Appetite for Apps
Sunday, March 23rd, 2014
Apple’s marketing slogan, “There’s an app for that,” gets more true by the week – these small programs for mobile devices are becoming increasingly powerful and popular. You can find a series of apps for basically any industry you can imagine, and real estate is no exception. Here’s a list of five of the best apps for Canadian buyers and sellers.
1. Realtor.ca
This app puts the power of the MLS system in the palm of your hand, allowing you to search listings across Canada by a variety of criteria. An added value, compared to the desktop version, is the GPS functionality that can tell you about listings near your current location, making your Sunday house shopping drive a whole lot more efficient.
2. Magic Plan
Create a floorplan of a home simply by taking a series of pictures and letting the app do its magic. Great for making decorating and furnishing decisions, or just to get a sense of a property from a new perspective.
Calculate your mortgage payments, land transfer fees, CMHC premiums, and more, helping you get a grasp on how much home you can really inform. This app even includes sliders to take into account roommate income, bi-weekly vs. monthly payments, and first-time homebuyer rebates.
Designed especially for first-time homebuyers, from Canada’s national housing agency, CMHC. Helps determine affordability and tracks details during the homebuying process.
5. Starbucks
What would a day of house shopping be without coffee? The Starbucks app tracks your purchases (you can pay right from your phone if you load a gift card into the app), and lets you hit purchasing goals that earn perks like free refills.
