The Best Real Estate Apps of 2020

4 min readNov 23, 2020

Zillow

Zillow is arguably the most popular real estate and rental marketplace in the US. The app offers instant access to millions of homes across the country, including homes that aren’t listed on MLS.

The platform is best known for its “Zestimates” — algorithmically generated home value estimates based on “zillions” of data points. Zillow also uses AI to estimate property values by analyzing photos and discovering details that may affect property prices. For example, a newly renovated stylish bathroom can become a turning point in a customer’s buying decision and thus add up to the value estimate.

Zillow makes money by selling ad space on their website zillow.com and the Zillow mobile app. It also offers paid Premium services for agents with its Zillow Premier Agent app.

Trulia

The US second-most-popular online real estate marketplace, Trulia, started as an independent company but is now owned by Zillow. The two platforms are now sharing some of the behind-the-scenes data, including ad products, listing databases, and user profiles.

Trulia uses AI-powered computer vision technology to identify features that may be of interest to a particular person, such as their preferred type of floors, color palettes, and construction materials. The app’s recommender system uses a similarity graph to consider the preferences of other users who have browsed similar properties and displays recommendations on the best-matching listings.

Trulia also stands out for its 34 map overlays, making it easier for users to feel what it’s like to live in a home and neighborhood. The distinct feature of Trulia is its crime map data. The platform pools crime data from local law enforcement and news reports, allowing users to determine the community’s safety. Trulia is free for users and earns its revenue mainly through advertising services.

Redfin

Buyers looking for homes on Redfin enjoy a huge database of US MLS listings, 70% of which are updated every 5 minutes. Redfin is also a brokerage company that offers users its agents to work with.

Redfin was the first-ever website to offer search-by-map functionality. Another feature is a custom search radius where users can outline areas manually to narrow down their findings. Other features include rich map overlays, 3D home tours, and touring schedules.

What truly makes Redfin stand out among competitors is its low listing fees for home sellers. With the Redfin model, sellers only pay 1.5% or $4,500 instead of the traditional 6% commission rate. Redfin gets its revenue through listing fees, commissions, and advertising fees.

Realtor.com Real Estate

Realtor.com is the official search system for the National Association of Realtors. The app provides data on property listings sourced every 15 minutes from over 800 MLSes. The app also offers unique options such as cross-sharing of private listing data between partner MLSes, and in-app scheduling service for real estate agents. What makes Realtor.com different from other apps is that it deliberately excludes many conventional features. For instance, Realtor.com doesn’t display property estimates, as the company claims that “the local real estate professional is the best person to determine the value of a listed property.” Realtor.com is free to use. It mostly makes money through its marketing services.

Homesnap

Homesnap is both an app for home buyers and a portal for agents, providing MLS data with enhanced features.

Homebuyers get access to quality photos, property lines, property history, and specialized features like school attendance zones. Real estate agents can use a similar version of the app with extra features to see what clients are looking at and help them find their perfect home.

Homesnap allows users to “snap” a photo of a home to access information about the house. The application also offers a built-in messaging feature that allows users to share and discuss homes within the app.

Homesnap also claims real-time MLS updates, which means users can access new and updated listings as quickly as possible.

The Homesnap app is ad-free. The service provides Pro+ subscriptions for real estate agents. The company also offers agents the ability to buy ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Waze. Finally, it provides branding packages for brokerages at a one-time fee.

If you want to learn more about building an app for real estate, read the original article.