Apps for First-Time Homebuyers

Mobile apps available to first-time homebuyers may aid people in preparing to purchase a home, finding the right house, and getting to know their potential new neighborhoods. Buying a home for the first time is an exciting, albeit stressful, new chapter in people’s lives. The range of apps available for download may help prospective homebuyers understand their options and prepare themselves as much as possible before diving into the real estate market for the first time.

Preparing to Buy a Home

Apps such as Mortgage Calculator Pro, Essential Real Estate Dictionary, and Keep Home may give future homebuyers the knowledge groundwork they need before jumping into purchasing their first homes. When buying a house, people need information, such as their budget options and how to make sense of the contracts involved with their purchases.

Mortgage Calculator Pro

Mortgage Calculator Pro performs the math and calculations to give people an idea of what they can and cannot afford. In addition to determining approximate down payment and loan payment amounts, the app may also help determine the property taxes, HOA fees, and other costs associated with buying a particular property.

Real Estate Dictionary

Navigating buying a home without understanding the verbiage in use may prove challenging and overwhelming. The Essential Real Estate Dictionary serves as a portable appendix, allowing people to search for and flag words and phrases commonly used in the real estate industry to aid them in negotiating transactions and reviewing real estate contracts.

Keep Home

The Keep Home app provides homebuyers with tools for buying and owning a home, including budgeting assistance, information on finding a real estate agent and making an offer, and working with a real estate lawyer or agent. Additionally, the app and corresponding website provide courses and information about home maintenance and repairs, organizing warranties and household information, and managing contractors.

Finding the Right House

Housing hunting apps, including the Redfin, Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia apps, let prospective home buyers search for the perfect house from their phones or tablets. Such apps provide regularly updated home listings, which include asking prices, property photographs, and other information. These and other housing apps also allow people to search the listings in specific zip codes, neighborhoods, or areas. Some also feature filters that prospective homebuyers may use to narrow their searches down to only those properties with their wants and needs, such as a swimming pool or one-story floorplan.

Getting to Know the Neighborhood

Particularly if moving to a new neighborhood, city, or state, first-time homebuyers may rely on apps such as Around Me to get to know their new areas. The Around Me app shows people the amenities around a particular property, allowing them to easily find their local grocery stores, gas stations, banks, restaurants, and hospitals. Around Me app users may filter amenity listings by category and view them on a map and access distance and route information. The app also allows users to save listing information to their contact lists or to send it to someone else via email.