Homeownership comes with plenty of benefits – as well as responsibilities – but thanks to modern technology, that doesn’t mean you have to leave your devices behind when you get home from work. In fact, there are plenty of apps that can help make household maintenance much easier and save you the cost of hiring someone else to do it, especially if it’s a relatively simple task such as cleaning gutters or replacing an air filter. So what are the best apps out there? Check out these six apps every homeowner should have on their phone.
1) HomeExchange
HomeExchange is a website and app where homeowners around the world can connect to find new and unique homes for the perfect vacation spot. The website, which has been around since 2005, claims to have more than 55 million property listings on its database from all over the world. Plus, you can filter your search by location, country, region, and property type so you’re always up-to-date with what’s available in your preferred area.
2) Houzz
Houzz is a social networking site for home design, landscaping, and renovation professionals, with over 100 million monthly unique visitors. Houzz is great for finding contractors in your area and allows you to upload and save photos of your project so you can track the progress.
3) Homestyler
The Homestyler app enables users to virtually decorate and furnish their home by taking a photo of the room and then choosing from a variety of layouts. With hundreds of pre-made furniture arrangements, an interior designer is just a few clicks away. It’s the perfect solution for procrastinators who need help selecting paint colors or picking out new curtains. It also has plenty of helpful features that can make the process easier like helping find where to buy items on Amazon or giving style advice based on what you have in your current living space. For those with larger homes that have yet to be furnished, it can be used as a blueprint for when shopping around town. Even better: it includes design ideas for outdoor spaces!
4) Diigo
A favorite app among real estate agents, Diigo allows you to highlight and annotate images. These annotations can then be saved and shared as notes with others on your team or in the field. What sets Diigo apart from other annotation apps is that it’s platform agnostic, meaning if you start highlighting with your phone but want to finish up on a laptop later, the markings will transfer seamlessly across devices. What’s more? It syncs with cloud-based storage platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and OneDrive so there’s no need to save anything locally (and risk losing those precious photos). The only downside is the lack of an iPad version.
5) TrackMyGOALS
TrackMyGOALS is a helpful tool for homeowners who are trying to make a home maintenance plan. TrackMyGOALS will help you monitor your goals, set new ones if you need to, and remind you about what needs to be done on any given day. If something goes wrong with your pipes or drains, the app can even send you an alert so that you know when to call the plumber.
