Mobile applications for real estate go beyond search

LOS ANGELES — Hunting for a home or apartment on the go seems to get easier with every new mobile-phone application.

The latest apps and mobile sites include social-networking features and even suggestions for the best places to shop.

Online real-estate search portals such as Trulia.com, Zillow.com and Redfin.com continue to have among the most popular software that can be downloaded to your phone. But even homebuilders and Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate have become mobile believers.

Apple's iPhone currently has more than 100,000 applications for everything from a virtual Zippo lighter to a guitar tuner. (Full disclosure: The Associated Press operates the Mobile News Network, a multimedia news site for iPhones and other smart phones.)

The selections are more limited for shoppers with other types of phones and handsets powered by the Google's Android or Microsoft's Windows mobile operating system.

Still, just about any Web-enabled phone can now be used to search for real-estate listings these days, although the experience is still more satisfying on phones that link their GPS functions with the Web.

Here's a brief look at some newcomers and new features:

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate:

http://www.bhgrealestate.com/iphone

This application helps buyers categorize open houses they visit. Users can jot down notes on a house they're viewing and take photos, which can be uploaded through the app to Facebook.

"That's a package of features that we feel is really important for the new Echo Boomer consumer of today," says Sherry Chris, the company's president and chief executive.

The app also uses the iPhone's GPS feature to compile housing-market data, such as median home-sale prices.

Currently the application is only available for the iPhone, but versions for BlackBerry and Droid phones will be out early next year.

KB Home:

http://www.kbhome.com

Homebuilders are vying for homebuyers' attention, too. KB Home, which builds homes in 10 states and Washington, D.C., launched a search site in December designed to work better on mobile Web browsers.

Users can tailor searches down to a specific KB community. The no-frills portal shows basic details, including number of rooms, price range, address, photos or renderings, floor plans and contact information.

The site also lets users dial up the sales office directly from the browser.

Smarter Agent:

http://www.smarteragent.com/Smarter Agent was one of the pioneers with a mobile application in 2006 that helped buyers find information on recently sold homes. Last year, it rolled out an app called Homes for Sale, versions of which are now available for virtually all phones offered by all U.S. wireless carriers. The app also lets users search for properties for rent.

The software can be viewed on mobile-phone browsers, so users don't necessarily have to have a fancy smart phone to use it.

The firm culls listings from publicly available data from the local Multiple Listing Services and individual brokerage firms. "We have all the listings in the local markets that we're in," said Eric Blumberg, president of Smarter Agent.

Next year, the firm plans to add interactive ads offering discounts from retailers.

Trulia Mobile:

http://www.trulia.com/mobileTrulia users can search for homes for sale with an iPhone app or via their mobile Web browser. This month, the firm updated its offerings to include larger property photos, improved map navigation and expanded home-search criteria. Users now can search for the most popular properties and those that have been reduced in price recently.

Meanwhile, on the iPhone 3GS and other video phones, an app called Layar taps Trulia's data to let users see real-time information overlaid on their video screens as they pan from home to home.

Trulia plans to add rental properties to their database early next year. The company also is considering rolling out an app for Android phones.

"I could very well see that happening in 2010," says Rob Cross, Trulia's director of distribution.

Zillow Mobile:

http://mobile.zillow.com/Zillow launched an iPhone app in April, and created a version that works on mobile-phone Web browsers.

The tool give users an estimated value of all homes in its database, not just ones for sale. Users also can filter results, save searches, and get alerts when a new listing they might be interested in pops up.

The firm released another version in August, which sped up the map display and lets users share listings via e-mail.

Zillow has added rentals search, among other features.

"It's a matter of time before more people will be looking for real estate on a mobile device than on a desktop," says Spencer Rascoff, Zillow's chief operating officer. "It's inevitable."