A smartphone is a great tool to have in your pocket. It can help you to connect with the people you care about, be entertained and informed, and even guide you through a new city. And so it’s no surprise that many people are turning to their smartphones to help them with their property search.
There are a number of apps out there that can help with your home search, whether it’s helping you research properties, or making sure you don’t miss any important dates during the buying process. Here are 10 of our favourites that can all help make buying your next home easier.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Property
Real estate apps get millions of monthly visits thanks to the convenience they create with on-the-go searches. The National Association of Realtors reports that 97% of homebuyers begin their searches online, and 76% use a mobile or tablet device.1
Mobile real estate apps put a massive database of houses, apartments, and commercial buildings in the palm of your hand. They benefit prospective homebuyers, renters, and investors through searches filtered by location, number of bedrooms, square footage, and more.
We analyzed 15 real estate apps based on their user interface, search efficiency, inventory size and accuracy, customer support, and reliability. We’ve chosen the best real estate apps to cover all your property-hunting needs.
The 7 Best Real Estate Apps of 2022
Best Overall: Zillow
Best for Auctions: Xome Auctions
Best for Home Purchase: Redfin
Best for Home Values: Trulia
Best for Rentals: Realtor
Best for Renters: Apartments.com
Best for Entrepreneurs: LoopNet.com
Best Real Estate Apps
Zillow
Xome Auctions
Redfin
Trulia
Realtor
Apartments.Com
LoopNet.Com
What Are Real Estate Apps?
How Apps Determine Home Value
Are Real Estate Apps Accurate?
Methodology
BEST OVERALL
Zillow
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Zillow’s app wins best overall because of its massive scope. It has the largest property inventory, including its own Zillow-owned homes, with one of the largest filter lists. Its efficient features include sharing a prospective property with your partner or roommate as well as the ability for renters to begin the application process quickly. The app covers virtually every need the user could want.
Pros
Users have access to over 125 million homes
Zillow-owned properties can be unlocked through the app
Detailed search and filter criteria
Coordinated searches for partners or roommates
Personal rental profiles
Cons
Zestimate algorithm not always accurate
Difficult to identify listing agent
Search filters can be inaccurate
Zillow, founded in 2006 by two former Microsoft executives, is one of the leading apps in the real estate market. The app constantly updates its database. When a realtor or seller changes a property status—from “for sale” to “pending and under contract,” for example—you’ll see that change in the app within 24 hours. Some minor changes made by sellers appear within a few minutes on the app.
Zillow offers the option to list apartments for sale, rent, or lease as well as virtually tour properties and contact agents. Properties on Zillow also can be viewed through video tours and photographs. Users even can receive update notifications about selected properties from the app.
Property listings come from one or more of the multiple listing services, as well as third-party providers, agents, partners, and brokers. It does not source from other platforms.
Zillow is free of cost for buyers and sellers. The primary source of revenue for the app comes from advertising and lead generation costs from realtors. Zillow’s scale earns it the title of best overall because it boasts the largest inventory, many ways to search and sort for both home buyers and apartment renters, and convenient features like sharing favorites and built-in applications.
BEST FOR AUCTIONS
Xome Auctions
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Xome Auctions is the best app for buying a property through an auction because of its comprehensive online bid listings. Like other apps, property details, photos, and map locations are shown, but Xome Auctions is the best because it also states whether the property is financeable or if it needs to be paid for in cash.
Pros
One of the largest databases of auction properties
Access to pre-auction properties
Same suite of features as the website
Push notifications alert you when a competitive bid happens
Contract e-signing within the app
Cons
App has a history of bugs
Relatively new without a very large client base yet
The Xome Auctions app is available on both Android and Apple app stores and hosts one of the largest collections of exclusive properties. Users can also use Xome’s pre-auction feature to bid on properties early. Xome delivers transparent bidding and fast closing.
You can search for residential or commercial auctions by location, status, and auction asset type, such as bank-owned, short sale, or newly foreclosed. Sort properties by price, beds, baths, square feet, auctions starting soon, or by auctions ending soon. The app includes a walk, commute, and bike score along with listing and sales history so you can see the historical value for the property over time.
