Five handy apps to help you buy, rent or renovate a home
Tim Savoy is a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Dupont Circle who writes about the Washington-area real estate market.
Buying, renovating or renting a home can be daunting – especially for young first-timers.
• RoomScan: One of my go-to mobile applications for iPhone users (though not for Android), RoomScan allows the user to digitally create a floor plan that is pretty near accurate. For my sellers, I recommend the app for handout floor plans, and for buyers, to measure if their furniture will fit during the down time of a home inspection. The best part: It’s simple to use by just placing the phone on the wall, and the basic version is free!
• Close It!: Time and time again I have seen a buyer or seller receiving their HUD-1 statement and seeing a significant amount of closing costs on their debits. To prevent this, I recommend Close It!, a free smartphone app that shows the buyer and seller a breakdown of their closing costs.
Created by District title company Federal Title, Close It! is a great tool for both sides trying to avoid surprises at the settlement table. Bonus points to the app for also providing mortgage and proceeds calculators as well as user-friendly interaction with real estate professionals.
• DotLoop: Let’s be honest, signing on paper is becoming a thing of the past. One technology that is driving the marketplace for speed of transactions and ability of access is the advent of electronic signatures. For both my buyers and sellers, I recommend electronic signatures (or e-signatures) to create a better pace for transactions that are time sensitive.
Of these, DotLoop is one of the friendliest, providing an interface that combines “loops” between parties in a transaction and their contract forms. With almost a social feel connecting parties in a loop, DotLoop also allows notes and tasks to be left for the other side, but is also secure and anonymous between sides.
• Home Advisor: With so many handyman applications out there, it is hard to choose one that is just right for the homeowner. Home Advisor is everything and more for home repairs, from minor to large-scale projects.
From requesting service for remodeling to window repair and everything in between, Home Advisor has a network of thousands of repairmen that are experts at your particular problem. Even if the project is long-term, the app allows you to work at your own pace to perfect your home as a new homeowner or an owner looking to take on a few projects around the house.
• Lovely: Finally, I have to mention applications for rentals. In a rental market as in demand as D.C.’s, finding an apartment can be a challenge when there are literally dozens of Web sites that showcase various properties.
Lovely changes this by aggregating Web sites together and putting out one of the largest sources of rentals citywide. While renting doesn’t provide the same supply as the sales market, expanding the list of existing apartments and houses for renters is certainly a perk to the house hunting process.
Source: Washington Post
Accessibility