MNers review the Barclays Homeowner app - £150 voucher prize draw for feedback!*NOW CLOSED*

[MichelleMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 10 Mumsnetters who tried Barclays’ Homeowner app and filmed their review.

Here’s what Barclays say, “We’ve designed our Homeowner app to make our customer’s lives easier – with one of the UK’s largest property databases at your fingertips, alongside tools to calculate moving costs and direct access to estate agents and mortgage specialists.
This is a great opportunity to put this to the test & receive your feedback on what works and what we can improve upon - so that you can help us do this even better in the future.”

Testers, please answer the feedback questions below but feel free to leave any other comments you may have as well.

Q1. What do you think of the Barclays Homeowner app? Did it make things easier to find properties you may be interested in? If so, why? If not, why not?

Q2. How useful, or not, did you find the function which calculated potential mortgage payments? Please elaborate on your answer.

Q3. Did you use the Barclays Homeowner app whilst you were on the go to find properties for sale in the nearby area? How helpful did you find this function?

Q4. Do you think you’ll carry on using the Barclays Homeowner app? If so, why? If not, why not?

Q5. If it came up in conversation, do you think you’d recommend the Barclays Homeowner app to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not?

The 10 Mumsnetters who leave their feedback on this thread and also send in their video footage to us will be sent a £30 Love2Shop voucher. They will also be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £150 Love2Shop voucher! The prize draw will close on 12th January 2015.

Thanks
MNHQ

Click here to view the full terms and conditions for the prize draw.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

[rachaelsit]

Q1. What do you think of the Barclays Homeowner app? Did it make things easier to find properties you may be interested in?
Yes, really like the ease of the app. The fact you can see past prices and locate by postcode really easily.
The notes function make it especially useful, as does the star rating feature.

Q2. How useful, or not, did you find the function which calculated potential mortgage payments.
This is really useful if you haven't already had a formal agreement arrangers and ready to go. I didn't find IT uaeful for the simple fact that I am further down the line with my buying (ready to proceed, pending sale of my property)
If I wasn't this would have been really really useful. I like the feature and the fact it's ibtegrated in the searchibg process.

Q3. Did you use the Barclays Homeowner app whilst you were on the go to find properties for sale in the nearby area? How helpful did you find this function?
No not exactly, I used the feature to check what was around the area where we have seen a property we want, just to check what prices were like for similar properties.

Q4. Do you think you’ll carry on using the Barclays Homeowner app? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes, I definitely will because it's user friendly and so quick to use.

Q5. If it came up in conversation, do you think you’d recommend the Barclays Homeowner app to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes I would, I prefer to the rightmove app, it has a few more useful features.

Thank you

[sfancy]

Q1. What do you think of the Barclays Homeowner app? Did it make things easier to find properties you may be interested in? If so, why? If not, why not?

I liked that it was not only easy to find properties but that it had the zoopla featured integrated. Normally I have to open several different windows ( Estate agent, Map, Zoopla-to get all the info I need but it was right here!)

Q2. How useful, or not, did you find the function which calculated potential mortgage payments? Please elaborate on your answer. It was not useful for me as I have a large deposit and the number was not reflected in the deposit/equity section soo I could not get an accurate figure using this tool.

Q3. Did you use the Barclays Homeowner app whilst you were on the go to find properties for sale in the nearby area? How helpful did you find this function? Yes-I found it very helpful.

Q4. Do you think youll carry on using the Barclays Homeowner app? If so, why? If not, why not? Definitely because everything I need ( apart from the borrowing calculator which is not helpful for me.) is in one place

Q5. If it came up in conversation, do you think youd recommend the Barclays Homeowner app to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not? I would recommend it because of it's ease of use and because everything is in one place!

[Byrdie]

Q1. What do you think of the Barclays Homeowner app? Did it make things easier to find properties you may be interested in? If so, why? If not, why not?

I used the app quite a lot and found it was just as good as other apps about for searching areas, scrolling through the houses for sale and the maps etc. I did however have a few observations of things that I thought didn't work so well. i didn't like that there is no switch between map view and some sort of satellite view on the map view. I use this quite a lot to look at areas I'm not familiar with as it gives you a good view of what the neighbourhood is like and potential things close by that might be an issue that may not show up on the map otherwise. I didn't find the search filter function very intuitive - it took me some time to get to grips with it and figure out what did what. That being said, the fact that it keeps the search criteria is good so you don't have to keep selecting it if you're switching to look at a different area. What I did find really strange was that it's only able define a price range search for properties under a million. Once you select 1 million plus it's just that! Ok - so not like I'm looking to spend over that amount, but in our area, you search for 1 million plus and you have to scroll down about 60 houses to get to 1 million mark which could be annoying if someone is looking for a house for £1.1 - £1.2 for example (wouldn't that be nice! Maybe those people go and get someone else to do their house shopping for them though!!!)