The listings on the app come from multiple listing services as well as from exclusive Xome sources. The app wins best for auctions because of the comprehensive features available to the bidder. Details like financing, property and neighborhood statistics, alerts when someone else bids on a property you are watching, and property price history all keep the bidder well-informed. Xome Auctions further exceeds its competitors with an efficient e-signing capability for contracts.
BEST FOR HOME PURCHASE
Redfin
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Redfin is an actual real estate brokerage firm that has created an app to take them to a national scale and revolutionize the buying and selling processes. The app is our choice as best for home purchases because it combines cutting-edge technology with actual Redfin real estate agents and customer service employees that keep the human element in the process.
Pros
Customized searches
Accurate estimation of home values
Buy with a Redfin agent and share part of commission
Calculates mortgage, property tax, and insurance
Cons
No feature to sort by last-updated
Less detail on the home’s surrounding neighborhood than other apps
Founded in 2004, Redfin allows the user to search for nearby houses, condos, and townhouses that are for sale or hosting an open house. You can book a home tour within the app. For sellers, the platform allows you to list your property for sale. It charges sellers who use the app a listing fee of 1.5% or 1.0% if you buy and sell with Redfin, which is lower than traditional listing broker fees. It also pays a commission rebate to the buyer if the buyer uses a Redfin agent. That potential dollar figure is shown in the app listing.
Redfin’s app interface is simple and easy to use. Users can review some neighborhood details and learn the process of home-buying with free classes within the app. Notifications alert you to every house that becomes available and meets your criteria.
Redfin earns its revenue through listing fees, commissions, and advertising fees. It earns best for home purchases because of its clever blend of innovative technology balanced by timely and customized human interaction to help the deal close swiftly and keep the buyer’s and seller’s stress levels to a minimum.
BEST FOR HOME VALUES
Trulia
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We awarded Trulia the best for home values because it provides more information about what goes into a home value than any other app. Fifty percent of Trulia home values were within 5% of the selling price, and more than eight out of 10 were within 20% of the selling price.
Pros
Local info on neighborhoods, schools, and shopping
Notifications about new homes on the market that fit your criteria
The platform provides pre-qualified financing and calculators
You can draw with your finger on the map to customize searches
Link to the listing agent in each property listing
Cons
Recently dropped crime data from their listings.
Trulia, which launched in 2005 and was acquired by Zillow Group in 2015, has high reviews in the two major app stores. The service allows the user to view a property in multiple ways. For instance, you can view the property itself, shopping, eating establishments, schools, commute times, and neighborhood demographic stats. You can search for apartments as well as homes with two different apps, Find Homes and Trulia Renters, for more personalized searches.
Regarding demographics, the app can show you the number of single people or people who have graduated from college living around the neighborhood, as two examples. Trulia is the best for home values because they build their home value estimates from more factors than any other app, such as city and county assessments, local comparative sales of similar homes, and price history trends. Eight out of 10 times they are within 20% of the sales price.
The app is free for users, and Trulia earns its revenue mainly through advertising.
BEST FOR RENTALS
Realtor
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Realtor.com is associated with the National Association of Realtors and 800 regional multiple listing services. Realtors can update their listings daily for free, making it a winner for the best for rentals. By having human agents update their listings, landlords benefit from finding qualified prospective tenants faster.
Pros
Users can hide a listing from their search results
Search other rentals in the same area with a touch of a button
Shows when listing was last updated
Property listings include neighborhood noise level assessments
Cons
Clicking on “Contact Agent” will not go to the listing agent
Limited search criteria
Realtor.com was founded in 1996 and is currently owned by Move, Inc., a branch of News Corporation (NWS). The Realtor app is the best for rental unit owners because it shows when the rental listing was last updated, which is one of the top demands by renters in the app feedback comments. It provides surrounding area information on schools, crime, and noise—another primary interest. An app that caters to its target market as Realtor does enjoys lots of views. Combine all of that renter traffic with the fact that landlords can list their property and accept applications for free, and you can see why Realtor earned our nod for best app for rentals.
