Save time and money with these essential tools that streamline budgeting and home buying.
May 2, 2023
The 10 Best Real Estate Technology and Apps for Budgeting and Buying a Home
If you’re a sucker for a good app, then getting some real estate technology in your wheelhouse could be your next best move, especially if you’re eyeing some homes in the near future. 👀Here’s a breakdown of 10 apps for buying real estate, whether you’re looking to build a budget, spec out homes with your agent, or go to some local auctions.
For budgeting
1. You Need a Budget (YNAB)
YNAB has a unique approach to money, with its infamous Four Rules ™ for less money stress:
- Give every dollar a job
- Embrace your true expenses
- Roll with the punches
- Age your money
With their platform, accessible on desktop or mobile, you can easily connect your bank for automatic synchronization, track spending goals, and view spending and net worth reports, so you’re regularly managing your finances. As a homebuyer, you can also use their loan calculator to strategically plan your monthly purchases and save up for a home.
2. Mint
Mint, Quickbooks’ money management spinoff, helps you simply track your transactions, spending, and categories both manually and with smart email updates when you’ve gone over (or under) spending. Track your cash flow, easily catch all your subscriptions so you can ditch the ones you’re not using anymore, and access a free credit score right in your app. For buying a home, this is a super simple and free way to manage your spending and track how much you’re intaking each month so you can easily visualize what a down payment and regular mortgage payment might cost.
3. Monarch
Manage your money with your partner so you can both stay on track saving for your dream home. With Monarch, you can visualize your finances side-by-side with your partner, syncing your net worth, tracking your investments, identifying your spending insights, and viewing balances across all your cards. As a financial tool alone, it’s a great way for partners to sync their spending habits together so they can make educated, joint decisions together– transaction lists, spending insights, and customizable budgets are just a small piece of the puzzle.
And if you invest in real estate together, it’s all the better. Syncing your account with Zillow Zestimates will help you track the estimated value of your properties all in one place, so you can buy your first house, and then move onto the second and third easily.
4. Credit Karma
It’s so much more than just a simple credit check– though it’s still a big part of being approved for a home. Along with one free credit check per day for regular credit monitoring, Credit Karma gives you curated insights into how to bring your score up based on how you’re using your credit cards and what your payments are through visual insights and personalized recommendations from the platform. You can also browse through loan options for when it is time to buy to see which ones work best for you.
5. Honeydue
This free finance app makes financial collabing as a couple easy and accessible! Connecting with your banks will ensure you never miss a transaction and have all your spending in one place, but it’s certainly not the limit that Honeydue has. The app will keep you on track with bills, sending you reminders of when to pay, give you the option to chat directly about a specific transaction with your partner, and their newest feature lets you open a joint bank account together. Share some or all of your spending with each other, and when it’s time for a home, easily remain in-the-loop about how much you’re both able to commit.
For buying
Now that you have a stellar budgeting process in place through one of these simple apps, let’s move onto the actual purchase process. Here are our top real estate technology apps for buying a home, some of which are probably familiar, and others, maybe something you haven’t thought of before.
Related: “Real Estate is a Long-Term Play,” and Other Tips for Being a Buyer in Denver, Colorado in 2023
6. Zillow
We like to consider Zillow the Pinterest for finding your home, with strategies and numbers to boot. While you’re probably used to scrolling through it to find both attainable and dream homes (hello, perfect Hawaii dream home), it’s a great place to gather ideas of what you’re looking for and what could be in your price range– especially if you’re new to the area or to the homebuying process.
When working with real estate agents, sending us Zillow listings can help us learn more about the types of homes you’re looking for, identify patterns in what you like (Colonials versus prefabs versus Victorian), the types of layouts you’re looking at, and the land you’d like to be on. From there, we can work together to pick up where Zillow leaves– by getting a home that meets your budget, ensuring all your paperwork is filled out, and connecting with buyers and agents directly to build a relationship.
7. Auction
Perhaps the most descriptive name of them all, Auction is real estate technology that helps beginner and seasoned home buyers with one simple thing: house auctions! Browse through foreclosed, bank-owned, and short-sale homes with a simple input of the location you’re looking into buying. New to buying auction properties? Visit their help center to learn about how to buy foreclosed and bank-owned homes the right way.
8. Xome
Another app primarily focused on finding auction properties, Xome showcases auction homes through online auction property listing and through their auction calendar, helping people who are both seasoned in going to home auctions and providing a learning center for those who are doing it for the first time. You’ll automatically see homes in your area right on the homepage, and from there can start browsing through options based on their opening bid, the square footage of the house, when their foreclosure sale is, and key features like whether they’re offering only-cash offers, whether they have a buyer’s premium, and who their eviction partner is.
9. Homesnap
Share the app that many agents use with Homesnap– a way to easily search through home listings and connect with your real estate agent all in one app. One quick search on their homepage will highlight all the most important information about a home, including its price, estimated mortgage, photos, and listing details, along with the listing agent selling it.
You’ll also have the option to get extra notifications about a particular property when the price changes or save a search.
10. Facebook
Your community Facebook group isn’t just for finding a great Tex Mex place to eat downtown or connecting with local moms in your area. Believe it or not, you’ll find properties for sales in Facebook groups or even on Facebook Marketplace, either listed by the sellers or by the real estate agents themselves. If you frequent the ‘book often, keep an eye out next time you’re perusing around your local groups or Marketplace– you never know what you might find is for sale!
Related: Your Local Guide to Meeting Other Moms in Denver