Technology boosts ease of buying a home

SYRACUSE — House hunting has come a long way from circling ads in the Sunday paper, spending a day looking at houses, finding the right house, and then applying for a mortgage and waiting anxiously for approval. With smartphones in hand, both buyers and realtors are using technology to streamline the process, but not without some drawbacks and potential pitfalls.

The Chase My New Home app, from JPMorgan Chase & Co., launched last fall for smartphones and in April for the iPad. The app is just one example of how technology is changing the way people house hunt.

About 90 percent of buyers look online for homes these days, says Lisa Foradori, chief marketing officer for home lending at JPMorgan Chase. On top of that, “people want information on their time,” she says, whether that’s 5 a.m. on a Monday or midnight on a Saturday. These days, people are plugged in all the time and want information at their fingertips. That is what motivated JPMorgan Chase to develop the My New Home app.

The app helps guide homebuyers through the whole process of buying a home from establishing a budget to getting a mortgage. And, of course, buyers can review local listings right on their phone. The app also has features that allow buyers to take notes on properties, snap photos, and even connect with a mortgage banker.

“It allows them to shop with confidence,” Foradori says.

To date, the app has more than 270,000 downloads, she says. Chase has also tweaked the app a few times in response to user reviews, adding features like a category on neighborhood trends, making the app even more useful, she adds.

Apps such as My New Home are very useful, says Lynnore Fetyko, CEO of the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors, but cautions that buying a home cannot be a totally remote process. Buyers still need a knowledgeable person to help walk them through the process, and that’s where a realtor becomes invaluable.

But technology does have its place in the industry, for both buyers and sellers, she says. “I think it’s made things a lot more efficient for all,” she says of the technological advancements the industry has seen.

Technology has made it so that realtors can essentially have a mobile office, keeping track of everything on their phone or laptop, Fetyko says. However, this can be a struggle for some realtors, she notes, especially if they are not tuned in to technology.

Advancements in technology have also made things easier for the buyer. Offerings such as online listings and virtual tours help buyers narrow down their options, but there is also danger that buyers will weed out possibilities without giving them a fair shake, Fetyko says. People can’t base a decision as important as buying a home solely on a bunch of pictures online. Realtors need to encourage buyers to visit homes, even ones the buyers aren’t so sure about.

Along with increasing use of technology, the industry, at least locally, is also seeing increasing activity, Fetyko notes.

“The market is looking good,” she says. Inventory is up, while the number of days a home remains on the market before sale is down.

“Many realtors are very, very busy,” she says. That includes showing, selling, and listing more properties than they were at this time a year ago. The market is gradually returning to pre-recession levels, Fetyko says.

“Consumer confidence in home ownership is coming back,” she says.

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