When it comes to real estate, location is everything–not just the location of the home, but also the location of the buyer, seller, and the real estate agent. Nowadays, most home buying research is done online, not in person. So whether a potential buyer is on a PC or an iPhone, standing in an open house or sitting on the sofa at home, these apps will make sure that they will get the information they need to get through the real estate process without a snag.
HomeSnap is a free real estate discovery app that lets you take a picture of any home to find out if it is for sale, what it’s worth, the last sale date and price, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the local schools, and more. With an inventory of more than 90 million homes, HomeSnap, which is currently available for iPhone and will be coming soon for Android devices, uses a phone’s GPS, inertia, sensors, magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, and algorithms to seamlessly match real-time data from the Multiple Listing Service with the snapped photo. www.sawbuck.com/homesnap
Obeo vStager uses the latest 3-D rendering technologies to fill a photo of an empty room with beautiful furniture and accessories. Studies show that staged homes sell faster and bring a higher sell price. This desktop app seeks to help buyers visualize what a home will look like fully furnished without the seller incurring the cost of purchasing or renting real furniture. The Interactive Obeo vStager and StyleDesigner allows users to change wall paint color, flooring, countertops, cabinets, etc. Plus, it includes a large library of custom furniture collections to choose from. Prices range from $99 for one photo to $549 for eight photos per listing. www.obeo.com/vstager
DocuSign lets mobile users send, sign, and save documents such as listing agreements, contracts, etc., anywhere and on any device. DocuSigned documents are legally binding, and because they are encrypted, they are more secure than paper. DocuSign supports many main file formats including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat PDF, and many others. Plus, you can capture documents from online sites such as Box, Dropbox, Google Docs, and Salesforce, or choose from an existing template in DocuSign. The sender and signer can print documents or access them anytime securely from the cloud. Personal accounts are free. Professional accounts start at $15/month. www.docusign.com