The app shows properties through pictures and sometimes video tours, making it easy for a rental property owner to highlight the best features of the home and give prospective tenants a good feel for the property before they ever walk in the door. Realtor’s app is free to use and earns its revenue mainly through advertising.
BEST FOR RENTERS
Apartments.com
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Apartments.com is a renters favorite place thanks to the biggest inventory of rentals on the market combined with amazing imagery to show prospective tenants what the property offers. Prospective tenants can apply directly through the app.
Pros
Largest inventory updated daily by an in-house research team
Apartments.com not only features apartments, but also houses, townhouses, studio homes, and condos
Within the app, you can send your application to the landlord or property manager through the “Apply now” feature
Search filters include wheelchair access, air conditioning, dishwasher, and whether the unit has a washer/dryer or just a hookup
Cons
The app is rated well across platforms, but users sometimes face problems with sorting and updates
Apartments.com does a good job of showing what’s nearby; however, it lacks in displaying the crime stats of the neighborhoods
The in-app application feature is convenient, but there is a cost of $25 in order to apply to up to 10 properties in a month
Apartments.com, founded in 1992, has been owned by the CoStar Group (CSGP) since 2014. CoStar researches the best commercial real estate companies in the United States. It has helped Apartments.com by providing them with a large research crew providing attractive listings through its professional photography and videography.
The app’s revenue comes mostly from advertising fees as well as the application fees that cost up to $25 for every 10 applications in a 30-day period. Apartments.com won best for renters because of its large inventory of not only apartments but also rental houses, condos, and townhomes combined with its convenient “apply now” feature within the app. It has extensive search and sort capabilities that we found to be more hearty than other apps.
BEST FOR ENTREPRENEURS
LoopNet.com
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LoopNet.com is the best real estate app for entrepreneurs because it only lists commercial properties. This saves investors time and frustration because they do not have to sort and filter through homes and individual apartments for sale and rent.
Pros
Users can receive in-depth looks at the available properties with pictures, videos, neighborhood stats, street views, investment highlights from the broker, and extensive property facts
Robust filter criteria to search properties for sale or for lease
Alerts tell you when your favorite properties have been updated
You can contact the listing broker with one click
Cons
Some reported bugs with the available space search function
The app inventory lags the online website inventory
LoopNet was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The platform is owned by the CoStar Group, which owns several other information and marketplace websites. LoopNet is solely for commercial property investors. This is not an app to search for a home to buy and live in, nor to seek an apartment to rent. It provides exposure to the largest active searching tenant community.
Search by location, and whether you want a property to buy or lease. There are 12 property types to search, such as retail, healthcare, office, restaurant, and multifamily apartment buildings, for example. Filter by price, size, year built, and capitalization rate. Further sort by listing date or whether the listing includes a video or a 3D tour as well.
LoopNet’s app excels at efficiently connecting app users to commercial listing brokers, which is why it wins the best app for entrepreneurs. Investors and listing brokers can swiftly exchange information and schedule tours all from within the app. Since timing can be a critical factor when closing on an investment property, the app notifications, convenient communication, and streamlined listing inventory are important assets.
The platform earns its revenue through commissions, listing fees, and advertising fees.
What Are Real Estate Apps?
Real estate apps are mobile applications aimed at making the process of property transactions easy. These apps are designed in a way that makes it easy for buyers, sellers, realtors, landlords, and investors to find each other quickly and conveniently.
Real estate apps consist of vast databases with hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of properties listed in them. This helps buyers look for their ideal home within the comfort of their homes, cars, or even from across the country. Sellers, landlords, and property managers also benefit from these apps as they can post details of their listings on multiple channels.
Real estate apps also offer a convenient advertising platform for realtors and agents who are looking to build their client base and acquire leads. In a few years, these apps may drastically shrink the size of in-person brokerages.
How Do Real Estate Apps Determine Home Value?
Real estate apps perform a comparative market analysis to determine the value of a property. These apps use cutting-edge technology to track and import market trends, location, neighborhood, property condition, tax records, and nearby sales.
Following this step, the app analyses property details like the number of rooms, bathrooms, the size of the porch, the availability of parking spaces, gardens, and swimming pools, to name a few. The app will then study previous sales in the neighborhood with similar specifications.
