6 Ways Apps are Beneficial in Homebuying
Buying a home in any case can be a long, tedious process that takes quite a bit of planning and strategy. This year, however, many of us feel more anxiety and uncertainty than ever before because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Luckily, with the introduction of modern technology into the real estate industry, prospective buyers can take advantage of apps and systems that will help to create a more efficient buying experience and ultimately ease any added stress that comes with the process. If you’re buying a home, keep reading for the many ways that app technology can be beneficial to you.
Real Estate Terminology
Understanding how to communicate in the real estate industry is very important when purchasing a house. Common terms like “escrow” and “earnest money deposit” can be thrown around on a daily basis by your real estate agent and without knowing what they mean, miscommunication is inevitable. To eliminate this risk, you may want to take the extra step of downloading a real estate dictionary app so that there is no confusion down the road.
Calculating Affordability
Before buying a home, you should always dedicate time to figuring out how much you should actually spend overall. This isn’t the easiest calculation to make as there are several determining factors such as income, current debt, and future loan terms that will affect this number. Luckily, you can utilize an affordability calculator to help guide you through the process of determining how much house you can afford. Although it is a small step in the process, it should be done before beginning your house search. This way, you won’t run the risk of finding your dream home outside of your current means.
House Hunt
Whether you are thinking of purchasing a home soon or simply browsing the market near you, we have all likely used a multiple listing service (MLS) app at some point. These days, prospective buyers don’t have to rely on word of mouth or the recommendations of real estate agents entirely and instead, they can do their own research.
Many MLS or house hunting apps offer real-time listings that are up-to-date and within your designated areas. You can filter your home search by the number of rooms, square footage, and even individual amenities that you may be on the hunt for. Many top-rated apps today will show homebuyers the demographics of the neighborhood and even display reviews directly from those living in surrounding areas.
Assessing the Neighborhood
If you are looking to further assess the neighborhood of a particular house, there are apps for that as well. AroundMe is one commonly used both in and outside of the homebuying process, however, it may be just what you need to determine if your house is in an area you’d love. The app helps you to locate nearby restaurants, movie theaters, banks, coffee shops, and more. Combined with the demographics you got from your house hunting app, you should be able to conclude how comfortable you’d be in a particular city or neighborhood.
Mortgage Application
When it comes to financing your home, many lending companies offer user-friendly apps allowing you to apply for a loan, refinance your mortgage, and communicate in-app to a personal support assistant. The loan application typically requires information such as your citizenship, credit reports, and the loan you are interested in or eligible for. Some apps even integrate with your personal bank account so that you don’t have to worry about manually entering in bank statements and income reports. After filling out these questions, you are offered a personalized assessment reiterating how much house you can afford and what loan you qualify for. For some of the top-rated lending apps, you will receive and have access to your approval letter straight from the app.
Documentation
Keeping track of all of the paperwork that comes with buying a home can be a battle. Between credit score information, approval letters, and closing paperwork, it’s important to remain organized and have all the necessary information at your disposal. To do this, a document scanning app may be helpful when purchasing a home. With these apps, you are able to create a paperless record of all important information that you can access and share easily.
When selecting an app to utilize, be sure that it is reputable and explicitly states its security features. At the very least, make sure you avoid any app that requires you to upload documents to their own servers as this could indicate a privacy issue down the line. Diligently assess their privacy policy to be sure that they are not selling or sharing any of your information or documents without your consent.
Take advantage of the assistance that apps and modern technology have to offer in homebuying. Not only can they make you more knowledgeable about the entire process but they can help minimize any missteps or miscommunications throughout. As the real estate industry grows in the coming years, we will likely see many more apps roll out to assist buyers in their search. So, be on the lookout for new technology that can help you find your dream home.