The following is a list of real estate-related apps that are optimized for the iPad, with their rankings as reported by TopAppCharts.com.
There is no specific "real estate" category in the Apple App Store, so apps are listed according to their rank in categories like lifestyle, business, news, finance and productivity. These rankings were sampled on Thursday, July 22, 2010 — TopAppCharts’ rankings can change daily. All listed apps are free.
1. Zillow Real Estate (No. 3 in Lifestyle section): Search for homes for sale and rent on a large-screen map using landscape or portrait mode; filter searches by price, size or housing type; flick through photos of one or more homes alongside the map; compare photos for different listings side by side; save favorite homes and sync them with Zillow.com and Zillow’s iPhone app.
See "Zestimate" home values, historical data, home descriptions and recent comparable sales for the 95 million homes in the company’s database. E-mail favorites to loved ones or post them on Facebook; sign up for push notifications of new listings; and contact the agent, landlord or owner from the app.
2. ZipRealty Real Estate (No. 34 in Lifestyle section): Find homes currently for sale or recently sold in more than 4,000 cities and neighborhoods across the country; filter homes by location, price range, number of bedrooms and bathroom, and property type.
See listing price, square footage and third-party value estimates from Cyberhomes and eppraisal; view full-screen photos; contact a ZipRealty agent with one click; bookmark favorites either from the app or sync those saved on ZipRealty.com.
3. Apartments For Rent (No. 45 in Lifestyle section): search for rental properties by location; narrow listings depending on price and apartment features; view property descriptions and building office hours; see photo and floor plan galleries; watch video tours of apartment communities; and contact an apartment manager from the app.
4. ApartmentGuide (No. 70 in Lifestyle section): search for apartments by city, state and ZIP code or current location; sort results by radius, property type, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, price and amenities; see photos and floor plans; and, check availability by sending a message to the apartment manager directly from the app.
5. Mortgage Payment Calculator Free (No. 7 in Finance section): determine monthly mortgage payments, including property tax and homeowners association dues; view amortization tables and tax savings calculator.
6. MyAgent by IDX (No. 39 in Business section): see more than 4 million active listings available from more than 300 multiple listing services throughout the U.S.; use map-based search tool that includes a photo gallery, mortgage calculator and property description for each listing; and share listings on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. An agent code is required to view listings from particular MLSs, though the app does provide agent codes based on current location.
7. NAR Leadership App for iPad (No. 59 in News section): see latest real estate industry news and hot topics from the National Association of Realtors; see directories of association leadership, including committees and boards; track association meeting schedules; connect directly to NAR’s Realtor Action Center and the association’s blogs; connect to a list of podcasts from the association.
8. MyCRM for iPad (No. 98 in Productivity section): list clients and sales; manage activities before and after sale; keep a diary of engagements; automatically estimate commissions; backup databases through Google Docs; and import customer information from Google Docs spreadsheets or contacts.
There are not many real estate applications that have been custom-built for the iPad. Many developers seem to be content with releasing iPhone apps, which also work on the iPad but are not optimized for that device’s large screen size.
As of Thursday, there were at total of 16,411 iPad apps in the Apple App Store. While the exact number of iPhone apps was not readily available, several sites put the figure at around 230,000.
The Tech Savvy Agent blog suggests that some property search sites may be holding off on creating iPad apps because consumers can simply visit their websites using the iPad.
