In this day and age, nearly everything can be done from the palm of your hand, even making renting in Fort Collins easier and more convenient. Regardless if you have an iPhone or an Android, there is an app for nearly everything just waiting to be downloaded. With the right app, renters can do everything from managing their budget to communicating with roommates in their home. To help you stay on top of things and ahead of the game, here are suggestions for 5 apps that every renter should have on their phone.
There’s a reason Zillow is the top real estate app—it makes it quick and easy to browse rental and sales listings to find the best house or apartment. Most people know about the traditional Zillow app for buying a home, but there are also Zillow apps for home renters that include more than 34 million rental properties around the world. Browsing the Zillow app helps renters see available properties and learn about availability and common features in certain areas. With Zillow, users can sort by location and other filters, including rental type, price, number of bedrooms, and age of the building. Zillow also connects potential renters to landlords and takes out a lot of the pain of searching for a new place to live. Finding a great rental can be stressful, but with Zillow at your fingertips, you can easily find your next great rental in Fort Collins.
Even when you live next door to someone, the best way to connect with them can still be online. Nextdoor is a community social networking app divided into neighborhoods that allows neighbors to stay in contact with each other. Before joining a community on Nextdoor, users have to be verified to prove they actually live in that area, which helps keep groups to current residents only. Users on Nextdoor can chat about neighborhood happenings, post items for sale, find local events, meet local people with similar interests, and get involved in their community. Think of Nextdoor as a great resource for talking to neighbors, learning about the community, and getting recommendations of activities and services near you. The app is especially useful for getting to know a new area after you move into a new rental property.
SpareRoom is one of the most popular services for finding roommates in the UK and recently expanded its offerings to the US. No matter your stage of life, from college and early in your career to retirement, SpareRoom USA can help you find the perfect roommate. Search through numerous listings to find a great rental and roommate, or post your own ad to fill an extra space in your home or apartment. What makes SpareRoom one of the most popular mobile apps for renters is that each listing is vetted by actual humans, which eliminates the spam listings to create an accurate list of current rental and roommate opportunities. Users can also narrow down their search based on their personal roommate preferences, which makes it easier to sort through listings to find the best living situation for you. No matter if you are looking for a roommate or a place to live, SpareRoom USA can connect you with a great living situation.
There are countless finance apps available, but what sets Truebill apart is its holistic approach to your bank accounts and bills. The app looks at all of a user’s accounts to give a quick overview of their financial situation. Users can set up automatic bill pay and manage everything automatically through the app. Gone are the days of having to remember when each bill is due and manually write a check—Truebill tracks and organizes upcoming bills to help users stay on top of everything, even the bills they forgot about. Because Truebill looks at all of your accounts, it actually helps users save money by cutting back on unnecessary spending and subscriptions. The app can also provide recommendations on what bills to cut to save money. Any savings is good savings, and Truebill can not only help make your life easier but also help reach your financial goals.
Rest easier at night knowing you and your rental property are safe. Ring is a neighborhood watch for the digital age. The app can easily be connected to Ring devices and cameras to watch them in real time and know what is happening at your house or apartment, no matter where you are in the world. But the Ring app is still powerful without Ring security devices. Through the Ring app, users can also get real-time crime and safety alerts from neighbors. If there is an issue in your neighborhood, the app will alert you right away. Many renters don’t think about home security, but the Ring app makes it easy to protect your home and belongings, even as a renter.
Mint is a simple-to-use budgeting tool that helps you stay on top of your money by allowing you to see everything in one place. With Mint, you can securely and comprehensively manage your finances from your phone or through your online account. Simple and free to set up, Mint links information for your accounts and tracks your money as you make deposits, pay your rent, pay your bills, make investment changes, and much more.
Mint's bill tracker tool helps you to stay organized with monthly payments and even set up payment reminders (no more late rent fees!), while the budgeting tool works to create budgets that are calculated from your spending habits. With just a glance at this one simple app, you are able to see what is going on with your money and where it’s going and even receive alerts of unusual or suspicious account activity. Mint can even give you customized tips and suggestions on how to find savings or how to make your money grow.
Whether you live with roommates or live on your own, having a payment app downloaded onto your phone can be a lifesaver. With a payment app, such as Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal, you can pay your roommate for your portion of the rent or utilities, you can pay a friend back for your portion of the Chinese food order, and in some instances, even get some bills paid directly. Regardless of which you choose or set up, a payment app is something everyone could benefit from.
If you’re renting a home or apartment with roommates, there will be a lot that will have to be split up, from rent and utilities to groceries and other household expenses. With Splitwise, you can keep track of shared expenses, split and assign expenses with any group of people, add expenses easily, and even pay friends back. With the PRO version, you are even able to scan receipts and categorize spending so that everyone is on the same page and held accountable for their portion.
Many people rent a home as they work to save money to buy a home. Others rent because it simply works better for their lifestyle or financial goals, while many more prefer to rent to avoid the financial responsibility if anything were to go wrong in the home. Regardless of the financial reasoning or circumstances, all renters likely have a shared desire of making their money work for them. Saving and budgeting are both beneficial, but to take your finances to the next step, investing is one of the best things you can do. Investing, when you don’t know what to do, can be overwhelming, but with the Acorns app, investing is made easy through small, simple amounts. Acorns works by taking purchases made using your debit card and rounding them up to next dollar. That spare change is then automatically invested for you. With Acorns, you literally can grow wealth with spare change.
One of the best things you can do as a renter is to invest in renters insurance and protect yourself from disaster and cover the costs from any stolen or damaged property. If you ever have to file a claim, however, you’ll also be required to show proof of ownership for the items in question. With Encircle’s Home Inventory app, you can quickly and easily take a digital inventory of everything in the home you are renting in Fort Collins. Encircle helps you to comprehensively document what you own and provide you with quick access to that information if anything is ever stolen or damaged from an accident at the home.
Our team is here to help you find your next home. Feel free to call and schedule a showing or start your search right here.
