PROBLEM

People who are looking to buy their first home are naive about the real estate market.

Investing in real estate can be an extremely complicated process, even though we believe it shouldn’t be. Buyers new to the market may struggle to get started without professional guidance and waste time viewing properties out of their range. Unseasoned buyers need access to reliable, uncomplicated information about their potential property investments.

SOLUTION

SETTING STANDARDS allows users to feel confident in their purchases.

MARKET SCOPE RESEARCH

“A lot of buyers ended up in this home that was maybe not what they expected.”

I started by looking for some articles on the real estate market to help me get a better idea of the landscape and where perfect properties could fit in. A quote from Amanda Pendleton, a Zillow home trends expert, in a NYT article states that “A lot of buyers ended up in this home that was maybe not what they expected.”

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

The competition didn’t have any consistency between listings.

I wanted to make a list of the features that were consistent across all of the competitors. I also wanted to see if there were any useful features that similar markets were using that could benefit a future home buyer. I started searching for companies in the real estate industry such as Zillow, Streeteasy, and Apartments.com. Then I moved towards the automotive industry and found that the details being listed for a used car could be useful for people looking to buy a previously lived-in home.

USER INTERVIEWS

People care about the details.

I conducted 10 interviews with people ranging from 24 to 60 to get a better idea of what they are looking for when they enter a property sales site. I asked them the following questions to find out exactly where other sites are falling short and to get some insight into what we can provide that will set Perfect Properties apart.

• When was the last time you searched the web to purchase a house? Did you end up buying it?

• How long did you search for your current living situation?

• When you went for a visit, did the property look the way you thought it did online?

• Once you found a property you were interested in, what was the next step you took?

INSIGHTS

My interviewees don’t think that the listings show the property fairly or accurately.

From what I have uncovered throughout these interviews is that because there are very small standards associated with creating a listing, properties can be displayed in any manner and that is frustrating for buyers. They also expressed the feeling that this is only the start of the process and that there are many things that they will continue to learn down the road that will affect their decision to purchase.

PERSONA

SITEMAP & IDEATION

DESIGN ITERATIONS

A mobile-first mentality creates stronger designs.

I designed this using the Mobile-first mentality. I believe that creating a strong UX on a mobile scale will only increase the quality of the desktop display. This design specifically went through some big updates both aesthetically and functionally. Below I have demonstrated two areas that were improved by simplifying the visual load of the screens and putting a larger focus on the functions at hand.

MOBILE SCREENS

The Final Design

GUIDES

Style Guide

CONCLUSION

Improvements I would have made.

1. Taken advantage of more resources for inspiration - A handful of times during this process I felt stuck. I wasn’t sure which direction to go and I wasn’t happy with how things were starting to look. I tried to muscle my way out of some creative holes but I wasn’t creating a product I was proud of. Next time I will take advantage of some places of inspiration - Dribbble, Pinterest, etc.

2. Had a clearer vision of the broader project at hand - I found it difficult to take a step back and view the entire project. I was very focused on individual items and then would have difficulty tying them all together. I think I finally got to a cohesive site, but for a while, each page felt very different. Next time I would create a more concrete style guide earlier in the process so that each page had a clearer direction from the start.

3. Trust the process - This project took a while to complete. At some points, I wasn’t happy with how it was looking and I was losing hope. But now I see that sometimes you need to make a mess to clean a mess. If you trust the process and work through things one at a time, you will get to where you want to be.

Thank you for reading!

Please reach out to budrispat@gmail.com for more work inquiries