Best Mobile Apps for Home Buyers

I am often asked which mobile apps I have on my Iphone. Well, I have 16 apps that are related to my profession. Many of these are of the professional nature that allow me to conduct my business in the most efficient way possible. Most of these don't apply at all to the consumer based property search apps. But, I do have, in this batch of 16, many property search apps.

Buyer's and seller's need the search applications that can give them immediate access to the available properties and information on these properties.

So, if you are a buyer or seller of a home, what applications should you have on your mobile device? There are numerous ones to select from, but you only need a few to be confident that your search will be a success. Here are my recommendations.

For property searches, I have previewed and used most if not all the available apps. I like two of the national brands.

Redfin just seems to be very user friendly. I like the layout and the information is accurate and timely. Also, Realtor.com is a very good app. For national brands, I think these are the only two you would really need. Many people are using Zillow and it gets high marks, but if you are depending on it for property valuation, be careful because myself and many clients have found numerous mistakes when it comes to the valuation part of this service.

You should also have an app that has access to your local MLS and is provided by a realtor. Look for a realtor in your market area that you can work with that has his/her own personal real estate search application. I have my own application for my clients. The reason for providing this is it allows the folks I am working with to search from this app and if they have a question or would like to set an appointment to see a property they can touch the "call" icon and they are connected to me directly. This is beneficial because they don't have to "fend off" every realtor if they were to call on each property while searching. Also, from the app they can save and send the properties they like directly to me, so that together, we get a real focus on what we are looking for in a home. These apps are free and easy to download. I subcontract with Smarter Agent in my design of the app. It has all the same attributes of the national brands but it allows my clients to share their preferences while accessing my market knowledge. This app can be downloaded to your smartphone by texting Kev to 87778.

If your realtor does not have a personal mobile app, ask them to get one, it will help with your search and information gathering.

One last thing on local real estate searches. As a realtor, make sure that your website is adapted for mobile. In other words, if it is bookmarked on a mobile device by your clients, the configuration should be simplified for easy use. I did this with my site and the interface and functionality is greatly simplified. Again, easy to do.

Here is an article that rates the national real estate apps.

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