16 best websites, apps, and accounts if you love looking at houses and real estate listings

Trawling around real estate listing has long been an internet pastime, but my goodness, did it ever become a hobby for folks during the pandemic.

It makes sense. With nothing to do — nothing but sit inside, perhaps in a home you no longer really loved — it was fun to peruse other houses. It's lovely escapism.

Looking at houses, apartments, mansions, tiny homes, or other abodes online remains a great way to waste time, however, even if there is more stuff to do these days.

To help you in your house searching endeavors, we've collected 16 of our favorite places to look at houses online.

The classic sites and apps

These are the tried and true listing sites, which all have apps to use as well. They're for perusing your area or searching for a new home in, say, Montana.

1. Zillow

The classic. The brand name. Zillow is what most folks surf when they're looking at houses. You can download the app if you wan't to scroll on your phone, too.

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2. Realtor

Basically, if you know Zillow, then Realtor.com is going to feel very similar. It, too, has an app, which you can find here.

3. Redfin

Redfin is, again, a listings site with an app.

4. Trulia

OK, so you now have four different options to peruse listings in your chosen area. Trulia, too, has an app.

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Other listing sites

5. Foreclosure.com

If you're a bargain bin shopper or someone, perhaps, with fixer upper dreams, then Foreclosure.com might be the site for you. It's exactly what it sounds like — a site for finding homes to buy that have been foreclosed upon.

6. FSBO

FSBO stands for For Sale By Owner. It's a site that, as you might've gathered, allows folks to sell their own homes. It perhaps has listings that might've escaped sites like Zillow or Trulia.

Other Sites

7. Circa Old Houses

Circa Old Houses is a site for finding cool, old homes that are for sale. It's fun to look through these classic houses and imagine your unique, perhaps haunted, life in them.

8. McMansion Hell

Pretty much the opposite of Circa Old Houses, McMansion hell — ran by writer Kate Wagner — dedicates itself to deconstructing the strangest feats of dumb, faux-fancy architecture.

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Instagram accounts

9. @cheapnordichouses

If you've ever had dreams of packing up and living a simple life in the Nordics, then you could get lost on this account for hours. It features beautiful homes that are reasonably prices and, typically speaking, quaint as hell.

10. @brownstone_voyeur

As a city dweller who doesn't plan to move anytime soon, Brownstone Voyeur really speaks to me. It's an account dedicated to historic, grand homes.

11. @cheapoldhouses

You might already know Cheap Old Houses, considering it has nearly 2 million followers and inspired a TV show. If you've got the fixer upper bug, beware: You might suddenly want to actually buy one of these homes.

12. @zillowgonewild

Zillow Gone Wild is an account dedicated to the weirdest homes on the market. You never know what you're going to get: a fake castle, a ship planted in the ground, or more stuffed animals than is humanly possible.

13. @tinyhousemovement

If you dream of downsizing, Tiny House Movement is perfect to browse.

Tik Tok accounts

14. @inspector_aj

OK, so this isn't really a house account. But does feature homes. It's run by a home inspector who walks you through homes and shows some of the truly wild (and incorrect) things going on in the house. It's surprisingly addicting.

15. @Heider_RealEstate

Pure escapism. Typically speaking, you're in for luxury homes (and some McMansions) in the Mid Atlantic area.

16. @zillowtastrophes

Their bio really says it all: "unique, weird, wild real estate." It's a collection of some of the strangest listings out there.