15 apps to supercharge your house hunt
Find the homes you want, learn the terminology and do neighborhood research — all with your handheld device.
By Christopher Solomon of MSN Real Estate
It’s 2011, so why is your homebuying search stuck in 1975? You need to put the smarts in your smartphone and put it to work. Today there are dozens of cheap — even free — applications you can download that can make your homebuying quest easier and savvier than ever before. We’ve rounded up some of the best apps for you. They work on multiple varieties of smartphones unless otherwise stated. So go ahead and download ’em, take ’em for a test drive … then hit the spring open-house circuit. This time, you’re guaranteed to waste less time finding a new “home sweet home.”
Tools to help you find a home — all with GPS
- Realtor.com says its app has more listings — reportedly more than 3 million — than any other app in the country. You can highlight areas of town to search, check for homes for sale near you and search for open houses. Most homes show multiple photos as well as pricing and open-house info. (Free.)
- ZipRealty allows the user to view listings in nearly 5,000 cities — including asking price, photos, distance from where you are, etc. The app also allows you to see homes that have sold recently. (Free.)
- Zillow not only lets you see listings and the estimated worth of any home — not just homes for sale – but also has rental-rate estimates. (Free.)
Navigating the real-estate maze
- Dictionary of Real Estate Terms. Baffled by a bilateral contract? Confused by carrying charges? You need this dictionary. ($1.99 for iPhone and iPad. Other dictionaries available for different devices.)
- Mortgage Calculator. A solid calculator to help steer you through the finances of a home purchase, this calculator computes monthly rate, price per square foot and your amortization schedule. (99 cents for iPad and iPhone. Other calculators available for different devices.)
- Can you afford that home? Home Buying Power lets you input variables — desired payment or income percentage, plus down payment, loan term and interest rate — and then tells you how much house you can afford to pay for on a monthly basis. ($1.99 for iPad and iPhone.)
Choosing the right city and neighborhood
- Learn your neighborhood: With Wikihood, you can get a mini-tour of most any neighborhood in the world — everything from the history to the culture to companies in the area. (Free for iPad and iPhone.)
- Wonder where that smell is coming from? Worried by those airplanes flying low overhead? You need Suburb Scout. This app allows users to search for possible nuisances near a home — airports, landfills, sewage-treatment plants and more. ($1.99 for Android.)
- Are you worried about sex offenders? Consider getting Safe Neighborhood. This app gives you access to the National Sex Offender Registry and can tell you locations of sex offenders in your area. It’s a little controversial — not only can you search by address, but you can pull up names and pictures of the offenders. (Free for Android.)
- Trying to pick a new city? You might want to look at the crime statistics. The app Crime Stats lets you see statistics on several violent crimes and property crimes for cities nationwide, using FBI data. The app also lets you compare those stats to the national average and to other cities. (99 cents for iPhone and iPad.)
- Want to know what kind of amenities your neighborhood has? Download the Walk Score app. It gives a home a score of up to 100, based on residents’ ability to walk to things such as a grocery, a pub, etc. The better the score, the more walkable the neighborhood. Somewhat related, Around Me tells you the distances to key spots such as banks, coffee shops and post offices. (Both are free for iPhone and iPad.)
- SiteWise gives the demographics of your prospective home’s immediate area, using info up to and including the 2010 Census. The app creates a demographic report that includes population by age, education level, number of children, household income, number of renters versus owners and more. ($9.99 for Blackberry and iPhone users.)
When looking hard at a home
- Photo Measures is an app that lets you take pictures of, say, a room and then allows you to save your measurements of the room’s dimensions on the photos. You can take photos during your walk-throughs of an appealing house, note the dimensions of walls and doors and cabinets, then plan your space and refer to the measurements later. ($4.99 for iPhone.)
- ColorSmart.With paintmaker Behr’s ColorSmart app, you can visualize colors in your prospective home. Just take a photo, then fill in the walls with a Behr paint color to check out the new look. (Free for iPhone and iPad.)
