Jul 24, 2024
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No one misses the old days of being a real estate agent when paper printouts and endless hand-scribbled notes drove the business of buying and selling property. However, the digital era of navigating real estate apps, software, and social media marketing presents distinct brokerage challenges.
The sheer number of apps for real estate agents and brokers is dizzying. Clients and partners now expect a digital-savvy professional to handle their search, sale, and purchase processes. And there’s also the benefit of creating a more efficient client pipeline. But which are the best apps to have at your fingertips?
We have navigated today’s top-rated apps and made this list of the best. Here’s to a year of creating more efficiency, gaining more clients, and closing more deals!
We grouped the top real estate app recommendations into eight categories. Below, you’ll find the best real estate apps for:
To sweeten the pot, we added a bonus category for you: lesser-known real estate apps that you’ll wonder how you got along without once you try them.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Experts swear by Redfin’s real estate mobile app. It is free and has MLS integration to show updated listings every 10-15 minutes, as well as foreclosures, short sales, and for-sale-by-owner homes. Users can search by school district, neighborhood, and budget. Redfin’s interface is one of the easiest to navigate for app users. Two unique Redfin features to help agents are the ability to search for a home’s next showing and a note and camera function to record pictures and private notes for each property.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Buyers turn to Zillow for its tremendous number of free resources, as well as its convenient way to find current listings and see property details. Zillow Real Estate and Rentals takes users inside properties with immersive photos and virtual tours during their home search. Mortgage by Zillow is a fabulous way for your buyers to qualify for the mortgage they need. Using Zillow, your clients can access buyer estimates and tax records. They will understand what they will pay and whether it is within their budget with the Zillow mortgage app.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Exclusively for members of the National Association of Realtors, this app allows realtors to search properties that are regularly updated with market insights and statistics. Plus, you can create and send your clients branded reports. Users say the RVM estimate tool is especially helpful. If the MLS app feels limited in your local area, the RPR app can be your new go-to resource.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Only need rental properties? Many professionals find that Rent.com, a Redfin company, offers the most comprehensive rental property listings of available rentals. It’s easy to use on a smartphone or tablet. Compared to the navigation features of other rental apps, Rent.com’s interface offers an effortless experience searching by property type and features.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: A free real estate app powered by an MLS integration, Homesnap Pro allows licensed agents and brokers to post listings with no competing agent ads, pop-ups, or banners. You can also access info about properties not found on Redfin or Zillow, such as “as is” or “cash-only” requirements, and access productivity tools. While Homesnap Pro+ requires a subscription fee, it aims to help create more connections with prospects.
Available for Download On: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: If you need an easy way to calculate monthly mortgage payments, this app may be the best mortgage calculator for the job. Specifically, it enables agents to input all the variables, including home price, taxes, etc., to see how the home price works with their budget. It’s especially helpful for providing clients with realistic payment calculations that also include variables such as cost estimates for PMI, closing costs, and property tax.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Starting at $19.99/month for 100 clients
Why you’ll love it: HomeKeepr is the best app for real estate agents and brokers to share preferred vendors, such as inspectors, contractors, or landscapers, with their clients. The app differentiates itself from other realtor apps by having a local focus, so there’s no time wasted scrolling through contractors or gardeners who don’t serve a specific area. The vendor listing is culled from the personal recommendations of real estate pros and includes their firsthand reviews and experiences. The app is custom branded and offers personally branded blog articles about homeownership that you can share across your social media presence.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: This app has compiled one of the largest collections of exclusive properties up for auction throughout the United States. Covering luxury real estate and fixer-uppers, it has listings that include REOs, short sales, and foreclosures. Xome Auctions even provides access to pre-auction properties and sends push notifications to alert you of all competitive bids in real time. Bidding and closing can all be performed through the app.
