SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) – A research firm said home prices in the San Francisco Bay Area began to cool off last month after a torrid run.

California posted its strongest homes sales for any August in seven years as price increases cooled, a research firm said Friday, a relief to buyers who have been competing over slim pickings.

There were 42,546 new and existing houses and condominiums sold, up 3.1 percent from 41,280 sales a year earlier and the highest August tally since 51,054 homes sold in 2006, according to DataQuick.

The median sales price was $361,000, down 0.6 percent from 363,000 in July but still up 28.5 percent from $281,000 in August 2012. It was the 18th straight month of annual price gains.

Sales were especially strong for mid- to high-priced homes. Sales above $500,000 jumped 28.2 percent in the nine-county Bay Area and soared 48.7 percent in Southern California.

Louis Marcoux, 35, lost three bids before buying a four-bedroom house last month for $830,000 in Pleasanton. It is better house than the previous ones he sought—and less expensive.

“It got sort of crazy in May, June,” said Marcoux, an executive at a medical device maker. “We were ready but weren’t pressed for time … The wait was worth it.”

The median sales price in the Bay area was $540,000, down 3.9 percent from $542,000 in July but still up a whopping 31.7 percent from $410,000 in August 2012. There were 8,616 homes sold in the Bay area, down 0.6 percent from a year earlier.

DataQuick reported Thursday that Southern California’s median sales price was $385,000 last month, matching a 64-month high and marking the 13th straight month of annual double-digit gains. Sales increased 2.8 percent to 23,057 homes.

“We’re starting to see an overdue correction that’s going to lead to much more moderate price increases,” said Michael Lea, lecturer at San Diego State University’s Corky McMillin Center for Real Estate.

The sales increase partly reflects a national trend of fewer homeowners owing more than their homes are worth, allowing them to sell without taking a loss, analysts said. CoreLogic Inc., a real-estate data firm, reported this week that 15.4 percent of its mortgaged homes in California were “underwater” at the end of June, down from 21.3 percent three months earlier.

Foreclosed homes, which drove sales after the 2008 financial market meltdown, made up a much smaller part of the sales mix. According to DataQuick, homes foreclosed upon during the previous year accounted for 7.8 percent of existing home sales in August, down from 20 percent a year earlier and 58.8 percent in February 2009.

Lea said he is watching for housing inventories to grow, which will help keep a lid on price increases.

The California Association of Realtors reported a 2.9-month supply of single-family homes for sale in July, down from 3.5 months a year earlier. A normal supply is considered five to seven months.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Article source: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/09/13/bay-area-home-prices-cooling-off/

The tale of how the paddling pup pulled from the middle of San Francisco Bay got there and who owns her remains a puzzle, but more details have emerged about her rescue by a pack of windsurfers and a boating commuter.

The dog, a black pup that appears to be a Labrador mix or a Mastiff, was pulled from the chilly bay waters about one-quarter mile west of the end of the old Berkeley Pier – a good two to three miles from shore – by windsurfers who spotted her struggling in the water Monday evening. They handed her off to Adam Cohen, a Berkeley engineer who commutes to and from San Francisco in an inflatable boat, who her took her to his home to recover.

On Tuesday, the dog was taken to Berkeley Dog and Cat Hospital to see if she had an embedded chip that might identify her owners. She didn’t, and rather than turn the dog over to an animal shelter, Cohen and his family are taking care of her at home while hoping her owners show up.

The Berkeley Dog and Cat Hospital is helping with the search for the owners. Anyone who thinks they may know the dog’s owners is asked to call Katie Corrigan at (510) 225-4545.

The dog, who was wearing a collar but had no tags, seemed to be recovering nicely, said Lisa Grodin, Cohen’s wife.

“The dog follows me everywhere,” she said as the dog licked her. “She is so sweet. She’s lovely.”

While there have been plenty of calls from reporters and people interested in the dog and her story, Grodin said there were not yet any leads to her owners or clues as to how she ended up apparently swimming toward Angel Island in the cold, choppy bay.

