Buying a new home is definitely not the easiest decision in the world. Some choices are clear and simple, but others can be complex. Phone apps are a great tool for homebuyers to take advantage of – plus most of them are free!

Here is a list of some tried and true phone apps to try out.

  1. Around.Me Real Estate. This app focuses on location. It shows you places you use in your daily life like banks, restaurants, gas stations, and hospitals. The listings aren’t perfect – like most generic Internet searches you might get a gourmet cheese shop, or other specialty store or location, when searching for a “grocery store” for example, but overall it’s very helpful.
  2. Try downloading a Real Estate Dictionary. Some of the home buying lingo might be new to you if this is your first time in the market. Look for one that will give you concise definitions, and ideally free, otherwise definitely inexpensive.
  3. A mortgage calculator can also be an immense asset. Many are available and free of charge. They will help you make more educated financial decisions.
  4. House Hunter. This app tries to remove some emotion that goes along with home buying. It lets the users rate properties on a scale from 1-10. Then it takes your ratings and calculates which property fits you best.
  5. Houzz is an app that gives you ideas of what to do with an awkward corner or part of a room in a home you are interested in. It includes more than 200,000 photos and you can search by room, style, and neighborhood.
  6. Trulia offers you a lot of listings to look through. On the iPad version users can compare what properties were listed at and their selling price. On the Android users can use a voice-based search by city and type of home.