Multiple apps available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Business Standard plan $12.00 user/month
Why you’ll love it: From sending emails, sharing your Google calendar, and creating documents, Google Workspace is the best app for busy agents and brokers. You can store and coordinate documents, spreadsheets, and forms across multiple devices. The cloud-based system enables users to access their work from anywhere, making it easy for all team members to see and edit any files they collaborate on when shared among the organization in a group folder. Google Workspace is the most commonly used email hosting service, allowing you to have custom email addresses.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free to $12.50 user/month
Why you’ll love it: When it comes to communicating with your team, there’s no better app than Slack. Forget annoying text chains; Slack sends instant messages to everyone added to a channel, ensuring everyone stays in the loop regardless of whether it’s five users or 100. It can also be used to share files and store information. If collaboration needs to be limited to specific people or projects, it’s easy to establish separate channels. The $7.50 user/month plan should be perfect for most real estate teams.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free to $17.50 user/month for the paid version
Why you’ll love it: Trello is an inexpensive and easy project management app solution. The program enables project tracking by creating task management “cards” that can be moved and updated as a team hits its goals. If you’re a team lead, you can add your entire office (or certain members) to specific Trello boards and assign various tasks to individual agents. Once tasks are completed, team members can mark each item as done, allowing the organizer to keep tabs on a team’s progress. Real estate professionals also like Trello’s scheduling tool, which enables participants to organize, RSVP, and reschedule meetings.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: $30/month for four users on the Standard plan
Why you’ll love it: This program takes Trello up a notch and is a complete game changer for agent management. The Monday app helps you organize all the marketing projects, recruiting, client management, and team management you need to keep your business running. It also lets you track all agents’ sales, relationships, and leads and provides a visual way to see who’s working on what and where they are in their real estate transactions or new projects. It’s one of the best smartphone apps available.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: While the debate over map apps will never go away, Google Maps is a tried and true favorite for non-driving-related directions. If you’re walking or taking public transportation, this is the map app for you.
If driving, Waze and Google are very similar (not surprising since they are owned by the same parent company). However, Waze is a favorite for planning a trip and knowing when to leave. Waze also alerts you to hazards and police reports ahead. Your drive, your choice. Comparison studies reveal there is not much of a difference in the arrival times for either app.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Real Estate Starter plan is $10 per month | DocuSign for NAR members is $20 per month
Why you’ll love it: Forget the days of printing, signing, and scanning contracts. DocuSign is ideal for quickly sending documents that require an eSignature, like the buyer’s agent contract. It takes the top spot in app ratings for the most efficient way to get necessary documents signed by numerous people. The DocuSign for Realtors plan price point of $20 user/month offers custom branding and the convenience of real-time signing from mobile devices.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: $20/month for the Professional version; Teams packages start at $18/month per user
Why you’ll love it: This app provides a way to keep the photos, videos, documents, and other important files that agents and brokers need in one easy-to-access and secure cloud location. You may assign a file to each client and then share links to the individual files and important documents as needed. Busy real estate professionals can access their Dropbox needs on any computer or smartphone device and share files in the field from their mobile platform. While the free version will suffice, the Dropbox Advanced plans offer many features that can make a big difference, including unlimited storage and the ability to have multiple administrators with different permissions for each folder. Brokers might find it useful to provide their entire team with Dropbox Advanced, which offers unlimited storage.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Genius Scan is one of the best ways to deal with the copious number of documents that invariably need to be scanned. You simply snap a smartphone photo of a signed document, the OCR recognizes the text, and you send it on its way. The best part of Genius Scan is that it can be used wherever you are, alleviating the need to be at the office scanning documents. Genius Scan Ultra, which carries a $3/month fee, enables users to export documents to Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud Drive. It’s also free of annoying advertisements and allows users to add a custom email signature. You’ll never use that bulky scanner again.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: $2.99 weekly or $39.99 yearly