The identity of the windsurfers who spotted her did emerge Tuesday, however. Ed Coyne, 62, a real estate investor from San Rafael, and John Newman, a San Francisco attorney, were windsurfing off Treasure Island about three miles west of Berkeley and four miles east of Crissy Field when they spotted a smallish black creature swimming.

“At first, we couldn’t tell whether it was a baby seal or what,” Newman said. “Then we saw it was a dog.”

Coyne said the dog kept swimming against the tide, and in choppy waters, but was struggling.

“She was completely exhausted,” he said. “Waves were coming and she’d get pushed under, then push her head back up and keep swimming.”

Coyne jumped into the water and called out to the dog but couldn’t get her attention. He got back on his board, circled in front and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. He placed her on the board, where she sat shivering but seemingly grateful to be out of the water.

Soon, nearby windsurfers gathered, keeping the dog out of the water while they used a radio to call the Coast Guard.

After waiting for about an hour, they flagged down Cohen, and called off the Coast Guard, helping lift the dog into the boat and to safety.

“Ed was determined to save and rescue that dog,” Newman said. “On Monday, he was that dog’s best friend.”

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/How-SF-Bay-s-paddling-pup-got-wet-still-a-mystery-4730582.php

Antioch, CA (PRWEB) August 12, 2013

“We are grateful to our talented manager Melody Royal, who has led our Antioch office for almost 30 years, and who will remain as the manager of the office,” said Rich Casto, Chief Strategy Officer of BHG Mason-McDuffie Real Estate. “We welcome Tony Chahal as our new owner/partner in this office.”

“We now have eight great partnerships throughout the San Francisco Bay Area,” said Keith Robinson, COO. “These partnerships are part of our growth strategy and work extremely well.”

When asked why he entered into this partnership, Mr. Chahal said, “I am proud to merge my operation with that of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie. With everything Mason-McDuffie has to offer, there was no other organization that I met with that came close to their services and culture. The company is widely recognized as one of the most innovative real estate companies in the nation. I am excited to be a partner of this great company, and to be part of its history and its future!”

Mr. Chahal will be joined by 10 agents in the move into the Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie office space at 5887A Lone Tree Way in Antioch.

Resolute Real Estate, Inc. was founded in 2010 by Tony Chahal, who also served as the President and Managing Broker. He was formerly an associate at Prudential California Realty. Prior to that, he was the Staffing Manager at Zip Realty, Inc. where he successfully ran the number one recruiting platform in the company nationwide.

If you are interested in discussing growth opportunities, contact David Gardner at 925-705-1992.

###

About Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate

Our heritage began with the founding of Mason-McDuffie Real Estate in 1887. The company is the 26th largest real estate services firm in the nation (REALTrends 500), and Number Two in the San Francisco East Bay (SF Business Times). The company provides comprehensive solutions to home buyers and sellers, and handled 6,500 transactions in 2012, generating $2.8 billion in sales volume. Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate is locally owned and has more than 1,200 real estate professionals with 30 offices in eight counties in the Bay Area and the Tahoe/Truckee region.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/8/prweb11003112.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/press-releases/article/Resolute-Real-Estate-Merges-with-Better-Homes-and-4727626.php

Home News Bay Area Housing: Santa Rosa House Prices Continue to Rise, Along With Demand

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By Brandon Cornett | Housing Market News
August 5, 2013 | © 2013, All rights reserved

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By Brandon Cornett | August 5, 2013 | 2013, All rights reserved

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Mortgage shopping?

If Zillow’s Home Value Index (ZHVI) is any indication, the Santa Rosa real estate market is undergoing a major transformation right now. The ZHVI for Santa Rosa increased by 24.6% over the last year or so.

Granted, the ZHVI is not an exact science. But it does give us some insight into which way the market is moving. And the Santa Rosa housing market is clearly headed north, where home prices are concerned. The same could be said for the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

The median sale price is arguably a better indicator, because it’s based on actual sales prices. Here again, the trend is undeniable. According to Zillow, the median price paid for homes in Santa Rosa has risen by more than 27% in the last year or so. The median list price climbed by 21.7% during the same period.

