The proliferation of smartphones is changing the way we interact with realty. The ability to search and look at houses from behind a phone is a way that potential buyers can more easily get at information and it allows Realtors to more easily and interactively show housing information to interest parties. These are some real estate apps for iPhone and Android which every buyer and Realtor should be using.

Home Searching Apps

Realtor.com iPhone app

These three apps all have similar features, with the ability to search for houses by multiple constraints, map features, listings optimized for their browsers, coordination between apps and their websites, and the ability to save houses for consideration later. Which one you prefer may come down to aesthetics, but unique features are pointed out where applicable.

Realtor.com has apps out for both iPhones and Android phones. Their database includes more than 4 million homes – the largest in America, is updated every fifteen minutes and allows you to take notes on properties and store them for later. The Android app allows you to see exteriors of houses using Google StreetView and to take voice-recorded notes.

Realtor.com Android App
Realtor.com iPhone App

Zillow.com also has apps out for iPhone and Android phones. Their apps give you the Zestimate for any home (estimated value of the home), while the iPhone app allows you to get notifications when new houses are available, the Android app allows you to see houses using Google StreetView and can give you directions from wherever you may to be the house of interest using Google Maps.

Zillow.com Android App
Zillow.com iPhone App

Trulia.com has an app out for the iPhone which will give you all the normal details on homes for sale, apartments and recently sold homes. Shaking your phone will allow you to reload homes on a map or restart your search. They have not released an Android App, but one is development.

Trulia.com iPhone App

Mortgage Calculator Apps and Finance Apps:

Karl's Mortgage Calculator

Karls Mortgage Calculator is an Android app which will help you calculate and understand mortgage payments with charts and graphs. It calculates mortgage payments given principal, interest, and term and can reverse calculate mortgage using inputs for those three.

Karls Mortgage Calculator Android App

Mortgage Calc Pro can do everything as well, and will even show possible US tax deductions. One of the top 10 finance apps in 2010, you can calculate mortgages and other fixed rate loans and it allows you to email calculations to yourself. It comes with an impressive feature list and will cost you $0.99

Mortgage Calc Pro iPhone App

Home Buying Power has apps out which allow you to calculate how much you can afford to pay monthly for a house based on your income, desired monthly payment, property taxes and insurance. It includes a mortgage calculator as well and is $1.99 on both platforms.

Home Buying Power Android App
Home Buying Power iPhone App

Apps for Taking Notes

Evernote will help you jot down notes while house shopping, and you can easily transfer images, pdfs, text and audio from your phone to your computer. Everything you capture, from text to webpages to images to screenshots is indexed for searching. Evernote’s ability to read text from say, a business card, and store that as searchable text makes this rather useful. Notes taken are available on your phone, your computer and on the web so they’re accessible from just about anywhere. Evernote is available in a free version, with a permium version featuring some added features.

Evernote Android App
Evernote iPhone App

Reading QR Codes App

ShopSavvy is a QR reading app; QR Codes are being increasingly used in realty, with them currently on Realty Austin business cards and soon to be used on flyers to make information more accessible. They have smartphone applications, an iPhone app, and as of this date an Android app in beta.

ShopSavvy

All these apps can help you out in either your search for real estate or showing off real estate to interested buyers. As smartphones, iPhones and Android phones become more widespread, the ability to interact with real estate on the go will increase and evolve in new and exciting ways.

You’ve probably seen dozens of QR codes but might not have known what they are. QR (Quick Response) codes are barcodes which can convey much larger amounts of information than barcodes you would see on most retail items. Your smartphone can scan QR codes, which can contain lines of text, can send you to a webpage, or prompt you to make a phone call, send an email or a text message. The QR code on the right is a link to this blog page.  Free QR scanners are available for most phones. Mobile-Barcodes.com has an informative page on QR code readers and can help you get the right one for your phone.

Realty Austin has been implementing QR codes to more adeptly get information to clients. Realty Austin’s latest business cards contain QR codes that, when scanned, will take the user to the Realtor’s bio page.

Shortly though, use of QR codes will allow for a more information-rich realty experience. Those looking to buy a house can scan a QR code on a flyer and land on the page’s online listing, which can contain information such as photos, videos that a flyer cannot. For sellers, this means that your house’s webpage, the most informative and interactive place for information on your home short of visiting, is now more accessible to potentially interested buyers.

The use of QR codes is a new way to facilitate communications between buyers, sellers and agents and should make the process more accessible and engaging than ever before.