Welcome back to the series, Millennials Mortgage Process! Today’s topic is about the best thing smartphones have given us in the last few years: Apps!
There are a lot of different Apps to use when searching for and buying a home. Here’s a short list of the most helpful Apps I’ve been using for the past year:
Zillow– I started using both Zillow and Trulia a few years ago when I was first looking for an apartment. Zillow has so many listings that I thought it was a good idea to start with a broad pool and narrow it down as I went. I soon stopped using Trulia, but I did save a ton of checklist and budget tool “printables” that they have available here as PDFs (wonderful graphics and they really break down the process for first time homebuyers!)
One oddball issue my fiancé and I found as we continued to use Zillow was that the listings were not up to date. We would be looking at a house across the street from my parents, the sign outside said ‘Under Contract’, but Zillow said it was still ‘For Sale’. After doing more digging, I found that Zillow does update based off of the MLS, but a few factors affect its update speed: 1) the listing agent is typically required to update the MLS within 2 business days, so if you look over the weekend it may not have been updated yet, and 2) depending on how often Zillow actually pulls data from a certain MLS database, there could be another few days of a delay. Source
One good thing is that, in discussing finances with our Buyers’ Agent, doing the math on other website calculators, and talking to friends who have recently purchased a home, the mortgage calculator baked into Zillow is very accurate. This helps immensely with discovering if the home is affordable for us or not.
Realtor’s App– No, not the Realtor.com App, but the App that our Buyers’ Agent company has. It doesn’t restrict us to seeing only the properties being sold by the same company, and it also allows us to save favorites and have our agent see them without having to text/email/’share’ the listing with him. Its great to add a house and then 15 minutes later get an email from him saying ‘I know of a comp one town over that has an extra half bath but is $500 less in property taxes. Want to see that instead?’ If the Buyers’ Agent or Realtor company you are using has an App, trust me, it is making this process sooooo much smoother for us!
Facebook– I know Facebook is rolling out a real estate marketplace, but I’m utilizing Facebook to keep up with what’s going on in the towns we are looking at. Now, I know this seems odd, but hear me out. EVERYONE has that relative or friend or someone who is SUPER into the town gossip. Start listening. Follow the town’s Homepage if they have one. Follow the Fire Department or the Police Department page. Join the group of the neighborhoods you’re looking at. Mark ‘interested’ on events happening in the town in the next few months. Social media is meant for being social with people, and if you can watch, listen, and get a feel for the town from the people living there, you can rule out towns that may not meet your lifestyle or future neighborhood expectations.
I’ll lump Instagram in on this too. You can scroll through the ‘location’ on the search page and see what people are up to (sounds creepy, but hey, they chose to mark the location). See if the neighborhood has a playground. Check out the local park. How active, or inactive, are people your age in that neighborhood?
While these apps are great tools to use for home searching, and dare I say, fun to peruse other homes and neighborhoods in, narrowing down what homes are in your price range, lifestyle, and future goals can be tricky. This is where tapping into an agent can really help.
In the next installment, I’ll talk about the whirlwind of a week I’ve had this past week and recap my entire home search, home finding, mortgage application process, coordination of inspectors and contract signings. You know, the ‘fun’ stuff!