Morgan Rice

The Canadian real estate market is always at the forefront in adopting new technologies. Recently, the Canada Real Estate Association (CREA) issued a press release highlighting its latest home buying and selling innovation—a new Mobile App.

REALTOR.ca is the most visited real estate website in Canada, listing, on average, approximately 350,000 properties at any time. The new Mobile App brings this feature-rich website to the mobile world.

CREA had announced earlier in November the release of this App for Windows mobile phones. However, that announcement was taken lightly as the “Windows Phone” operating system just arrived in Canada a few weeks before, so unfortunately almost nobody has Windows based mobile phones.

Over 95% of smart phones in Canada are Android, iPhone or Blackberry devices. The introduction of the new REALTOR.ca Mobile App for the iPhone and Blackberry platforms shows that CREA mean business.

 “This free application brings Apple iPhone users the features and functionality of the REALTOR.ca website, as well as some interesting device-specific features,” said CREA president Georges Pahud. “Consumers today expect portable information and REALTORS® across Canada are happy to be providing this service.”

The free REALTOR.ca App is provided at no cost to consumers by Canada’s 100,000 REALTORS® and more than 100 real estate Boards and Associations.

The App provides users with the features and functionality of the REALTOR.ca website and takes advantage of Apple iPhone device features, such as using the handheld’s GPS technology for the following features:

• Properties Near Me – get up-to-date property information, photos and driving directions
• New Listings Near Me – recent listings in the area you’re visiting
• Open Houses Near Me – find open houses near your present location
• My Agent – Contact either your agent(s), or the listing agent for more information about a specific property
• Property Search – search for houses and properties across Canada, and connect with REALTORS® to view, buy or sell a property
• Personalized settings – set default language, unit of measure, how properties are displayed, and search radius for “Near Me” searches
• Interactive BING mapping – embedded to allow focus on specific neighbourhoods. 
• Scheduled Open Houses can be added to the device’s calendar.

“When considering one of life’s biggest financial transactions, easily accessible, detailed information about homes and neighbourhoods, as well as access to REALTORS®, helps people make well-informed decisions,” stated Pahud.

With the addition of the Apple iPhone App, REALTOR.ca is now available for two of the most popular handheld device operating systems, as the Windows Phone 7® version was released in November. A BlackBerry App will be released soon.

How do I install this real estate App?
Simply search for “realtor.ca” from the App Store in your phone. Download the App and follow the instructions.