Incredible New Real Estate App Available - Great for Snooping! (Blog)

The other day I discovered the app called Homesnap. Usually apps don't impress me too much. Most come with promises of doing all these great things, but most fall far short of the hype. This particular app delivers in some pretty impressive ways.

All of us are curious about real estate, event when we aren't buying or selling, we still like to know things like how big homes are, what they are worth and what they last sold for. The promise of this app is that you can find out with one simple "snap" from the camera on your phone.

I downloaded the app which was free for my iPhone and set out to see if it worked. The app uses your phone's location to determine the approximate location you are in but here is the really cool part; the technology behind this app is incredible and it works quickly.

I stepped out my front door, held up my phone and snapped a photo of my neighbor's home across the street. Within 5 seconds, the app had identified the correct address of the house I just shot! That is pretty cool, especially when you consider that this works even when the address on the home is not visible.

Along with that it also supplied me with the "value" of the home (more on that in a second), home details like beds and bath and square feet and also supplied the price the last time the home was sold.

Local school info also popped up as well. For a real estate agent like myself, this is an incredible tool for me to tell my clients about. The app lets me input my brand info into the app and link to my clients, so whenever they pull up a home, they are always seeing my info as part of that experience. Also, if a client is interested in a home but don't know where they are at that moment, they can just snap a picture, get instant info on the home and I am notified at the same time. That is pretty cool!

Now, one word on the "value" that comes up with the home. Only use this as a guide, but do not except it as fact. When I snapped my own home, I believe the app undervalued my home by about $30,000. I believe this happened because the app had my home as a 4 bed instead of a 5, and had it as a two car garage instead of a 3. This app is not perfect, obtaining perfection with an app like this is nearly impossible, but this app still functions incredibly well and could be a useful tool if you are buying or selling, or simply want to do some snooping for fun!

Mark Charter is a Licensed agent in Iowa with RE/MAX Real Estate

To learn more about Mark, please visit MarkCharter.com