Why you’ll love it: This app is hands-down one of the most excellent smartphone apps for real estate agents and brokers who want to shoot videos in stunning 4k resolution. But don’t just take our word for it: this app has also won numerous awards for providing top-quality recording technology. You get three different shooting modes to choose from, and if you’re feeling particularly artistic, you can adjust the temperature and tint of each shot. The app also allows you to customize your settings to fit your needs and video preferences. Once done with the video, you can share it directly from the app to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Filmic has a great blog with all sorts of tips and tricks if you need help or want to improve your video game.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Every agent and broker knows that when it comes to real estate social media marketing, Instagram is the king among social media apps. It needs to be part of their real estate marketing strategy. It has become the default channel for real estate pros to post stunning photos of properties and interior decorating ideas. Use Instagram Stories for video recordings, turn to Reels for short videos, or create your own IGTV channel with your insight. Instagram prioritizes video content, so try touring a house live, creating TikTok-type home highlight reels, or going live from a house and answering questions. Be sure to hashtag your town and related topic to get the most reach. Creating a solid call-to-action button will drive people to your listing and up your lead count.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Up to $59.99 for the Pro version
Why you’ll love it: Better photography sells homes faster, and high-definition resolution (HDR) photography is a must if you take your own pictures. Even better, for those cloudy days or low-light shots, Lightscape can brighten pictures and automatically change the sky to the perfect sunny setting. While the app might seem a little costly for the Pro version, it’s much less than paying for professionals or purchasing an HDR camera.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Pricing: Free with Zillow Premier Agent membership
Why you’ll love it: Most likely, you have listings on Zillow, the most visited source for prospective home buyers, making this an invaluable separate app for your real estate career. It includes lead sorting, task management, and team features, like lead assignment. If you sign up for My Agent program, you’ll be able to see what your leads are searching for and be the only agent they see on Zillow. You can manage those new contacts through an integrated CRM. It helps manage tasks, reminders, texts, and emails, making the Zillow Premier Agent app a must-have for every listing agent.
Available for download on: Connects to all of your apps through Zapier
Pricing: Budget based
Why you’ll love it: Mastering Facebook ads is a central component of many successful real estate agents. Street Text will help you craft winning Facebook and Instagram advertising and easily launch an ad that brings you new clients. Choose from a library of tested and proven ads with funnels that you can personalize and track.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Sign up for free
Why you’ll love it: Market yourself to the 81% of Homes.com new buyers who do not have an agent. Every month, 5.5 million people visit Homes.com, and your free profile gives you access to all of them on one platform. Of those 5.5 million potential clients, 54% are first-time buyers who need your help and will be happy to hear from you after you get their phone number through the app. An excellent feature is the realtor’s ability to pick and answer questions. If someone moving to the area wants to know about the restaurant scene, answer them and pick up a new lead.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Freshchat is a messaging app made specifically for sales. You can manage all of your website conversations from an app. No matter where you are, you have access to chat requests on your website. Freshchat will notify you when a chat request comes in and provide you with relevant user information. Essential is the ability to assign conversations to others on your team who can best answer the inquiry.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Starting at $33/month
Why you’ll love it: The use of video turns leads into clients, and BombBomb is explicitly made for that purpose. Greet new leads with a video message, mass-send to new listings, and reach out with video over the BombBomb email marketing platform. You can also access animated previews and virtual backgrounds to make your videos more fun.
Available for download on: Redfin Website
Price: Referral fee when the deal is closed.
Why you’ll love it: You receive buyer and seller referrals with no obligation to Redfin unless you close the deal. Redfin makes agent reviews available in its app for potential buyers to read and connects them with an agent they choose. Typically, the company allows only three to five agents per operating area but may add agents when demand is high. No, you needn’t leave your current brokerage to be a Redfin agent. Redfin should always be included in marketing strategies.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Most everyone agrees that MailChimp is the best app for email marketing. Agents love it for keeping in touch with current and prospective clients and updating them on current listings. The MailChimp free templates are easy to use and highly customizable to reflect each user’s branding. The free version allows users to send up to 2,500 emails per month to 500 contacts. Adding your client list is very straightforward, and MailChimp will tell you your email open rates and who is viewing your emails and clicking on links. MailChimp is an excellent tool for keeping in touch with past clients, who may be potential referrals, repeat buyers, or sellers.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: While the primary focus of this app is digitizing the open-house sign-in sheet (turning your attendees into leads with automated follow-up emails), this app takes marketing for your open houses to the next level. Part of a national broker franchise? Curb Hero has prebuilt branded templates that agents can customize as their own. An added benefit of Curb Hero is the affordability and social media features included. If you’re looking for beautiful templates to announce your new listings and sales, check out this app’s options to enhance your brand awareness.
