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" There&amp;#039;s no way around it: House hunting is stressful (not to mention time-consuming). But, like every other corner of our lives in this digital age, there are apps and Internet tools that can help. Here are some of my favorites.  If You&amp;#039;re New to the Hunt Doorsteps Swipe, the love child of a real estate app and speed-dating site, is a fun way to get the ball rolling. With its casual, game-style approach, you &amp;quot;swipe to like&amp;quot; newly listed homes, and can start to naturally discover what&amp;#039;s important to you. And, of course, before you really dive in, you&amp;#039;ll need to determine your budget. The Mortgage Rates app can help you find the best rate tailored for you, and doesn&amp;#039;t share your information with the lender without your OK. When You&amp;#039;re in the Thick of It Turn to &amp;quot;the big three&amp;quot; for more traditional search tools \u2014 Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com.  Zillow is known for its &amp;quot;Zestimates,&amp;quot; which are home value estimates based on data from public records, real estate agents, homeowners, and tax assessors \u2014 and they&amp;#039;re getting more accurate as the site expands. Zillow also offers a complete transaction history for each home, and lets users search for current mortgage rates by state.  Trulia has &amp;quot;heat maps&amp;quot; of neighborhoods, which show crime statistics, school locations, commute times, and nearby amenities such as banks and grocery stores. You can even look into probability of a natural disaster, like a hurricane or tornado, in a property&amp;#039;s area. Realtor.com is frequently updated with new info, so you can get alerts about price drops and foreclosures. Redfin is another similar platform for looking for great listings, and is available in few dozen metropolitan areas across the country. Unlike most of its competitors, Redfin agents are not paid a traditional commission, but make money partially off of customer ratings.  RELATED: 10 Surprises That Home Buyers Miss \u00BB When You Need a Fresh Point of View Try HomeSnap. The app lets you take a snapshot of a home with your smartphone&amp;#039;s camera, and (thanks to the wonders of GPS technology) instantly get information about the property. You&amp;#039;ll see info on the home&amp;#039;s estimated value, how many bedrooms/bathrooms it has, and if it&amp;#039;s for sale. To Keep Track of Every Home You See Use the House Hunter app. It will give homes a grade based on how well they match your criteria. You can also take notes, give each home a general score, and add photos to track your faves (or rejects). Try taking helpful panoramic photos with the 360 Panorama app to better keep track of the listings you see. When You&amp;#039;re Ready to Move You did it! But now, make sure you don&amp;#039;t lose any valuables when you&amp;#039;re packing boxes. For my recent move, I used the new Snupps app, which lets you create different virtual shelves to mimic your real ones, so you can make sure nothing is lost in the move.  Rachel Rothman is the Technical Director at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. NEXT: 14 Sneaky Mistakes That Can Decrease Your Home&amp;#039;s Value \u00BB Photo: Terry Vine/Getty "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a25170/digital-apps-house-hunting/>