Iphone app Realtor.ca Review
Ben Schmidt of benschmidt.tv a Fredericton NB and Oromocto Real Estate Agent Video Blogs about the new Realtor.ca iPhone app.
This is your video blog review of the brand new iPhone application that just came out from Realtor.ca. Fantastic app that they just launched. So now you are going to be able to access every single home that's on MLS market place, which 95% of the homes for sale in Canada are. Right from your fingertips, right form the convenience of your iphone, which is absolutely fantastic.
First thing you should do is go to iTunes go to the app store, or you can go to the app store on your phone, and just type in Realtor.ca, and make sure you get the Realtor.ca not the Realtor.com because it is the United states version. The Canadian version is in red.
The first thing I have to say about this app, it is very GEO location based. So, it's based on where you are. It knows where your phone is, and so it is going to show homes that are near immediate area.
Looking in the home screen, the top left hand corner says properties near me, it's highlighted in red. This is probably the number one feature of this app. Again, location based, so when you are driving your car and come across a home and you like it and you want to know more information about it, just click on this app and it will bring it up automatically. You could see the photos, you could see the write up, you could email the agent, call the agent, and ask more questions.
Based on your search requirements, let's just say that your driving in your car, and you are only interested to homes from 200 - 250,000, only those homes will pop up in the little pins that you could see there. You can refine that search to whatever it is you want.
Next feature is the new listings near me and open houses near me. What its suppose to do is only show you listings that come out in the last week, or upcoming open houses, that is in you're immediate area.
I found that a couple of houses were missed that I know were upcoming open houses that i didn't actually find, so there might be a couple of problems that they need to work out, 90% of the time, it did bring out all the homes. Maybe they need just a couple of things they need to tweak and refine. I'm sure they will be able to fix it. But also a fantastic feature.
Next the MLS search. You can plug in the MLS number and it will bring up that house immediately. I do not think it will be used that often because If you know the MLS number, it is probably because you have already seen it online or you could have written them down on a piece of paper. You are not gonna remember that 9 - 10 digit numbers.
My second favorite feature is the property search. The reason why I like it so much is I find the property search feature actually more friendly to navigate than the realtor.ca website.
The last two is Realtor Search and My Agent. With Realtor search you can search up an agent, by office, by name, etc. Then you can save this agents to my agents, so that if you are narrowing, who are you going to use for transacting your purchase for your home. You can have kind of a short list to keep reference. I think that is a good little feature.
I love this app it is basically a home run except for one absolutely crucial feature that I was a little surprised that it wasn't there. I have contacted CREA and they have assured me that it is coming out in the next update which should be coming out on a month or two and what it is is the ability to save a listing. So you come across a house you like, and you want to know more information, and want to see it later, there is currently no ability to just hit the save button and it go to a short list of homes. I think that is a crucial feature, but it is coming, so basically it is in their in a couple of months, and with that feature, this app is a home run.
If you are looking to buy or just keep up to date with the real estate, market place here in Fredericton or anywhere in Canada, this is the app you want, it pulls the information directly from MLS so you know that it is 100% accurate, not like some other apps that are pulling the data from our system, but there might be a lag in the information,..
So if you have any questions about the iPhone Realtor.ca app or a question for a Realtor in general, give me an email at ben.schmidt@me.com.