Zillow

Zillow offers the tools that landlords and homeowners need to put their properties on the market for sale or rent while also including a clean and intuitive interface for home hunters. Of course, achieving success on both that fronts improves the experience for everyone involved — but Zillow is fortunately pretty successful with both ends of the equation.

For people looking to list a home, Zillow's not a replacement for a Realtor but can offer you the tools to sell your house capably. A simple listing with Zillow gives you access to some pretty important metrics. That includes an estimated value of your home as well as information about the valuation of surrounding homes and factors that go into that pricing.

The fact that listings are free to create is something of a double-edged sword. Curious sellers can dip their toes in the water without worrying about having to pay upfront, but it also means that listings aren't always accurate or up-to-date — and it's even possible for scams to slip through.

But while Zillow's filters aren't perfect, it's typically not hard to tell the difference between a reliable seller and a bot. Listing pages offer a lot of space to really put the advantages front and center along with expansive options for adding photos of a property. There's even the possibility of creating 3D photo tours of a space. Expansive filtering options mean that prospective buyers can really narrow down the results to exactly what they're looking for — and agent contact information, tour scheduling forms, and pre-qualification portals for loans are all just a click from the main screen.

A seller who has the motivation to sell can really put their best foot forward on Zillow, but the site also makes it very easy for buyers to connect with the exact right properties. Filters let you toggle the results by prices, number of rooms, square footage, or a number of other different metrics. And for those looking for a home in particular neighborhoods, you can even draw your line over the map to limit your results to very specific areas.

Ultimately, Zillow is simply too big of a house hunting app to not at least be on the radar of most people actively looking to buy, sell, or rent a property. Fortunately, its interface is one of the more respectable around. While the information isn't always accurate, the precise control it gives to both the people selling and the people buying means that the right people get connected. A strong interface makes navigation a breeze and clearly positions it as one of the better services of its type on the market.

Pros:

• Polished platform with a huge user base
• Very strong metrics for buyers and sellers
• All critical follow-up tasks built into the interface

Cons:

• Listings aren't always current
• Maps can be slow to load
• Some inconsistencies with home value estimates