The Estate Agent App Review

With smartphones being very popular on the British market, time using apps is growing. Apps are favoured for fast and easy access to information, without the need to use the phone’s web browser. They can be used any time, from anywhere - and most apps are quick to download, and free.

A recent Flurry survey concluded that “for the first time ever, daily time spent in mobile apps surpasses desktop and mobile web consumption”. It's a trend which estate agencies with apps targeting property hunters will definitely benefit from.

With a recent report by The Real Estate Book claiming that real estate apps have become an irreplaceable tool for the home buyer, we at Migrate2mobile have decided to review some of the most popular - and in our opinion the five best - real estate apps available on the iPhone. We'll offer up our thoughts on each app's essential, good and unique features, and areas in need of improvement.

Zoopla
Zoopla! launched its comprehensive iPhone app back in 2010, and it has now become one of the most popular tools among all UK property apps. 

Essential features

• Smart search options: price, property type, number of bedrooms, keyword search
• Find my location functionality
• Search results view: map, list and hybrid
• Property information: photo gallery, property description, floor plan, price and agency contact information
• Save property to favorites
• Share property via e-mail
• Direct call or email to agent

Unique and good-to-have features

• Property value estimation: checking the real value of any property by different criteria. It also provides historical value change data for the previous five years
• Sold prices: Same information as above, plus the last sale price. It’s hard to underestimate the importance of such information for property buyers
• Camera view: a fancy AR feature that, using the handset's GPS, enables you to look around through your smartphone camera and see what houses or flats are for sale

Areas to improve

• Slow search
• No saved search option
• No social network integration
• No option to see property pictures full screen, instead showing very small photos, and only in Portrait mode
• No support for Landscape orientation
• No auto-complete suggestions when selecting a target area
• The default font is very small, property description is not formatted at all, which makes them difficult to read, and font size cannot be adjusted
• Find my location doesn’t locate anywhere outside of the UK
• AR feature is currently not available for iPhone 4S

This app provides impressive and extremely useful information regarding property value estimation that no one else does today. This can make Zoopla Property Search app the best of the best on the market, though a long list of required improvements is a critical stopper on its way. According to informaiton on the App Store, the app was last updated on February 2011, more than a year ago. If Zoopla! doesn’t speed things up, it may be in danger of losing its market position.

All in all, we give it 4 stars out of 5. Well migrated!

FindaProperty.com Search and Prime Location Property Search

In 2011, Digital Property Group launched two iOS apps, FindaProperty and PrimeLocation. The GUI design and features list are identical in both apps; the only difference is in targeting - FindaProperty is apparently aimed at a ‘mass market’ audience, while PrimeLocation is oriented to more affluent renters and buyers. Both apps are top-ranked in the UK, though, unlike Zoopla, don’t cover all the properties available in Britain. 

Essential features

• Property search filter: price, radius, number of bedrooms, property type
• Search results view: map, list
• Property information: photo gallery, number of bedrooms, short description, floor plan or brochure (if available), agency contact information
• Direct call or email to an agent
• Share property via e-mail
• Save property/agent/search to favourites
• Find my location
• Direct sync with existing ‘My FindaProperty’ or ‘My PrimeLocation' account

Unique and good-to-have features

• Augmented Reality functionality: allows the viewing of properties in a half-mile radius, with details like numbers of bedrooms, price and distance away, with nearby properties also plotted on a small compass
• Social network integration: properties can be easily shared via Facebook or Twitter

• Areas to improve

• Location of some buttons seems to be impractical
• No support for Landscape orientation, though the apps claim to enable this
• No keyword search option
• Neither app searches a large area, asks the user to narrow search down from an auto-suggested list
• No hybrid view
• Find my location doesn’t work outside of the UK

Both apps touch upon the same features, though only FindaProperty has received a recent update, in September 2011. The simplicity of both apps is a major pro, though overall, the apps lack a breadth of functionality.

Migrate2Mobile gives them 3 out of 5 stars. Good job!

Rightmove

Having launched in 2009, Rightmove's iPhone app claims to be the first major estate agency app. By 2011, this app had broken the 1m download mark and is now amongst the leading property search apps, covering nearly 90 per cent of UK properties. 

Essential features

• Search options: price, number of bedrooms, large property types list.
• Search results view: list, map
• Property information: price, photo gallery, floor plans (if available), EPC (if available), full description, agency contact information
• Pictures are available in both portrait and landscape mode
• Save property and property search to favorites
• Direct calls or email to agent
• Share via email
• Find my location
• Sync with ‘My Rightmove’

Unique and good-to-have features

• QR code scanner
• Landscape mode slide show
• Enlarged search options: advanced search filters, which can narrow down results by options such as properties with gardens or parking, property style, or shared ownership

Areas to improve

• No keyword search option
• No hybrid search result view
• No social networks integration
• No auto-complete suggestions when selecting a target area

Rightmove has the least cons of the apps reviewed, and the latest update made in January 2012 shows the company’s willingness to constantly improve the app’s features.

Lack of social network integration seems to be an oversight, but all in all we give Rightmove 4 stars out of 5. Well migrated!

Knight Frank Property Search

Knight Frank's app searches properties for sale and rent in UK and more, around the world. Last updated in March 2012, the app is regarded as one of the “market leaders for high quality commercial and residential property in London and throughout the UK”.

Essential features

• Search options: price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
• Search results view: list, map, hybrid (with a print option)
• Property information: photo gallery, floor plans, downloadable property brochures, agency contact information
• Save a property
• Mail link to the property
• Sync with ‘My Knight Frank’
• Direct call or email to agent, and search function for nearest Knight Frank offices

Unique and good-to-have features

• Search filter according to lifestyle: sporting, golfing, skiing, vineyard, water views
• “Features” filter option with many additional search criteria: balcony, communal garden, patio, private parking and others
• Social networks integration: post to Facebook or Twitter
• Combined property view: property specifications and map location on the same page
• Several price options are presented: guide price, asking price and price range
• EPC graph (with print option)

Areas to improve

• No ‘property type’ filter option
• Filter button is difficult to find currently
• Landscape mode doesn’t allow the enlargement of images. Instead one sees the same size picture as in the Portrait mode
• No font size adjustments, the default font is very small, and users might find it difficult to read information whilst on the move

Knight Frank is a good app for searching some of the most desirable properties in the UK, but isn’t all well thought-out. A bit inconvenient arrangement of filter buttons and small font size are to be improved.

Nonetheless, Migrate2Mobile ranks Knight Frank 4 stars out of 5. Well done!