House Hunting? There’s An App For That

BY LISA SCONTRAS

Make your next move to Nohona II at Kapolei. A continuation of our multi award-winning Nohona at Kapolei, this neighborhood is shaped by a loving respect for families, friends, and neighbors. Designed with an Island lifestyle in mind, these 2 and 3 bedroom brand new townhomes feature 4 distinctive floor plans that offer living areas of up to 1,184 square feet. An enclosed garage, covered lanai, and a fenced yard are among the many appealing design elements.

Prices start at $325,000 FS (HHFDC eligibility and income requirements apply). For more information, log on to www.castlecookehawaii.com or call a CASTLE & COOKE HOMES HAWAI’I Inc. Realtor at 674-9858. Visit furnished models Monday, 1 to 5 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

How many times have you seen a new FOR SALE sign go up in the neighborhood and wondered, how much? Well, now there’s an app for that.

Prudential Locations recently launched the first all Hawaii, all local real estate app available on iTunes.Way better than Zillow or Trulia, this locally designed iPhone application makes it a breeze to search listings, open houses, even sold prices of homes around the state or right next door.

Not limited to just Prudential’s in-house listings, this new app features a complete list of all properties currently for sale in Hawaii.

“We had one buyer come into an open house who said,’There are five properties for sale in my neighborhood and I’m going to see all of them today,'” said Dan Tabori, executive vice president at Prudential Locations.”So our agent pops open her new iPhone app. She shows the customer that there were indeed five area open houses that day, but there were actually 38 homes in the neighborhood for sale.

“The average consumer may not realize how many more homes are listed on the market than appear in the weekly open house guide,” adds Tabori.

Aimed at enabling buyers and sellers to make smarter real estate decisions, the app will also score high with homeowners who are interested in simply keeping tabs on the market value of their own home. For the total real estate junkie who checks out listings regularly, there is an option to search only for new properties that have come on the market within the last seven days. You can even tag your favorite properties.

“It’s like having your Realtor in your pocket,” explains Tabori.”You see a house for sale and right then and there, you have answers – you’ve got the price, photos, address, square footage, bedrooms and baths, days on market, and a property description that often lists amenities, views, parking stalls included, even when the structure was built.”

With a single-button push you can email your agent a question about the property, on the spot.

Designed specifically to be a real time resource no matter what time it is or where you are on the island or anywhere in the state, the Prudential Locations app has a “locate me” function, which will zero in on where you are and show you all the properties for sale near that location.

It’s easy to use. Click on a neighborhood and pushpins will drop to show you where each active listing or property sold is located. By selecting a pushpin, you’ll get the address or building name, price, bedrooms and baths and square footage.With one more click, you can see photos and get a more detailed description.

“You can save a lot of time making appointments with only those homes you’ve previewed on your iPhone first,” says Tabori.

With the large numbers of condos in Hawaii, and because condo buildings generally don’t have for sale signs, Prudential Locations’ app includes several features especially for this segment of the market.

Instead of identifying multiple listings within one building with a cluster of pushpins, this app will show one pin for each building. A click on that pin will show the building name, how many units are for sale there and the price range. More specific information about each listing is also available, including pictures of the units.

Users are amazed at how clear the information is laid out on the small screen and feedback among Prudential customers is positive. It works on the iPad, iTouch and the iPhone.

The app can be downloaded free from iTunes and you will need to register with Prudential Locations.

Now, if there was only an app to unpack all those boxes after you move in.

See More Listings