Buying a house can be a stressful process. Thankfully, there are hundreds of Home Buying Apps that helps, from designing your first space to discovering nearby amenities before purchasing. Below, you’ll find our list of best Apps for home buying.
A home is where you go back to, after a long and stressful day. It is where you create your own magic and decide who to share it with, a starting place of hope, dreams, love, and is something you should be financially and mentally prepared for.
Home shopping can be one of the most stressful, and challenging things to do, plus, it’s time-consuming. While searching for a home, you put into consideration the foundation, the structure, the location, etc. You want to make sure all these and more (to your specific preferences), resonates well with you before purchasing a house, which is why careful research and thought has been put into writing this article to make sure you are able to get the result you need.
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Why own a home in the U.S.?
Owning a home in U.S. can be said to be an American dream to so many people, both citizens, and noncitizens.
There’s no greater feeling like that of holding the keys to the house of your dreams, knowing that it’s yours to deal with anyhow you want to, it can be a family home, a vacation home, where you could go relax whenever you feel like having a change of environment without having to spend money on hotels or just a personal home, the good thing is, you don’t even need to make complete payment outright to make the purchase, thanks to mortgage, and to get the “perfect” house, you’ll need home buying apps.
What are Real Estate Apps?
Real Estate Apps are mobile applications aimed at making the process of property transactions easier. They are essentially built with the intention of making the life of intending homeowners, sellers, investors, etc. easier.
Why use Real Estate Apps?
Considering the fact that shopping for a new home can be time-consuming and challenging both mentally and physically, knowing that you have to drive through to view neighborhoods and properties, touring homes while putting nearby schools, gyms, supermarkets, bus or train stations into consideration, can feel like an additional part-time job especially when you add house hunting to the list.
The fact that getting reliable individual agents who are willing to put in the work to get you exactly what you want, not trying to convince you to settle for what you don’t is not easy to come by these days, so the best option will be the use of a real estate app, as there are so many apps to use that befits your specific needs.
6 Things to consider while planning to buy a house in United States.
- Job security
- Down payment
- Mortgage rate
- Location
- Emotional status
- Debt to income ratio
1. Job security:
The increment of salary or promotion can improve the sentiment of an employee. If there is one thing COVID-19 has reminded us, it’s the fact that change is the only constant, plus, you cannot guarantee anything, and there might be nothing worst than realizing that you don’t have a job, shortly after purchasing a house. So be for you make a mortgage commitment, make sure you have a secured employment position or a strong and consistent source of income.
2. Down payment:
This remains one of the biggest obstacles between intending house owners and their dream house. You have to be sure that it is very favorable and convenient for you, and not going broke after paying that.
3. Mortgage rate:
Over the years this has hovered between 3.9 and 4.5%. You have to spread your mortgage loan in such a way that it will be easy for you to pay off.
the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is 3.21%, according to Bankrate.com, while the average rate on a 15-year mortgage is 2.53%. On a 30-year jumbo mortgage, the average rate is 3.17%, and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM is 2.74% (information from Forbes).
4. Location:
When we talk about location, we put into consideration the neighborhood, the weather, its proximity to essential needs, etc. You have to be sure that all these are favorable.
5. Emotional state:
Buying a house is sometimes, a huge commitment not everyone is cut out for because, then, your responsibility increases, everything is on you, the fixing of stuff, the making of vital decisions concerning the house, the maintenance, etc., it’s going to be all your call, not a landlord’s, cus that’s you, so you have to be sure you are both financially and mentally ready.
6. Debt-to-income ratio:
This is used by mortgage lenders to ascertain that you are financially capable to make the monthly payment of the property you intend to take a mortgage loan on. Make sure you don’t over-extend yourself, buy what you can afford, not what the mortgage lenders tell you. No one knows your finances more than you, so make sure not to purchase a home that will overstretch your debt to income ratio.
Do you have to be a citizen of U.S. to be able to own a home?
Buying a home in U.S. as a noncitizen can be very tricky but the good news is, it’s very much attainable because, there is no restrictions not laws that prevent an individual of any foreign citizenship from owning or buying a house in the U.S, though it’s easier when done in cash, but if you are not in a good financial position to buy a house with cash, then you’ll need to get a mortgage loan.
How does a mortgage work?
The mortgage loan process is quite complex for non-U.S citizens. As a non-citizen, the loan you may qualify for is a foreign national loan, which tends to have a higher down payment, higher interest rate, and the need for an individual taxpayer identification number, especially when you don’t have the intention of relocating to U.S.
Payment residents who have their green cards, a non-permanent resident with a work visa, or a refugee granted asylum can qualify for a mortgage. You can also apply for a federal housing administration (FHA) loan as long as it is not going to be a vacation residence or a second home, but a permanent resident.
Building, buying, or renting a house, which is better?