Even though recent sales are an effective method of setting a valuation, real estate apps also look at current listings, pending sales, as well as the available inventory to determine more accurate results. All of these steps contribute to property valuation.
Are Real Estate Apps Accurate?
Real estate apps have faced accuracy issues from the start. One of the reasons real estate apps are so powerful and have overtaken older forms of property searching, such as newspapers and realtor-led home visits, is also the same reason the apps have fought accuracy challenges. Apps deliver exponentially more properties to buyers, renters, and investors because they scrape established databases on the internet for this information. If there is inaccurate information in one of those databases, it will translate that inaccuracy to the app as well.
The process is not foolproof, but app users can minimize this by cross-checking information across other apps and with actual human realtors. The real estate app companies are also trying to make up for the inaccuracies in their databases by employing researchers to verify information in their property records.
How We Chose The Best Real Estate Apps
To select the best seven apps, we reviewed 15 different real estate apps. We analyzed their features, read their customer reviews, and tested the searching criteria they offer.
Special emphasis was given to app reviews, bug fixes, search and filter criteria, intuitive functions, and the amount of neighborhood research. We compared these apps to see the quality provided, then checked the user interface, details, and notification features of each app.
Lastly, we looked into the source of the listings. We checked if the sources were exclusive or borrowed and whether the information was credible. Our main goal was to check if there were any discrepancies in the sources. After extensive research, the above-mentioned apps were chosen as the best options for those looking for buying, renting, selling, or investing in real estate property.
best real estate app for land
With the New Year just around the corner, we wanted to share with you some land real estate apps that can help you take your real estate business to the next level in 2018. Whether your resolution is to be more efficient, effective, or productive, we’ve compiled a list with the down-low on the top apps for land real estate professionals to download. How do we know these apps are so great? We’ve pulled them from the RLI Technology & Resource Center created by agents for agents as a member benefit.
Adobe Acrobat
As a land agent, we know you’re always on the go, which means so is your office. The Adobe Acrobat app is an all in one tool which allows you to easily and quickly access PDF documents no matter where they are downloaded from online. This intuitive tool makes reading documents on your phone or tablet easy with search, zoom, and scrolling functionality. Plus, you can review PDFs and add your own comments or mark-ups which you can easily pass along to staff or clients. And the fun doesn’t stop there, this app allows you to fill out forms on the go as well as e-sign any PDF doc. Finally, you have to check out its easy scan functionality which can turn a picture of anything into a shareable PDF.
CamCard
Keeping track of paper files, and especially small ones like business cards, can be a hassle. This next app proves a great way to turn your paper business cards digital to make them easier to keep track of and to use the information off of. All you have to do is snap a pic of a business card and the app keeps track of the information in a database like format. You can easily add notes, exchange e- cards, and access your contacts from anywhere!
EverNote
There’s a good reason EverNote calls themselves “your second brain.” This app has is great for agents trying to remember a lot of different things at once when they are being pulled in a million different directions. It’s not just an app for taking notes but also offers a way to declutter and work smarter by creating notes with checklists, tables, links, and even audio-snips all in a searchable central location. Plus, it also has a helpful business version of the app for purchase that allows sharing and collaboration—great for working with your team or clients.
FarmLogs
Okay so this app isn’t necessarily for your business — though you could use it that way, too! — but if you own farmland or have clients who do, it should definitely be on your radar. This app is designed to help you manage your property by giving insights into field conditions, soil maps, crop heat accumulation, yield threats, real-time futures prices, and more! You can even use for everything from taking and sharing notes while out on a property or managing a budget.
Sumo
Looking to grow your prospect list and capture leads from your website? Sumo helps agents to increase inbound traffic to their website and capture leads. From adding share buttons that make it easier for visitors to share your content to creating pop-ups that capture emails of hot leads, this app is designed to be a powerful way to grow your business.
For a full list of apps and more technology and service recommendations from the best land real estate agents in the business, check out RLI’s new Technology & Resource Center member benefit. Know of any apps we can add to this list? Fill out the form in the RLI Technology & Resource Center so we can add it to the collection! Until next time, here’s to a productive New Year!
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