HomeFinder.com Real Estate is a great way to start your property search
by Toni McQuilken
Jul 20, 2012 10:03 AM –
Install
HomeFinder.com Real Estate has millions of real estate listings. It taps into your GPS to locate homes for sale and apartments for rent around you. And if you have a HomeFinder.com account, you can sync your searches to browse from phone, tablet or computer.
Price: Free
Tested on: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Content Rating: Low Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- An easy way to search for properties in your area, or an area of your choice!
- A good amount of information for each listing, including pictures!
- List and map views to help narrow down where you’re looking!
- Syncs searches with HomeFinder.com account!
Cons
- The advanced search felt a bit clumsy at times.
- Switching between searching your local areas as defined by your GPS and searching a different area was a bit confusing at times.
Features:
As with other apps that are tied to an online service, I’m reviewing the app itself, not the service – I won’t make any comment on how good or bad the service is here.
Now, for the app, I was fairly impressed overall. When you open it up, it defaults to searching your local area, as defined by your device’s GPS. You can, from there, go into an advanced search screen to narrow down the kinds of results you get, such as single-family homes, condos, or business properties. You can, on that search page, also enter a different location, if you want to search an area you plan to move to, for instance. Plus, if you have a HomeFinder.com account, you can sync your searches.
Two things – first, while I wouldn’t say it was hard, exactly, switching back and forth between the GPS area and somewhere else did require me to go in and create a whole new search each time. I would have liked to have a way to quickly jump between locations, while maintaining my other search criteria. I know most users will probably be focusing on a single area, so it’s not that big of a deal, but for someone who, for example, wants to use the app to investigate property prices and types before deciding on a place to live, it would be nice to have that function be a bit easier to use.
Second, when I downloaded the app, since it said it was a home finder, I expected to find all residential properties, of all types. However, other than two categories, it seemed like most of the options were more commercial or business related. And there was no option for rentals, only for purchase. I would have overlooked the lack of rental options if it wasn’t for the business listings, which felt more out of place than apartments would have. I will point out – the description said that rentals and apartments are included. However, the category is “Condos and Apartments” and honestly, I think of those as two very different things, for very different people. And my searches in that category didn’t bring up a single rental – only condos. 
Watch on Mobile
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Homefinder Main
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Homefinder List View
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Homefinder Property Details
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Homefinder Maps with Key
Usefulness:
If you’re in the market to purchase a new property, then this might be a decent app for you. The listings seemed to be pretty complete, although, as with any real estate app or site, each one is bound to have a different set of options. It’s a good starting point though, for helping people start a search, and get a feel for what things cost in a given area, so they know how far their budget will go.
Ease of Use:
Overall, the app was pretty easy to use, beyond the issues I pointed out above. Once I got past that, navigation was pretty simple and intuitive.
Frequently Used:
This isn’t an app you’re going to use every day, or, in all likelihood, keep on your device long term. It’s an app for a specific purpose – finding a new property. However, for that time frame and purpose, it will be one of your go-to apps for starting that search. I have a feeling though, once you’re ready to move beyond just looking up information and start seeing properties, most, if not all, people will want to go with a licensed real estate agent.
Interface:
I liked that you could view things as a list, with a bit more detail for each, or on a map, where you can pull up properties and information based on location. It makes it more useful, especially for people who have a general area they want to live in or around.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
Android Tablet Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Home Finder,
Home Search,
Home Search App,
Homefinder.com,
HomeFinder.com Real Estate,
Search App
Categorised in: Lifestyle
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