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Video — How Can You 'Keep Score' In Your Real Estate Search?

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It is difficult not to hit information overload while looking at possible home purchases. Take pictures, measure and maintain a scorecard as you go, but pay especial attention to these things:

Maintenance and Potential Problems. Look critically at systems like heat and AC; appliances and working mechanisms like doors and garage doors.

Observe the roof as best you can; even though it will probably be inspected, its a critical aspect of each house.

Look down! Carpets and floors are big wear points.

Ask lots of questions about the house, and include questions about the neighborhood and community. Look for clear and complete answers as you go.

Consistent questions and a scorecard will save you time in the long run. This free Federal resource may be useful:

https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/CHECKLIST-EN.PDF

7 Tools for Finding a Home

For some people, looking for a home can be a challenging and stressful experience. Finding the ideal home may not be lot simpler the second time around, even if you've bought a home before. Even though you have some experience with the process, it's possible that your demands have changed since you last owned a home. If so, your house-hunting experience will be very different. Apps and websites that are made to make it easier to find a new house are just a couple of the things that can aid in the process.

It can be very helpful to use apps and websites to help you find your dream house. They may even help to lessen some of the stress associated with the home-buying process. You may use the app capabilities while doing errands or driving by neighborhoods that you've already expressed interest in because apps can be downloaded to your smartphone or tablet and accessed from anywhere. The house-hunting apps and websites are remote and simple to use, which makes them extremely useful.

The nine more well-known apps that you can use to look for the appropriate property are examined in-depth in this article.

#1 Zillow

The most well-known real estate app out there is probably Mortgage by Zillow. All Apple and Android smartphones can get this software for free. Due to the over 100 million houses in its database, Zillow is widely regarded as the go-to app when looking for a new home. The program is renowned for having a classy dashboard where users may save information about properties and monitor any changes to the properties' values.

Additionally, you may filter your results by recent price changes, which will present you with the listings that have had the most recent price changes first. With the help of this app, you can check average listing and selling prices for various regions and cities, which could be helpful in ensuring that you don't overpay for a house you're interested in.

#2 RedFin

During the home buying process, you can browse for properties using the real estate app RedFin and communicate with real estate brokers. The RedFin app's real estate fees are far less expensive than those charged by traditional real estate agents. RedFin customers who buy a home through the company can receive up to $1,500 in agency costs back. The RedFin app offers a valuable tool called Hot Homes, which indicates which properties are most likely to sell rapidly. The Hot Homes feature might be quite useful if you want to find a great house at a fair price.

Another advantage of using this app is that you can book a tour by speaking with an agent directly. The app will show you the next tour hours that are open to you, making arranging the tour simple and convenient. A heart icon can be used to add a property to your "favorite" properties list when you see one you like. When attempting to reduce the search results, you can also remove properties in which you have no interest. Use of this app is totally free.

Realtor.com

#3 Real Estate.com

The fact that the National Association of Realtors uses Realtor.com as its official portal is testament to the app's credibility and breadth. You can add certain home features to a must-have list using the search function of this software, which can subsequently be used to find the house of your dreams.

This app updates quickly and will provide you the most recent listings in minutes thanks to easy access to the MLS. The presence of a Sign Snap feature is a crucial component of this specific app. You can use this function to take a picture of a real estate sign you see while out shopping or at the gym. You will receive information about the property right away after taking a photo. On Apple and Android smartphones, the app is free to download.

#4 Trulia

If you want to look for a new home in detail, Trulia is a great, free app to utilize. The Trulia app gives users access to more than one million real-time MLS listings and 34 various map overlays for the neighborhoods they are interested in. These overlays can give you information on amenities, commuting times, schools, and crime rates—all of which are essential to the home-buying process.

The neighborhoods in which internet users who have downloaded the Trulia app reside are also surveyed. The results of these polls are then presented for each individual neighborhood. Trulia offers more than 30 filters and a custom keyword search as part of its search customization features. When looking for the ideal home, the Trulia app offers almost everything you would need.

#5 AroundMe

Popular mobile app AroundMe is available for download on Apple, Android, and Windows devices. Although you can use this program for free, you can also pay $2.99 to remove advertising. AroundMe is renowned for enabling users to discover practical information about their surroundings. This app will give you in-depth information about the neighborhood if you're looking at a house in a part of town you've never been to before.

Once you've determined where the house is, you can decide whether to hunt for the closest hotel, bank, gas station, restaurant, or school. Once you've bought the house, it's easy to add the contact details of the destination immediately to your phone if you find a restaurant you'd like to eat at or a theater you'd want to visit with your family.

#6 The Real Estate Dictionary

On Apple and Android devices, users can download the free real estate app The Real Estate Dictionary, which is quite useful. This software allows you instant access to thousands of meanings for frequent real estate terms as well as hundreds of images that were taken from dictionaries of finance, real estate, and mortgage.

You may definitely come across terminology and phrases that you aren't entirely familiar with while looking for a new property. This app makes it simple to look up terms you've heard, so if you're looking for a new house, you should pay attention to everything your real estate agent tells you.

#7 Houzz

With the help of the free Houzz app, people can effortlessly design and improve their houses. This app includes more than 20 million photographs of home exteriors and interiors, which can be divided into various sorts of rooms, if you're interested in a property but aren't sure if the interiors match your particular style and tastes.

You can purchase items from the app's more than 10 million categories, which you can then put in your house after you've paid for them. When looking through interior design photographs, you can choose goods that you see and afterwards buy them using the Visual Match recognition technology.

#8 HomeSnap

Real estate professionals and homebuyers both use the potent real estate software HomeSnap Real Estate & Rentals. This app offers full sharing and messaging tools that make it simple to convey updates to your partner or spouse along with normal MLS search options that let you swiftly and easily look for a property.

You will gain from using this app since it offers real-time MLS updates, which means that new properties arrive in the app practically immediately after they are posted for sale. The HomeSnap app is notable for including significant property history right at the start of the property profile. It can be quite helpful if this is a major priority in your house search to be able to determine your travel time from the property while you are looking at properties. Use of this app is totally free.

#9 BiggerPocket.

BiggerPockets is a free real estate software that offers customers a wealth of tools to utilize while looking for the ideal residence. You may access user forums, manuals, podcasts, eBooks, and blog entries about real estate and the home-buying process when you download this app.

When you want to learn more about numerous real estate topics, this particular app is great. BiggerPockets offers all the information you require if you want to learn about the house buying process. The same is true if you want to start investing in real estate or if you currently own a home and are considering renovating it to increase its worth. Both Apple and Android devices can use this software.

What to Think About When Looking for a Home

There are several things you should take into consideration when looking for the ideal house that will offer you all of the amenities you need. Finding a real estate agent who can help you through the entire process is crucial, to start with. The agent you select will give you priceless guidance and ensure that you can swiftly find a home that meets your particular requirements. A real estate agent can help you avoid costly mistakes like overpaying for a property or failing to notice a problem with a house you're interested in.

To confirm that you will be able to qualify for a loan, you should also consult with a mortgage lender. Before placing an offer on a property, think about improving your credit score if you think it could be difficult for you to get a loan. You should have a clearer notion of what you can currently afford if you can obtain a pre-approval letter. There are professionals that can guide you through each step of the home buying process in addition to the applications mentioned in this article that provide services to assist you, so you can be sure that the choices you make are the right ones.

Author
Cathy Hills
Content Associate
January 27, 2023
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