When talking about getting a home, most people try to consider which will be more attainable and more convenient between:
Building: Of course, we know that building your own home from scratch, gives you the leverage to place everything just the way you want it and ensure that it’s done just right, but you should also bear in mind that it involves you having to wait a long time, doing some mental work, and some amount of energy to make that happen
Buying: This might take some time because, hey, who doesn’t want to get the “perfect” house? but not as much time as building from scratch takes unless a total renovation is needed.
Renting: This of course is more economic friendly, though you don’t get the freedom to do as you please with the house, without the permission of your landlord, then, it doesn’t mean you don’t get to find ways to personalize your space.
They all, at the end of the day, depending on your budget.
11 best home buying Apps in United States 2024.
Thanks to technology, a lot of things have been invented to make life easier and home buying apps are one of them.
There are several apps out there, built to meet your specific needs, some of them include:
1. Zillow:
This is the leading real estate marketplace, in other words, it is the overall best, based on research. Willow Group Inc. Is an American online real estate company, founded in the year 2006 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frind, former Microsoft executives, according to Wikipedia.com. Due to how good their services are, and how well they pay attention to details specific to the needs of their clients, they get nearly 200 million visits to their website per month. They can help you build, rent or buy the “perfect” home.
#2. HomeSnap:
This App allows you to take pictures of any house, nationwide and instantly gives you information on it from MLS listing, including additional information like tax listing, etc. It is said to be the Snapchat of real estate. It’s been one of the top-rated home buying apps for both buyers and sellers since founded in 2008.
3. Trulia Real Estate:
This also includes mortgage, agent, and rental services. It is one of the very popular real estate apps that allow users to go through millions of listing nationwide, with all the necessary updates on homes for sale, rental apartments, open houses, high-resolution photo galleries, including comprehensive information on school ratings and crime rate in the area.
4. Xome Real Estate:
This app has a ‘Home only’ feature that helps investors search for bank-owned homes, foreclosures, and short sales in a given area. It was created with both buyers and sellers in mind. For buyers, it means access to a lot of potential homes in their areas of choice.
5. Realtor.com:
This app provides property listing from 800 MLS, which is been refreshed every 15minutes. It is the ultimate app for potential home buyers as it offers every needed information, from detailed pictures of the house to property tax and sales history. It has easy-to-use search options and is also the perfect app for real professionals on the go.
6. Redfin:
Known for their ability to give you the best-valued homes and give best-discounted home buying fees, Redfin is a full real estate brokerage company based in Seattle, founded in the year 2004 but gained publicity in 2017 because of their impeccable services.
If you want to sell your home, buy a home or do anything real estate, you might want to hit Redfin up.
7. Bigger Pocket:
This is one of the web’s best resources for investing in real estate, especially as a business. The app features a wide variety of resources for real estate education, which includes podcasts, blogs, ebooks, guides, and forums. It comes with an easy-to-use interface that teaches you about home buying, how to increase your property’s value and how to work on it to receive the best investment return.
8. Dotloop:
With this app, you can create, edit and sign real estate contracts as a user. It is a transaction management app that can be used by both agents and brokers.
9. Zip Reality:
This app serves both people who want to buy and sell properties. You can even create text notifications that inform you when the house that meets your specific needs hits the market. It has an augmented reality feature that tells you nearby homes that are up for sale and also upcome open houses.
10. Doorsteps Swipe
This functions like Tinder for finding new properties and homes. You can create your profile based on personalized income preferences.
It is known as one of the best real estate apps for house hunting, which can be used to get a feel of good homes from the comfort of your couch.
The best part is, it works with your budget as you get to enter specific financial information like your income and down payment expectations on the property.
You also get to include specific cities, areas, neighborhoods of interest, including other features that are of priority to you, all you have to do is swipe left or right to create a list of homes that match your needs.
11. Mortgage calculator by Quicken Loans:
This is an easy-to-use real estate app that helps users estimate their loan amount, know their interest rate and monthly payments/term with just a click of a button. This way, you get to know exactly what you are signing up for.
12. FlipComp:
This helps investors access MLS that searches and analyzes potential house flipping investments and gives users access to key details of comparable, after repair value, details of the selling price, and current status.
Is 2024 a good year to buy a house in United States?
Due to the pandemic, 2020/2021 was tough and challenging, and that led to the world being affected economically, causing the rise of everything, including real estate prices. There was also a high competition to purchase houses and a decrease in inventory in 2021.
Now people can’t help but ask if 2024 will get any better if it might just be the year they are finally able to buy a house, the simple and straightforward answer is yes, 2024 might be a good year to buy a house because of the ongoing rise in inventory and more properties are said to be coming into the real estate market compared to 2021.
The only downside might be that the prices will be higher.
According to Zillow company’s website, United State’s home value have gone up 15% over the past year and Zillow also predicts that they will rise by 13.2% in the next year.
Therefore, in terms of availability, yes, it is a good year, but in terms of price, might not be so much.
Conclusion
We hope that one of the above apps helps you find the perfect home where love will reside, friends will belong and be welcomed, memories will be created and laughter will never end.