Data from Trulia, another real estate information website, confirms this trend. Trulia’s numbers show a 28% increase in Santa Rosa’s median sale price over the last year, closely matching Zillow’s figures.

These are tremendous gains, and they mirror the broader trends we are seeing across the San Francisco Bay Area housing market. All across the nine-county Bay Area, home prices are surging in response to inventory shortage and growing demand. It’s good news for homeowners. But it presents certain challenges for home buyers.

Bay Area Housing Market En Fuego

The entire Bay Area real estate market is on fire right now – for better or worse. Consider the evidence. According to DataQuick, a San Diego-based company that tracks housing trends in key cities across the country, the region’s median sale price rose at its fastest pace ever in June 2013.

The largest gain occurred in Alameda County, where the median rose by a whopping 44% over the last year. Sonoma County’s median sale price rose by 29.8% during the same 12-month period.

Granted, home prices in the Santa Rosa real estate market (and elsewhere across the Bay Area) are still well below their pre-crisis peaks. This is partly why we are seeing such big gains right now.

According to DataQuick president John Walsh: “It’s easier for a market to regain lost ground than to push into new territory. We’re still bouncing off the bottom.”

Santa Rosa Real Estate Trends Good for Sellers

This is all good news for Santa Rosa area homeowners, particularly those who lost a significant amount of equity during the housing downturn. While home prices are still well below their pre-crisis peaks, they are gaining ground quickly.

This could be a game changer for homeowners who were unable to sell or refinance their homes in the past, due to their negative or low-equity situations. Property values in the area will likely continue to rise for some time, further empowering homeowners by restoring lost equity.

But the news is not so good for home buyers. The real estate market in Santa Rosa, California has become increasingly competitive. Housing demand has increased on the heels of economic improvement, but inventory levels have fallen over the last year. This means there are more buyers competing for fewer properties. This is what we’re seeing across the entire Bay Area housing market right now.

“There’s a slew of buyers, and there’s nothing for them out there,” said Santa Rosa real estate agent Mike Kelly, when speaking to the Press Democrat recently.

At the same time, rising prices will create affordability issues for many would-be buyers.

The Santa Rosa housing market is emblematic of what is happening across the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Declining inventories, along with the release of pent-up demand, are driving prices north with surprising speed. It’s not a question of if home prices will continue rising through the end of 2013. The question is, by how much.

Disclaimer: This story contains forward-looking statements about the Bay Area real estate market in general, and Santa Rosa in particular. These statements represent an educated guess made by the author. They should not be viewed as facts or financial advice. We make no guarantees about the future of home prices or other housing trends.

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Article source: http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com/news/santa-rosa-prices-rise-437/

SAN FRANCISCO—When Alexandra Goldman got notice of her rent increase—from $6,000 a month on a five-bedroom house she shared with roommates to $11,000—she says she was in disbelief.

“We knew immediately we were not going to be able to pay that much money to live there,” said Ms. Goldman, a 28-year-old planning consultant whose share of the rent was about $1,000 a month. After receiving the notice in October, she said the house’s occupants ended up dispersing to other rentals. She is living with other roommates now and paying about $300 more than she had before. Her former landlord didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Welcome to what is arguably one of the worst cities in America to be a renter, but among the best to be a landlord and apartment investor. San Francisco led the top-50 U.S. metropolitan areas in average rent growth during the second quarter, jumping 7.8% to $2,498, while Oakland was No. 2 at a 6.9% increase, and San Jose was in fifth place at 5%. The 6.8% increase for the combined San Francisco Bay area was more than double the nation’s 3.1% increase, according to preliminary estimates by MPF Research, a market-research firm in Carrollton, Texas.

