Today, more than half of all home buyers begin their search online. And no wonder. Real estate apps combine the ease of surfing the web with the mobility of a smartphone. Millions of properties are listed in dozens of apps. With so many options, where do you start? Here, we highlight eight good ones to try, and new features we’re watching in 2021.
Before we start, we note for our readers that this is information — not affiliate marketing. Deeds.com receives no compensation from any of these companies. We’re simply excited about the future of real estate, deeds and titles — and we love sharing our explorations with our readers. If you don’t see an app you love here today, we’ll likely cover it in the future.
OK, let’s look at the apps!
1. “Convenience and Control”: Offerpad
The Arizona-based Offerpad was an early iBuyer company, buying homes directly from sellers online. The company is active in hundreds of metropolitan areas across the United States and plans a nationwide presence. It calls itself the “perfect selling option for those who love convenience and control.” And who doesn’t?
Online sellers receive perks from Offerpad, including a move within 50 miles. Sellers can list on the open market through Offerpad too. Those who want to enhance their property’s value first can apply for advance renovation funds and home improvement resources.
What’s new about this app: An intriguing announcement has popped up: Offerpad has title and mortgage services in the works.
2. Data Powerhouse: Zillow
Using Zillow’s free mobile app, buyers will find a treasure trove of listings. Zillow’s mobile app lets sellers post listings, photos, and videos. And agents can use Zillow to view interiors and get asking prices right from the app.
Zillow’s “Zestimate” pricing function has, for years, drawn
people to look at the company’s offerings. This means the company has
accumulated lots and lots of data, and that’s power in today’s market. In 2015,
Zillow acquired the well-known company Trulia (which also has a free app).
Zillow Offers™ is the option to sell to Zillow. Thus, Zillow-owned homes are
among the listings. If multiple agents appear with a listing, one is the agent,
and the others are paying to appear on the page.
What’s new about this app: Pre-recorded home tours are so last year! Now, Zillow is meeting the customer demand for 3D floorplans. With a floorplan overlay on the screen as a focal point, the new feature offers 360-degree panoramas of homes for viewers to explore.
3. Social Media Savvy: Homesnap
With Homesnap, you can get the data on a home or a whole area. Plus, you’ll get new pricing alerts. The app scours the public records, listing data, school district information, property descriptions and other details of homes on or off the market. Buyers and sellers can find agents in their areas using Homesnap as well. Agents can request social media marketing services to keep up an active presence through Facebook and Google.
Homesnap saves the homes you visit. There’s a messenger function, too, so real estate explorers can share and converse about specific homes — including with people who don’t have the app.
What’s new about this app: Homesnap Showings, in direct competition with Zillow, is introducing a showing management tool for private home tours from within the app. Homesnap points out that its tool will allow agents “to collaborate with their buyers and sellers without fear that their clients’ information is being shared with a competing brokerage.”
4. For Browsers and Buyers: Redfin
The free Redfin app is wonderful for browsing and keeping track of your home equity! Redfin says it updates home information every five minutes. It has an array of filters and can block unwanted properties from appearing in new searches. It has excellent property value data. (Of course, buyers and sellers should always get an appraiser’s new evaluation before making a deal.)
Redfin also has a tool to compare mortgage rates and start loan applications — although that’s only on the website, not in the app. The details are extracted from Zillow Group Marketplace.
Redfin is good for buyers and sellers who want to be connected with a Redfin agent. Sellers will pay 1% to list and up, depending on location and the level of service they choose. For example, Redfin can update and stage a home. The 2% listing fee for this service includes a real estate agent and a concierge who finds local contractors.
Redfin, a concierge trendsetter, promises marketing with an international scope. But again, the app is quite streamlined in comparison to everything you’ll find on the website.
What’s new about this app: Redfin’s app now offers home shoppers a one-click video-chat tour request option. Are we detecting a pattern here?
