July 2, 2012

When it comes to searching for real estate, few people rely on an agent any more to help them find homes. While youll still need a realtor to get you in the door of actual properties you want to view, there are many tools now available on the internet and via your mobile devices that can help you find and explore real estate options in any area you might be searching for a home. Suppose, such as, that you have to move for work. You might not want to pay out-of-pocket for a trip to your new home city to search for a house with no idea of what you might be looking at. So instead you can visit real estate websites that have home listing to find a few youre interested in before you ever hop on a plane. And the growing world of real estate apps for your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch make any property search even easier since you use the map feature to compare home prices, amenities, and other details in any given area. The only question is, do you want to use Zillow or Trulia ?

Both of these multiple listing service (MLS) apps are top picks for the average home buyer scouting out options. But which one is better? In truth, the two apps are very similar in terms of features and functionality. Both offer maps that show listed properties in a given area by price, and all you have to do is tap them on your touch screen to see details (square footage, number of rooms, other amenities, etc.) and photos. You can also filter search options to target homes by criteria such as neighborhood, number of bedrooms, and more. And of course you can earmark properties that youre interested in for future reference and arrange for instant updates when the status (price, availability) changes. Both of them also let you search properties for sale, rent, and so on, as well as explore the local environs virtually to find listings of grocery stores, restaurants, and other shops. And should you need to contact an agent about a listing, both have easy access to realtors.

However, it seems that Zillow . often cited as the leader in MLS apps, has a few more tricks up their sleeve. For example, they not only have a mortgage calculator function in their app; they also allow you to narrow your search to include specified monthly mortgage payments. You can also tag homes that you are interested in that arent for sale to be notified if they are listed on the market. And you can get driving directions during your house hunt without having to back out and hit up your Google maps app, you can get personalized loan quotes, and you can share favorite listings with friends via Facebook and Twitter.

While both apps will help you to find Fort Worth homes for sale. Los Angeles mansions that have recently dropped in price, Austin condos for sale. or New York apartments for rent, it seems that Zillow simply has more features to offer anyone on the market for a new residence. So while you could still download both to take advantage of listings that may appear on one service but not the other, youre bound to get a bit more out of using the Zillow app.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this guest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.