The Bay Area’s Building Boom

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Jason Henry for The Wall Street Journal

An advertisement for the new 22-story apartment complex at 1190 Mission Street, seen from Market Street in San Francisco

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The rent increases have investors rushing to purchase existing properties. San Francisco-based Ridge Capital Investors, for example, has acquired nearly 500 units throughout the area since 2011, including a 45-unit apartment complex in San Mateo, a city south of San Francisco, for $10.95 million in November. Trevor Wilson, managing director of Ridge Capital, said his company has competed against as many as 30 bidders on multifamily properties in recent months.

“We’ve been trying to find more [properties], but there’s not a lot available,” said Mr. Wilson, who added his firm is spending about $1.5 million to refurbish units at the 34-year-old Mariner’s West Apartments in San Mateo so rents now well below market levels can be raised. Tenants there are now paying as much as $1,000 below the market rate of $2,300 to $2,400 a month for that area, Mr. Wilson said.

Fueling the rental increases in San Francisco and many other cities across the country are a resurgence in two key industries—technology and energy—and a generally improving economy nationwide, said Ryan Severino, senior economist at Reis Inc., a market-research firm in New York. Rents in energy-rich Denver jumped 6.1% from a year ago, according to MPF Research, while Seattle, another tech hub, saw rents increase 6%.

Mr. Severino said rents are rising the fastest in cities with the tightest supply of housing, like the Bay Area and Seattle. San Francisco’s vacancy rate for multifamily housing in the second quarter stood at 3%, the same as a year earlier, compared with a national average of 4.7%, according to MPF.

Some cities with less-robust job markets enjoyed a strengthened market but remained at higher vacancy rates amid deeper housing inventories. Philadelphia’s vacancy rate dropped to 5.4% in the second quarter, from 6.1% a year earlier and compared with a national average of 4.7%. The rate in Las Vegas fell to 7.5% from 8.4%, and in Memphis, Tenn., to 8.9% from 10.1%, according to MPF Research.

For the nation’s tightest apartment markets, some observers worry the local labor pool may eventually go down, because of people being driven away. In Ms. Goldman’s case, she said she and her roommates mostly had the means to remain in San Francisco but said that may not be the case for everyone. “It’s getting a little out of control,” she said.

Regarded by industry analysts as chronically underhoused, San Francisco added 31,000 jobs in 2012 in a city of about 800,000. That is resulting in sticker shock for new arrivals. Leena Rao, with her husband, Suneel Gupta, recently leased a two-bedroom, two-bath home for between $4,000 and $5,000 a month, compared with $2,150 for the two-bedroom they left behind in Chicago.

“It was a brutal surprise,” said Ms. Rao, 31, an editor for a technology news website.

The tight supplies have unleashed a torrent of new construction in the Bay Area, with 14,377 units permitted for construction over the next 18 months, or almost as much as for Houston, typically a much more active building market, according to MPF Research. In San Francisco, the 22-story 1190 Mission at Trinity Place building preleased half its 419 units before opening July 1, with all the tenants signing agreements without the customary practice of having toured a model or attended an apartment tour, said Rob Willis, director of operations for Trinity Management Services, the builder. “We have never seen this,” Mr. Willis said.

Some homeowners are seeking to cash in on the demand. Jane Shepard said she and her husband, Avrum, plan to rent their four-bedroom, two-bath home in San Francisco to help raise money for needed repairs. “Financially, it’s a great time to be a landlord,” said Ms. Shepard, 67, a commercial-property manager. She said the couple would move to their second home in Visalia, Calif.

But renters with less means are finding fewer options. Dawn Griffin, 55, said she was served with an eviction notice in January on her $725-a-month apartment near the city’s Golden Gate Park. Landlord Elba Borgen, who didn’t return calls for comment, also served eviction notices on the other seven tenants in the building, said Ted Gullicksen, executive director of the San Francisco Tenants Union, which has offered advice and other help to Ms. Griffin and other tenants in her building.

“I can’t afford to move,” said Ms. Griffin, a 30-year resident of the apartment and a medical-office administrator.

Still, some tenants have turned the situation into opportunity. Sam Parr said he ended up starting a business matching roommates with apartments after moving to San Francisco from Nashville, Tenn., last year and seeing prices so high he needed to share rent with someone, too. “I thought, oh my God, this is awful—something has to be done,” said Mr. Parr, 24, who sold the business to a larger startup and now shares a $3,500-a-month house with three roommates.

Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared July 16, 2013, on page C1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Bay Area Rally Sends Rents Soaring.

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324694904578602013087282582.html

A new report out Tuesday shows the real estate market in the Bay Area is hot.

San Francisco home prices have surged nearly 25 percent in the past year; the biggest increase in seven years. That’s more than double the nationwide average of major cities.

According to the SP/Case-Shiller index that ranks metropolitan cities, Las Vegas reported the next biggest jump at 23 percent, followed by Phoenix at nearly 21 percent.

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Article source: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=9190210

Transit Screen Display Screen Shot of Real-Time Digital Signage for San Francisco Bay Area

“The San Francisco Bay Area was an obvious next step for Transit Screen, with its similar culture of carless living, abundance of transportation options and the transit agencies open data policies.”
-Matt Caywood, President of Transit Screen

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 22, 2013

Transit Screen officially announces the launch of the first multimodal transportation information display in the San Francisco Bay Area. Transit Screen displays communicate aggregated, real-time transit feeds at any location with a single, cloud-based display.

Transit Screen displays feature all major transit agencies within the San Francisco Bay Area, including: San Francisco Muni (Buses and Muni Metro), AC Transit (Oakland, Alameda County) and BART. Transit Screen also includes minor agencies, such as Emery Go Round and Dumbarton Express.

Washington, D.C. was the starting city for Transit Screen because of its “complex mix of subway, walking, bicycling, bike sharing, buses, car sharing, and taxi services,” stated Matt Caywood, President of Transit Screen. “The San Francisco Bay Area was an obvious next step for Transit Screen, with its similar culture of carless living, abundance of transportation mode choices (including the new Bay Area Bike Share) and transit agencies that pioneered open data policies.”

The requirements to host a Transit Screen display are Internet access (Wi-Fi or wired), a power connection and a display screen (7” to HDTV).

Vice President Ryan Croft is relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area following this launch. Transit Screen will continue to build relationships with the local Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), Community Benefit Districts (CBDs) and urban planners in the Bay Area, as well as private businesses, institutions and governments.

“We have a long list of Transit Screen’s top markets, and the San Francisco Bay Area was at the top of that list. I’m looking forward to moving to the Bay Area and building on the successes we had in Washington, D.C.,” remarked Ryan Croft, Vice President of Transit Screen.

Transit Screen currently serves the Greater Washington, DC area and the San Francisco Bay Area, with plans to cover multiple other major North American cities in 2013.

About Transit Screen

Transit Screen develops web applications and digital signage solutions for mobility and transit. Transit Screen is a live display of all transportation options at a given location (Bus, Train, Bike share, et al.). Transit Screen currently serves the greater Washington, DC area and the San Francisco Bay Area. Three primary markets served are private businesses (commercial real estate developers, residential buildings, property managers, hotels, stadiums, arenas), institutions (colleges, universities, hospitals and health centers) and governments (federal, state, local governments, municipalities, transit agencies, and business improvement districts [BIDs]). Transit Screen is a solution for Transportation Demand Management (TDM) programs to create sustainable, walkable, bike-able cities of the future. http://www.transitscreen.com

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Article source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/7/prweb10944990.htm

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) – The real estate tracking firm DataQuick said Thursday that the median price for homes in the nine-county San Francisco Bay area reached $555,000 in June, an increase of 6.9 percent over the previous month.

The real estate data firm is reporting the median year-over-year price paid for a Bay Area home rose at its fastest pace on record in June.

DataQuick said Thursday that the rise was the result of disappearing distress sales, an improving economy and mortgage rates remaining low.

However, the number of homes sold dropped 7.5 percent to 7,897 in June. DataQuick attributes the decrease to the number of homes for sale falling short of demand and an easing of purchases by cash and investor buyers.

The real estate information service says last month’s sales were 20.9 percent below the June average of 9,993 sales.