Now that you’ve looked at the most popular apps that top agents and brokers use regularly, let’s check out a few more. The following six apps aren’t as well known, but they are so clever that we know you’ll love adding them to your real estate toolkit.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: KeyMe is an app that uses the latest technology. You can scan a key, or several keys, at a conveniently located kiosk to make identical copies that work like a charm. The app helps you find local locksmith services at designated, self-service kiosks to help out when you need additional key copies for a property showing or house inspection for a pending sale. And you don’t need to worry that you’ll have to travel far to pick up your key copy since there are locations all over the United States.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: If you’re a real estate agent or broker looking for a game changer in time management, Calendly might be the solution you need. With this free app that works on iOS devices and Android, you can take a measured approach to track the time you spend corresponding back and forth with each client. This functionality ensures that you can sync everything up on your calendar and your real estate–specific calendar for listing appointments, showings, and open-house events. Calendly lets you level up your efficiency, allowing you to send out links to your clients to give them a chance to book showings that work best for them within your available time frame. Best of all, you can use it in your office, at home, or on the go with the web-based version or the mobile app on iOS and Android.
Available for download on: Canva | Google Play
Price: Free to $12.99/month
Why you’ll love it: Originally created to serve as a repository for photos, Canva has become so much more and an excellent tool for today’s most creative real estate brokers and agents. Today, you can create and edit photographs, documents, presentations, open-house signs, social media graphics, brochures, business cards, posters, and other visual content. Since 90% of modern homebuyers conduct at least some portion of their search online, you have an excellent opportunity to show off a property in the best possible light to attract motivated buyers. You can integrate this with Adobe Photoshop or decide you no longer need Adobe products. Canva is simply the most straightforward app for producing gorgeous marketing materials. Plus, you can try Canva’s free design platform before fully committing.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Animoto
Price: Free to $55/month
Why you’ll love it: This app offers benefits similar to those of still photography in the digital era. For real estate agents and brokers, Animoto can help you add the right spark to spontaneous video clips. For example, suppose one of your property seller’s gardens has started to bloom since your original listing. In that case, you can capture a quick clip or still filled with bumblebees and butterflies and instantly send it out to social media platforms to give everyone a fresh perspective on the home.
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: $9.99 to $89.99/month
Why you’ll love it: For real estate agents and brokers who want to show prospective buyers the specific layout of a home, MagicPlan makes it quick and easy. You will love the easy-to-use interface that doesn’t sacrifice state-of-the-art technology that lets you measure a home’s interior in moments. You can send plans to clients in 2D and 3D to help them visualize how the layout works for their families and lifestyles. Best of all, MagicPlan is far less expensive than using a Matterport service (though you will want to compare the features).
Available for download on: Apple App Store | Google Play
Price: Free
Why you’ll love it: Are these floors slanted? Is that beam straight? If you’re an agent who tends to show a lot of prewar listings or homes that may need work, this app will come in very handy. It’s basically turning your phone into a level. Just hold the side of your phone to a surface and see how flat it is. Or lay your phone down for a 360-degree reading.
Updated March 22nd, 2022 by Chad Deitchley
Image courtesy of iStock.com/MStudioImages
Last updated on Jul 24, 2024.
Originally published on Mar 09, 2023.
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Brian McKay has his master’s degree in business administration from Boise State University. He is a professional writer, marketing strategist, and business consultant who loves helping realtors sell more homes.
Jerriann Sullivan Jul 24, 2024
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