Looking to buy or sell a home? There's an app for that

The Realtor.com app for iPhone.

I love looking at houses. I often stop at open houses on a whim (even though I’m not in the market), and one of my favorite warm-weather activities is cruising around at night, catching glimpses into people’s homes through open windows.

The window-peeping is all very innocent, I assure you; my interest is done from street-level in my car, and my intent is totally research. I check out the colors people are painting their rooms, and I get landscaping ideas from green-thumbed homeowners in my community.

As well as inspiring projects at my own home, like lots of people I also love knowing the asking prices of houses, especially those in my neighborhood. In these days of tumbling home valuations, it’s good to keep an eye on what the market is doing.

The Realtor.com app I just downloaded from Realtor.com is a great one for house junkies like me, and it’s sure to become one of my favorites.

Whenever the app is launched, it asks for access to the location of where I am; then, it shows me the homes for sale in my immediate vicinity. That’s a handy tool for everyone, from real estate professionals and legitimate house hunters to house-aholics like me.

There is also a listing of nearby open houses, nearby rentals, listings I’ve saved from previous searches, and houses that I’ve recently viewed.

In addition to showing me what’s for sale in my vicinity, the app also lets me input search criteria for search, just like I can on the RE/MAX Platinum website.

What’s especially cool is that the app features a one-tap call capability that will connect a serious buyer to the listing agent. This is a great tool that makes it easy to get more information or schedule a tour.

The iPhone app has details on every Realtor.com listing, including price, location, MLS ID number, square footage, lot size, open house schedules, and distances from the user’s currently location.

If you’re searching for listings, you can view your results on a map or a list. The app can also give directions to any property from the user’s current location, using GPS satellite location-tracking capabilities.

The app — which is free — is also available for Blackberry and Droid smart phones.

— Maria Stuart