The 10 Best Apps for Home Buyers
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- How do you go
about looking for the perfect home? Long gone are the days when house
hunting meant sifting through stacks of newspapers with your trusty
highlighter. So what’s the latest and greatest way to buy a home?
Your smart phone has the ability to lead you right to the home of
your dreams. From cozy apartments to grandiose mansions, here are the best apps
to help you find your perfect place.
Finding the perfect home
1.
Realtor.com – Throw those newspapers
in the recycle bin and join the 21st century! This is technology’s
greatest guide to listings. The app includes up-to-date real
estate listings in the U.S., including homes for sale, for rent or
recently sold. Each listing includes photos, property details, open house
information, and pricing. It allows you to share favorite listings with friends
and family, and highlight a customized area that you would like to search. Best
of all, it’s free!
2.
House Hunter – Having trouble making a
decision? Don’t waste time asking your in-laws for opinions! Look no further
than “House Hunter,” a unique app that offers a scoring method to help you identify
your favorite houses. It has a comprehensive list of over 80 different home features. If
you’re looking for something specific, you can personalize and prioritize the
features list to fit your own needs. While doing a walk-through of the home,
you can score each feature and check it off on the list. The app will
automatically calculate an overall score for the home, taking into account
things like size, location, age of the house, and price per square foot. You
can even take and store pictures of the home. For only $3.99, it’s a super
effective way to organize your thoughts about possible homes in one place.
3.
Mortgage Calculator by Quicken Loans – Get
the lowdown on mortgage products right from the source. The “do-it-all” app for
the future home buyer, the Quicken
Loans Mortgage Calculator offers five different calculators, which allow
you to compare options and effortlessly evaluate your choices. No more waiting
for the information you need, so you can get some peace of mind and feel
confident about your options.
Checking out the
neighborhood
1.
Wikihood – For any iOS users,
Wikihood uses the world of Wikipedia to bring
you the latest and greatest information on your neighborhood of choice. Using
Wikihood will give you a feel for the culture of a neighborhood, including
important people, landmark buildings, local companies, and geographical
information. It also offers a virtual tour of the city with an enhanced map.
2.
Safe Neighborhood – If
you’re not familiar with an area, it’s important to check ahead and make sure
it’s safe. If you’re looking for safety stats, download Safe Neighborhood. It
gives you access to the National Sex Offender Registry so you can scout out the
offenders in your
area. You can actually pull up names and pictures of the offenders. This is
free for Android users, but there are many apps just like it for iPhone; for
the iOS user, download Sex Offender Search, another freebie.
3.
Around Me – Location, location,
location! Looking for easy access to banks, gas stations, and coffee shops?
Input an address, and Around Me will tell you the distances to those spots and
more. And for the low, low, price of FREE, why not?
4.
SiteWise – At $9.99, it’s on the
pricier side of apps, but SiteWise will give you the lowdown on area
demographics. Maybe you’re looking for an area with lots of young families, or
you’d like to fit in at a cool college town.
Using information from the 2010 Census, the app will give you a demographic
report which includes population by age, education level, number of children,
household income, and more. This concise report is one of the best ways to
pinpoint your ideal city, even if you’ve never visited the area before.
Designing your new space
1.
Houzz Interior Design Ideas – One of
my favorite TV shows is HGTV’s
Millionaire Dollar Rooms, a Tuesday night series which profiles the most
expensive rooms in people’s houses. I like to daydream about what types of
features I would have if I had a million dollars to spend on a room. If you
need fabulous inspiration for your own home, this free app has it all. It’s an
intuitive photo bank of over 150,000 images from buildings all over the world.
Take a peek, get inspired, and unleash your inner designer!
2.
iHandy Level Free – A free
app so cool I can’t contain myself, iHandy transforms your phone into a Level
for precise alignment. If you’re in the mood for some home improvement,
download iHandy to make sure your picture frames are straight so you don’t have
to nail more holes in the wall than you should!
3.
I.D. Wood – A friend of mine is
crazy about her hardwood floors. She’s completely right to be, since they cost
a pretty penny, but God forbid you drop something or scratch the wood! That’s
why it’s important to research wood types if you’re looking to do anything with
wood in your home. I.D. Wood is a visual wood dictionary, providing information
on over 160 different kinds of woods, including data on their durability and
sustainability. If you’re investing in hardwood floors, it’s essential to pick
the right type of wood, and this app can be a big help.
Whether you’re looking for a family-friendly neighborhood, a
stunning sunroom, or just a crime-free block, one of these apps will help you
find it.
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