Just like other forms of investing, when investing in real estate, information is everything. Knowing nearby property values, market trends, and what’s available is now an instant need. If you want to buy property at the best rate, here are five mobile real estate apps to help you beat the competition.

Zillow

The grandfather of online real estate sites is Zillow, and the Zillow mobile app brings all of the power of Zillow.com to your phone or tablet.

The Zillow app allows you to search for property values near your physical location, and has filters to look only at properties for sale near you, by zip code, size, price, or one of a list of different options. You can beat the competition using only MLS listings by looking up some pre-market properties including foreclosures.

The Zillow app is available for iOS and Android devices.

Trulia

Trulia taps into the MLS listings and gives you advanced tools to keep track of your search for the right home or residential investment property.

Trulia has advanced search options and lets you look for properties available near your location. You can also search for active open houses, so you can use your time efficiently and map out your plan. Never kick yourself for just missing an open house again.

Trulia offers high resolution photo galleries, local crime stats, school ratings, and other valuable data points to make an informed decision.

Trulia’s mobile app is available for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire.

Realtor.com

The official application of the National Association of Realtors, and the app is designed to meet the unique needs of Realtors, brokers, agents, and investors.

The Realtor.com real estate application features tools to search for homes in a specific school or school district’s area. You can also view recent sales to run your own comps quickly on the go.

The Realtor.com app is available for iOS and Android.

RedFin

RedFin is the new guy in the online real estate game, and it has worked hard to stand out from the rest using high tech data to your advantage.

RedFin lists new properties for sale within minutes and updates very frequently. This gives you a chance to swoop in and make an offer before some others even realize the property is on the market.

RedFin is a full-service real estate agency, but you don’t need to be a customer to use the free app.

RedFin mobile is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android.

LoopNet

Okay, so this one isn’t for houses, but a good list of mobile real estate apps can’t ignore one of the biggest real estate apps out there. LoopNet is focused on listings for commercial properties around the United States.

With the LoopNet mobile app, you can search properties for sale or lease and search for sales comps, property records, and local info for each listing.

LoopNet is available for iOS or Android.

Bigger Pockets

Okay, since LoopNet doesn’t help with houses, here is a 5^th mobile app that is really residential real estate related. Bigger Pockets is a social network for real estate investors, and the mobile app allows you to quickly search through forums with a wealth of information at your fingertips.

If you are looking at a property and find a bizarre feature or problem that you have never experienced, hop on the Bigger Pockets app and look for stories when people had to deal with something similar and the impact it had on the property value.

Bigger Pockets mobile is available for iOS.

For other real estate app recommendations check out:

5 Real Estate Apps That Will Sell Your House

Will Real Estate Apps Replace Realtors?

Top 10 Real Estate Applications for the Apple iPhone and iPad

If you are buying or selling a house and are looking to hire a successful real estate agent to help you through the process, take a look at AgentHarvest's list of top-ranking local Realtors in your area. We found these agents by examining their sales track records, awards, rankings, client testimonials and by conducting personal interviews.