• See the full DataQuick report and County-by-County sales breakdown

Home prices in the Bay Area are through the roof according to a new study by Data Quick.

Back in 2009, during the depths of the recession, the median price of a home was $290,000. Now that figure is $555,000; six percent higher than last month and 33 percent higher than one year ago.

Data Quick Analyst Andrew LePage said it’s a matter of supply and demand. We’ve seen sales fall on a year-over-year basis for the last five months in a row.

Richard Green with the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California said much of it is the shortage of homes for sale.

“Inventories are very small,” he said adding that there are many more all cash transactions than ever, which drives up the market for higher-end homes and drives up sale prices.

Speculators have said that things could ease with fewer homes underwater, prompting sales and increasing supply. In addition, developers are also starting to build new homes again.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Article source: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/07/18/median-bay-area-home-price-jumps-again-as-inventory-remains-tight/

A spot in the city’s trendy South Beach neighborhood sold last week for $82,000, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday ( ).

The 8- by 12-foot parking space is in an enclosed garage in a condominium building near the San Francisco Giants’ ballpark. A Porsche SUV was parked in it on Thursday. The Chronicle said the unidentified buyer did not respond to interview requests.

While it may seem like a lot of money, real estate agents said parking could be a good investment in densely packed San Francisco, where vehicle spaces go for a premium. They can add as much as $100,000 to the purchase price of a property or be rented out at rates of $400 to $450 a month _ the going rate in South Beach.

“We had a very good response right out of the gate,” said Sean Sullivan with Climb Real Estate, which sold the spot. “It was only in the market two weeks.”

Sullivan said he sold a parking spot in the same building at the height of the last real estate boom for $95,000.

Overall, the city has seen real estate prices climb. Home prices in San Francisco grew by 22.2 percent in March compared with a year ago, second only to Phoenix among U.S. cities, according to The Standard Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released in May.

Home prices in the wider, nine-county San Francisco Bay area posted a 12th straight month of double-digit price increases last month, according to research firm DataQuick. DataQuick said Thursday that the median price for new and existing houses and condominiums reached $519,000 in May, up 30 percent from the same period last year.

Condos in the South Beach area are going for $1,000 a square foot, the Chronicle reported. At 96 square feet, the parking space was a relative bargain at $854 per square foot.

Sullivan said the building where the parking spot was sold was built before the city restricted spaces to one per unit. It is one of the few buildings that allows nonresidents to own a spot.

The owner has a deed and must pay property taxes and homeowner association dues.

The sale was all cash.

Article source: http://wnyt.com/article/stories/s3066080.shtml?cat=300

Buying a home is a nasty, arduous and blessed task. It’s further complicated by the glaringly obvious fact that nobody makes any money until you buy. The feeling that you are so much meat waiting to be ground into sausage rarely goes away.

I should know. I am in the process of moving from the lovely state of Wisconsin to sunny California—specifically, the San Francisco Bay Area. There are, shall we say, some bracing differences in the two real estate markets, and not just in terms of price. (Did you say the actual ground beneath your feet sometimes … moves?)

Big Market For Real Estate Apps

Luckily for me and everyone else in the market, there are many useful real estate apps available across all major smartphone platforms. In fact, there are so many good real estate apps that it can be hard to choose the best one.

This shouldn’t be too surprising. The housing market in the U.S. is valued at about $10 trillion. Numerous companies are eagerly hoping to carve out a slice of this sizable American pie—and garner your loyalty—by helping you choose among the 70 million homes located throughout the country.

Zillow, for example, recently began airing this television commercial.

Having viewed nearly as many apps as properties in my ongoing search for a home, I can recommend these three: Trulia, Zillow and Redfin.

They each provide you with an abundance of listings and include the most important details of nearly every home displayed. Each app can text new listing alerts directly to your phone. You can also search for properties using the smartphone’s GPS, or input an address or city into the app’s search bar.

All three are available on iPhone, iPad and Android, and are all free. All three also have companion websites, with additional layers of information available, such as school rankings and property taxes. 

