What Separates HotPads from the Real Estate App Competition?

Times are changing and real estate professionals who want to stay at the top of their game will evolve in step with the demands of a tech-savvy client base. The current obsession with smartphones and other connected devices makes it commonplace to access information with the touch of a screen, and if it’s not fast and easy it’s not in vogue. Real estate apps are quickly becoming essential for pros in the business and there’s a competition among these apps. There are quite a few to choose from but one, in particular, has risen to the top of the churn. HotPads is the new app but what separates HotPads from the Real Estate App Competition?

What HotPads does

HotPads provide the user with map-based search service to easily find houses and apartments, which is pretty much what the other apps do. It lets you enter the number of bedrooms that you prefer, along with the city you’re interested in and your price range. The app brings up a display of hundreds of openings for available houses and apartments within the criteria you specify. It’s really no better or worse than most other apps when it comes to the basics. It’s in the extra features that HotPads forges ahead of the competition.

What sets HotPads apart from other real estate apps?

HotPads offers some unique features that not all other real estate apps do. There is more involved in finding the ideal home to rent or lease than simply finding one that’s the right size, in the right town and in your price range. Here is where HotPads is unique. The app also shows how close the homes you are interested in are to public transportation and school zones. If you have a need to use public transportation to get to and from a job, this can be an important detail to consider. Even if you drive, there may be a family member that will need to rely on a public transportation service and it would be much more convenient if the service exists in the neighborhood you’re considering moving into.

Another important consideration is the school system. Is the home that you’re looking at near a public or private school district that is acceptable to you? If so, what is the distance? People with school-age children must consider this factor when looking for the best possible home and neighborhood. Having this information can save a lot of time and hassle by letting you know if a particular neighborhood is one that you would seriously consider. What’s the point of checking out a house or apartment in an area that would put your kids in a poor school district?

The HotSpots feature

Another benefit of the HotPads app is that it comes with HotSpots. This useful feature uses different colors that indicate the price of the listing per room. It’s helpful for comparing the prices so you can more quickly and easily find the bests deals without taking hours to compare them by hand. Any app that can help you save time and money is superior to those that don’t.

HotPads doesn’t use Craigslist ads

Although there has been some discussion about HotPads refusal to add Craigslist listings to their app, they have a reasonable explanation for why. Aside from the fact that there are more and more rental scams showing up on the site, HotPads prefers to generate every listing themselves. This allows them to be more discriminating about what is included. They’re going for solid listings that users can feel confident in pursuing. Some believe that it’s an error to not include Craigslist but when you think about it, the exclusion is probably weeding out some nuisance ads that would bring down the reliability and the quality of the search results. HotPads staff explains that they prefer to use their resources to discover unique new listings to share with their users. From what we can tell, they’re doing an excellent job of it because the app now maps more than 500,000 rentals along with a whopping 3.5 million homes which are listed for sale.

Final thoughts

HotPads is an app that goes over and above what most other real estate apps do. It’s the value added features that set it apart from the rest. It offers a fresher perspective along with a few essentials that really should be included on all real estate apps but sadly are not.