Realtor.com uses augmented reality to help you find a new home
There's a new way to house hunt.
When it comes to looking for a new house, the process of browsing listings, visiting properties and more can become quite the chore. Realtor.com is looking to make things a bit easier on prospective home buyers with two new features for its Android app: Street Peek and Sign Snap. Street Peek uses augmented reality to display details about a home when you point your phone's camera at it. Even if the house isn't for sale, you'll still see all the important details from the real estate website's database. Street Peek can also show you info on a group of houses at the same time. Expect to see details like listing or rental price, recently sold price, estimated value and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms for the houses you frame inside the app. What's more, the AR tool will show you a map of what's nearby when you tilt the screen. Unfortunately, Street Peek won't be available until spring in the Realtor.com Android app. The good news is you can use the other feature the company is announcing today immediately. Sign Snap employs image recognition and GPS to access information on a listing from the Realtor.com database. As the name suggests, all you have to do is take a picture of a "For Sale" or "For Rent" sign with your phone. From there, you can browse photos, property details, price data, open house dates and more. And yes, you will have the option of sharing your finds via email, text or your social channels. Realtor.com says iOS users can expect to use Street Peek and Sign Snap after the former feature launches on Android in the coming months. For now, you can see both tools in action in the videos below.