1. Trulia

Trulia is my favorite of the bunch, with a simple, intuitive design and ample listings of properties for sale and rent—along with links to open houses and agents. You can search by city or address, although I found it most useful to let the GPS service provide a map of all nearby homes for sale (within my specified criteria). As you drive through an area, the map can adjust, updating the homes quickly as your position changes.

With Trulia, it’s also very easy to set-up notifications and to save your searches. These may be linked to their website, so you can review your favorites on your laptop later. 

Trulia’s app often displays a small ad-sized listing of an agent across their map. At the beginning, this is helpful. After you’ve selected an agent, it becomes annoying. I would have been happy to pay about $2 for the app, say, to ditch these ads.

Trulia makes it a snap to get turn-by-turn directions to any property listed, and to quickly text your spouse of your latest find. You can also sort listings by price, features (e.g. number of bedrooms), and by “newest” listing – which can be very useful to know.

Use Trulia and you’ll wonder how people searched for homes before smartphones existed. 

2. Zillow

Because of the ease of use of the Trulia app, I have placed it above Zillow. The breadth of information that Zillow offers on each listing, however, makes it a must-have for your home search.

Zillow includes a photo tour of the property, a sales history and an estimate of its current value.

Spoiler alert: for the Bay Area, at least, the price estimate is wildly under-valued. This fact somewhat diminishes the Schaedenfreude of discovering that seemingly every buyer in the past ten years has lost a small fortune. 

Zillow includes a handy “draw” feature which lets you swipe an area on the map that then displays the listings within that area. The app also claims to include “pre-market” properties—those which may be coming on to the market soon. This might be a great feature, though I never saw any such properties in the Bay Area. And I would have jumped at them.

If you love good house porn, Zillow is the app for you.

3. Redfin

Redfin is also very good. The app provides a simple, yet robust search interface. You can search by GPS, type in a city or street—or even an MLS number—and narrow these down across several search criteria. These can include price, square footage, year built, number of baths and much more. 

For me, Redfin’s best feature was letting me know if a house was already “pending”—meaning, an offer had been made. This saved me a great deal of time. 

Redfin also lets you check out homes that have recently sold and for how much. This turned out to be extremely helpful information and has aided my subsequent searches.

Note: Redfin appeared to have as many or more listings than either Trulia or Zillow, at least within the Bay Area. In my personal app tests, looking for sales data in other states yielded fewer results.

Location, Location, App

I sometimes tell people that there are so many apps that they need to download three great ones, no more, and focus. But that’s not quite true.

While I do highly recommend all of the apps above, there remains that nagging uncertainty that some awesome property is out there, ready to slip away if I don’t reach for an alternative. So here are several backups for the paranoid house-hunters out there (i.e., all of you):

1. Foreclosures Real Estate

In the Bay Area, at least, a shocking majority of houses for sale are, in fact, houses in foreclosure. It may be the same where you are searching.

This app lists foreclosures, short sales, HUD homes and auction properties. 

2. For Sale By Owner

This app claims to be the “only” one to provide properties that are exclusively for sale by owner. It contains over 30,000 listings. As most listings in other apps are taken from the MLS, this app clearly serves a purpose.

3. Realtor.com

A very well-designed app from the National Association of Realtors. Not surprisingly, it appears to contain as many listings as any of my top three. This app also provides better in-app data on schools.

That said, I found my top three easier to navigate, and their information better optimized for my iPhone’s screen. 

4. HomeSnap

This is a popular app that includes all the available MLS listings. Its claim to fame is that the app lets you take a picture of a house and—based on the GPS data embedded in the photo—get back the sales information on that property.

I have yet to use this feature.

5. Google Glass

If you’re one of the very few people possessing Google Glass, I am not, there are already real estate apps available for you. According to the New York Times, both Trulia and Zillow offer Google Glass apps.

6. Agents and Brokers

I found no compelling reason to choose a particular realtor’s app over any of those listed above.

Article source: http://readwrite.com/2013/07/02/real-estate-apps-from-android-to-zillow