5. “Radical Transparency” for Mortgages: Better.com
Better.com streamlines the paper chase. On a mission to take the aggravation out of getting a mortgage, it offers “radical transparency” through online loan applications and approvals. There are no lender fees or commissions. How does Better Mortgage make money? By selling the mortgages to investors who trade in loans on the secondary mortgage market.
Notably, Better’s homepage quotes Fortune on the potential of the internet to counter a history of discrimination against minorities and LGBTIQ+ home buyers. As we have noted previously (see Update on Black Homeownership in 2021), some consumers seek out online businesses to avoid lender bias. Better Mortgage knows many potential borrowers have been dismissed or undervalued by lenders. This suggests the company cares about living up to its name.
What’s new about this app: The Better app is now available in the vast majority of states, with Virginia, Montana, and Vermont recently getting access to the service.
6. Immediate Gratification: Realtor.com
The free Realtor.com app can help you find (but not list) a home, a rental, an agent, the current mortgage rates, and even an estimate of your own borrowing power. The listings are constantly updated. Renting your property? There’s a special version just for rentals.
Realtor.com says its app has more listings than any other real estate app. It also has two immediate-gratification functions, Street Peek and Sign Snap, for getting information on properties or for-sale signs you point to with your smartphone camera.
What’s new about this app: The addition of flood risk ratings for homes puts an important power in the home shopper’s hand.
7. Up and Coming: Casa Blanca
Casa Blanca is cleverly creating a “Bumble-like” matchmaking app for buyers and homes. Take a personal style quiz, then check out your homes! Swipe right or left, and get matched with homes that fit your priorities, tastes, and whims. House Beautifulloves it.
Agents are more like advisers than brokers in Casa Blanca’s direct-to-buyer sales model. Shoppers can chat with them and set up showings through the app. Buyers get a “closing bonus” of up to 1% back at closing.
What’s new about this app: Everything!Casa Blanca was just launched in October 2020. It started by matching up renters and New York City properties. The woman-owned company is finding opportunity in crisis for itself and others, as many women have separated from their traditional office jobs and are looking for work in the digital economy.
8. Creating a Buzz: Opendoor
The Opendoor app is a creative platform for people who want to sell and buy homes. The company buys houses from owners to flip them — which makes it an iBuyer company. Like Casa Blanca, Opendoor offers home buyers a 1% closing rebate.
What sets Opendoor apart? First, its size. It does more iBuying than any other company. Second, its drive to be consummately customer-friendly. A seller can get a cash offer in minutes. A buyer has 90 days to be sure they like the home. If not, the company will take it back.
What’s new about this app: While Opendoor Technologies started buying homes in 2014, it’s becoming much more widely known now, creating quite a buzz as a newly public company.
The Bigger Story: Mobile Technology Is Changing Home Marketing
These are eight greats in a stellar crop of real estate apps available today. We can now shop, sell, finance and refinance with a smartphone, and many features are free of charge.
The bigger story? We’re in the midst of a major shift in the way homes are bought, sold, and financed. Today’s generation of mobile technology is central to the shift.
Supporting References
Katie Deighton for the Wall Street Journal:Zillow Rolls Out Interactive Floor Plans as Video Tours Fall Flat(Feb. 19, 2021).
Mary Ann Azevedo for TechCrunch: Real Estate Tech Startup Offerpad to Go Public via SPAC Merger in $3B deal (Mar. 18, 2021).
Jeff John Roberts for Fortune: Minority Home Buyers Can Get Better Mortgage Rates From Algorithms (Dec. 18, 2019).
Mary Ann Azevedo for TechCrunch: Casa Blanca Raises $2.6M to Build the ‘Bumble for Real Estate’ (Apr. 15, 2021).
Luke Lango for InvestorPlace: Below $20, Opendoor Stock Is an Absolute Steal With 10X Potential (Apr. 12, 2021).
Sarah Sharkey for Bankrate: Six of the Best Real Estate Apps (Feb. 23, 2021).
Photo credits: Keira Burton and Pixabay, via Pexels.