Q2. How useful, or not, did you find the function which calculated potential mortgage payments? Please elaborate on your answer.

I used this and played about with it a bit and for us it's quite relevant as we've got a (hopefully) pay rise coming up so I can change it easily to give me an idea what it might do for our budget. I'm not sure if there's a problem when you have a large deposit or if it's simply that barclays wouldn't mortgage you as I seem to be on a threshold of being outside of the criteria for borrowing. The integration into the search is good, however it wouldn't be very helpful for people who don't want to spend up to their limit as there must be plenty of people who want to borrow less that they are technically allowed to! a limit on it would be good I guess? I liked that the houses you couldn't afford wouldn't give you a monthly cost too!! That feature is really good just to make sure you're not clicking into something you fall in love with that you can't actually afford.

Q3. Did you use the Barclays Homeowner app whilst you were on the go to find properties for sale in the nearby area? How helpful did you find this function?

I used it for current location a few times (not out and about but in the house we now rent as it's a pretty dead time for house hunting and I only got the invite on xmas eve to join the test!) It works fine - I can't see any issue with it. It's a great feature if you like to do a "drive by" of areas and don't exactly know where you are. Also, how i would use it, if you drive by a house you like and want to find the details quickly.

Q4. Do you think you’ll carry on using the Barclays Homeowner app? If so, why? If not, why not?

I definitely will. I like the phone version better than the other phone apps I have. It's a good one for on the go and out and about. However, I would say that I'd prefer to use a computer with a website when at home.

Q5. If it came up in conversation, do you think you’d recommend the Barclays Homeowner app to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not?

I think I would. It seems to have a quicker response time that other apps and I like the look and feel of it, now I have the hang of it better - it's just those filters could possibly be looked at somehow to make them easier to access and understand... or maybe it's just middle aged me!

[HappyMum4]

Q1. What do you think of the Barclays Homeowner app? Did it make things easier to find properties you may be interested in? If so, why? If not, why not?

I usually use Rightmove but I really liked the zoopla inclusion in the Barclays app, it provided some different functions (sold prices etc). I also missed the satellite view though, we have saved a lot of time not viewing properties by having the satellite function as we often found houses were located next to things (train lines, farms etc.) and they weren't what we were looking for at all, and a map doesn't always give that kind of detail. I did like the ability to make notes and save the property though.

Q2. How useful, or not, did you find the function which calculated potential mortgage payments? Please elaborate on your answer.

This was a big plus for us, being able to work out whether or not a property which was of interest could be affordable, unfortunately when we followed it up by speaking to a mortgage adviser, we found the figure that the app would provide and the figure the human provided weren't the same as the app doesn't take as much into account as the human. So it was disappointing.

Q3. Did you use the Barclays Homeowner app whilst you were on the go to find properties for sale in the nearby area? How helpful did you find this function?
I have to be honest, we didn't use it on the go as it was over the christmas period which was busy for us with four kids and we normally compile a list of a few and go round them in one go. But I can see the advantages.

Q4. Do you think you’ll carry on using the Barclays Homeowner app? If so, why? If not, why not?
I think I will, but I will also continue to use rightmove, if not just for the satellite function. I think because I am so familiar with rightmove now, that I don't want to entirely give it up but the Barclays app had some very useful and different features and with more use I may just use that one.
Q5. If it came up in conversation, do you think you’d recommend the Barclays Homeowner app to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes I definitely would, the mortgage tool was different and helpful and it's very easy to use, it's a real one stop shop.

[Mumtochops12]

Q1. What do you think of the Barclays Homeowner app? Did it make things easier to find properties you may be interested in? If so, why? If not, why not?

I thought it wa fairly easy to use, although struggled to find the link to filter the price range/bedrooms etc. other than that I really liked it and have used it quite regularly.

Q2. How useful, or not, did you find the function which calculated potential mortgage payments? Please elaborate on your answer.

Very useful actually. Not used anything like this before and found it really easy, have us am idea of what sort of property we can afford, and what mortgage repayments would be. Was useful to have it in the same app as the property search.

Q3. Did you use the Barclays Homeowner app whilst you were on the go to find properties for sale in the nearby area? How helpful did you find this function?

I used it for my own location as this is where we are looking for properties. Very useful as you don't need to put a location in.

Q4. Do you think you’ll carry on using the Barclays Homeowner app? If so, why? If not, why not?

Definitely, and I have used it since.


Q5. If it came up in conversation, do you think you’d recommend the Barclays Homeowner app to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes I would definitely recommend it, it's just as good as the right move app which I have also used before.

[KathrynMumsnet]

Thank you for leaving your feedback about your experiences with the Barclays Homeowner App!

The prize draw is now closed and the lucky winner is Byrdie! Congratulations!

For those who missed out, keep an eye on our insight page for more opportunities to win prizes and take part in other product tests.

Best wishes,

Kathryn
MNHQ