Smart phone use tips for home shopping (eg., for a lake home)?
 

I have a damn smartphone (ahh ... there's the problem, I hate my phone). I'm thinking it should help me in shopping for a lake home.

On the referral of good friends, I went down and spent a day with a realtor. He drove me by and showed me one home ?!?!?, which was his own listing. I bought him lunch, he was a good natured guy, but ...

So my question is, (1) can I drive around, (2) look at a property for sale, find its MLS, (3) enter that the listing in the local MLS home and property search, and (4) be able to see the MLS data on my phone?

It seems like I should. The local MLS online service has this rather lengthy URL address:

http://www.flexmls.com/cgi-bin/mainm...ml_header=true

I expect that I be able to pin that URL to my apps page (or whatever).

If anyone could advise some youtube tutorials for a Samsung Galaxy S5 on how to do this, I would appreciate.

Here's a Bull Shoals property of interest. It is out of my price range ... (and too remote from where I want to be) (and with which I have no relation for to helping advertise).

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...4_M76520-61001

It has to be sited on about the highest shoreline elevation above the lake. The neighbor house is a more readily recognized "landmark" on the shore. It is a 'lighthouse.' The 'lighthouse' can probably be seen from boating on the lake from as far as about 2-1/2 miles approach in either direction.

Usually googling the address of the home will pull all the information up.

Realtor.com App

When my kids are napping my wife and I drive slowly around the lake and check out all the homes for sale with the realtor.com app and the trulia app as well. Just go onto your App Store and search for real estate and these two apps should show up, but there are probably more. The pull data from MLS listings so FSBO will not pop up.

The apps have a nice map feature that we use to see houses for sale nearby, and we just keep updating the map with our location as we cruise the shore.

And BTW, you went out with an agent and bought him lunch? Unless things changed in the last 3 years agents usually buy you lunch when house hunting, and I've bought and sold 3 homes in the last 8 years and that was the norm in GA, TX and WA.

yeah I'm really bad with my smartphone.

But yes I have since discovered
realtor.com
zillow.com
trulia.com
redfin.com

and maybe there's more.

I think now too I better understand the realtor's lethargy.
He was probably looking at me, shaking his head, thinking ... "that's not how you real estate shop nowadays dummy."