A review of the top mobile apps at every stage of the home shopping and buying process. A resources for buyers and providers in the housing industry.

1. FROM CULTURAL OUTREACH

2. Check out our
Mobile App Handout
PDF for a brief overview

3. Our team’s top picks for every stage
of the homebuying process
DREAM PREPARE SHOP MOVE DESIGN

4. Best apps for home buyers - how they work, pros and cons,
and screenshots to see them in action
WHAT’S INSIDE
Top-Ranking
Apps
How to Use Best FeaturesHome Buyer
Stats

5. Source: NAR,Home Buyers & Sellers Trends, 2018

6. Home Buyer Statistics
Median age of first-time buyers- 32
Average income - $75K
Median age of repeat buyers - 54
Average income - $97K
Source: NAR, Quick Real Estate Statistics - 2018

7. Millennials are the largest
group of home buyers at 36%
65% of these are also
first-time home buyers
Millennial Homebuyer

8. 99% of Millennials go online to find a home
58% of those utilize mobile apps
Millennial Homebuyers are Tech Savvy
But they still desire human
interaction and a relationship with
trusted professionals

9. Thinking about what buyers want in a home
DREAM

10. 1. Trulia
● Great app for home discovery
& neighborhood statistics
● Shows top-rated schools in
an area
● Points of interest
● Easy to share with others

11. ● Cool features like searching
customizable areas with the
“draw” tool
● Save search filters for future
searches
1. Trulia

12. 2. Zillow
● Simple, easy to use home
search app
● Beyond the basics: offers
free access to foreclosure
property listings
● Look up public and
private school ratings in
an area

13. Cons: Zillow & Trulia
● Often outdated information
● Slow to update listings

14. 3. Homesnap
● “Snap” feature allows buyer to take
pictures of any house and get
immediate listing information
● Chat/share homes with Realtor
● Listing capture is GPS-based, not
image-based, so if a low-quality pic is
snapped, that’s OK

15. Cons: Homesnap
● Can’t save filters
○ Have to reset every time a user opens the app

16. Find out how much home buyers can afford
PREPARE

17. 4. Credit Karma
● Simple & quick way to learn
credit score
● Free credit report
● Personalized tips to improve
credit
● Easily learn about credit profile,
and what each area means
● Provides a good deal of
financial education throughout

18. 5. Mint.com
● Presents financial information in an
easy-to-use interface
● Primary feature: budgeting & tracking

19. Get alerts for:
● Late fees
● Over budget in a category
● Bill reminders
● Rate changes
● Large purchases
5. Mint.com

20. Great for retroactive budgeting &
seeing spending trends, but not as
strong for larger wealth building
goals and financial projections
Cons: Mint.com

21. 6. Nerd Wallet
● Personalized financial
planning with tailored tips
● Prioritize financial goals
● Learn credit score and
factors that influence it

22. 7. Karl’s Mortgage
Calculator
● Straightforward, simple
tool for calculating
mortgage payments
● Option to reverse
calculate variables
● Multiple rounding options
on loan calculations

23. 7. Karl’s Mortgage Calculator

24. Finding and comparing homes
SHOP

25. 8. Redfin
● Provides up to date information for
both buyers & sellers
● Most Accurate Home Data: MLS real
estate listings refreshed every 15-30
minutes
● Connects with redfin account on
desktop
● Competitive Edge: Identifies which
homes are likely to sell the fastest so
the buyer doesn’t miss out.

26. ● Difficult to delete large quantity of favorited or
eliminated listings (there is a max to how many
favorites you can have)
● Some difficulty coordinating open houses through
the app
Cons: Redfin

27. 9. Realtor.com
● Clean interface
● Potential buyers can give a
listing their own rating -
helpful when considering
multiple homes
*Tip: Homes that a buyer has already
looked at gray out on the map so
they don’t repeat viewing the same
home over and over

28. 10. My Nest
● Home buying photo journal
that captures and organizes
details of homes to review &
share later with friends
● In-app total cost analysis
mortgage calculator

29. ● Buying a home requires lots of
signed documents
● Easily scans documents/receipts
into PDFs and shares them
through mobile
● Great for important documents
that need to get signed and sent
quickly!
11. Tiny Scanner

30. ● Uploading docs to: Dropbox,
Google Drive, Evernote, require
paid Pro account
● Free version allows: email, fax, or
save PDF to camera roll only
Cons: Tiny Scanner

31. Planning, organizing, and
streamlining the move
MOVE

32. 12. Sortly
● Organizational app that
creates a visual inventory of
personal items with photos,
tags, notes, & more
● Organizes and manages the
move
● 5-levels of folder organization

33. ● Some features unavailable
without a paid subscription
○ log large # of items
○ download or back-up data to
phone
● Subscription service vs.
flat-fee
● Only allows one-user per list
○ Can’t share inventory
Cons: Sortly

34. ● Largest mobile
marketplace for buying
and selling items
● Features seller profiles
and reviews for added
safety and verification
13. OfferUp

35. ● Customer Service can
be frustrating
○ Slow to reply
Cons: OfferUp

36. 14. Task Rabbit
● Hosts a variety of home
services from assembly to
moving help
● Provides qualified and
vetted “taskers”

37. 15. Trello
● Organization
management app
● Offers ability to:
○ Collaborate
○ Add checklists
○ Create boards
○ Assign due dates or
reminders

38. ● Some user difficulty
when setting due
dates/calendar items
● Initial difficulty of use
○ Lacks tutorials or
helpful in-app tips
Cons: Trello

39. Home projects, decorating
and renovations
DESIGN

40. 16. Houzz & Pinterest
● Discover, collect & share
DIY projects and home
design ideas
Pinterest

41. Houzz
● View products in a
new space
● Connect with design
professionals
16. Houzz & Pinterest

42. 17. magicplan
● Create floor plans
● Generate job estimates
● View new space in 3D
● Add notes and photos

43. ● Some limited capabilities
○ Requires floor corner vs ceiling corner
for AR measurement
○ Difficult if room is already furnished
● Fine controls can be
temperamental
○ Better for high level projects
(visualizations)
Cons: magicplan

44. 18. Wayfair
● Purchase home goods
● Customized features
section based on past
searches
● Create project pages
● Shop look books

45. ● Largest selection of items
across the board
● Items can be at the door
in 2 days or less!
● Use Alexa to shop
● Compare before buying
19. Amazon Prime

46. Check out our Mobile
App Handout PDF for
a brief overview

47. culturaloutreach.com
kristin@culturaloutreach.com
sarah@culturaloutreach.com
2018 BEST MOBILE APPS
FOR HOMEBUYERS