get push notifications or emails when new properties hit the market or when a favorite property has a status update. Choose alerts for both sale properties and rentals, and then select which types of alerts you want to receive.

Trulia will also use your saved searches and favorite houses to create customized recommendations. You can get recommendations through email or device notifications, as well as check your Trulia app feed for the latest picks.

Neighborhood details and map overlays

One place Trulia stands out from the competition is with its comprehensive neighborhood information. Each listing includes a dedicated map view with multiple overlay features to help you learn more about the area.

In addition to the typical map and street view, home buyers can also apply a crime overlay to see issues like nearby thefts or vandalism. The schools option shows the location of nearby schools, as well as GreatSchools ratings. You can find local stores and restaurants with the Shop and Eat overlay. And the People Stats show area demographics like ages and incomes.

Handy mortgage tools

A super useful part of any good real estate app are the mortgage tools, and Trulia has several helpful options. For example, even the most mathematically inclined can benefit from a good mortgage calculator. And having the latest mortgage rates right at your fingertips can help you make sure all of those calculations are accurate. If you're not sure where your finances stand, you can even get prequalified for a mortgage right from the Trulia app.

What could be improved

No way to list directly with Trulia

Perhaps the most notable lack in the Trulia app is the inability to list a property for sale. That's because you'll actually need to use an entirely different platform: Zillow.

As mentioned above, Zillow and Trulia are part of the same company. But while some of the apps' features overlap, listing isn't one of those areas. Rather than list through Trulia, you'll need to create an account and list your property within the Zillow app or website. Once you list through Zillow, your listing will automatically show up in the Trulia app as well as the Zillow app.

No agent directory in app

Another place the Trulia app falls short of its sibling, Zillow, is in the real estate agent directory. Both Zillow's website and mobile app offer a searchable directory of real estate agents -- but you can't get it anywhere with Trulia.

Most listings in Trulia allow you to see the listing agent and their contact information, but if you want to find an agent, your options are limited. The best you can do from within the Trulia app is fill out the in-app contact form to get in touch with a "premier" agent.

If you want an app for listing your property: Zillow is the obvious choice if you want to list a property, as it's the app you use to list on both Zillow and Trulia. However, Trulia's neighborhood details have the edge on Zillow and may be more useful for buyers.

If you want an app to find residential income properties: LoopNet is one of the top commercial real estate apps, but it's not all offices and retail spaces. You can also find multi-unit residential buildings or live-and-work spaces if you want to keep your income close. Anyone looking for a single-family home should stick to Trulia, though.

There are absolutely no costs associated with downloading or using the Trulia app. Browsing and sharing listings are both free, as is contacting agents from within the app.

Trulia offers the ability to compare mortgage rates from a variety of lending partners, most of which show rates at or slightly below the national average. However, Trulia does not offer direct mortgage loans itself.

Having been purchased by Zillow, Trulia's mortgage tools are basically copies of those offered by Zillow. This includes showing estimates from Zillow's partner lenders, as well as quotes and estimates from Zillow's lending arm, Zillow Home Loans, LLC. Zillow's direct loans tend to be fairly close to the national average, though they are usually higher than the rates provided in the partner marketplace.

The actual rates you see will vary based on the type of loan, the lender, and your location. For example, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages tend to have slightly higher rates than mortgages with 15-year fixed-rate terms. Trulia may not provide estimates for some areas, and users will be directed to Zillow's website in that case.

The Trulia real estate app is a solid choice for anyone who wants to browse homes for sale or for rent. It has a lot of useful filters, as well as tons of data on local neighborhoods. That said, it doesn't have anywhere for users to list their property, instead funneling potential sellers to their partner app, Zillow. So sellers may want to skip the middleman and go straight to Zillow.