Work

Overview

Like any app building process, we start with the people who might use the app. We do a discovery process to find ways people might like to use it ("use cases") and how an app like this could really be useful in their search ("customer journey"). Asking people who've been recently been in the hunt for housing and looking deeper into our own experiences, we started noticing some patterns we wanted to take advantage of, and some processes that we felt could help others. 

Any project like this would include some comparative research, and we quickly found that there were no applications on the market that independently helped people compare housing options. There were plenty of apps that maintain their own housing stock lists and take their own commissions from landlords or landlord agents, but so much of the housing stock in Milwaukee doesn't ever make it to those lists, and by definition those lists charge money so the renter herself will be paying that extra fee in the long run.

Project Philosophy

Whatever we created it needed to be source agnostic. We also know that people find rental options in a much wider net than a single-stock app would ever have, so the app must be multi-modal so that someone can add a rental they see walking by, listed on a flier at a coffeeshop, or as a recommendation from a friend or family.

The app also needed a very easy way to favorite and hide certain properties, as properties came and went all during the search. The app also needed very easy comparison features that felt natural.

The Fair Housing Council also asked us to include content at the same time learn for people to learn about fair housing rights and how to report any discrimination issues that happen during the process.

Features

• record detailed information about home rentals during a housing search
• multi-modal -- add listings directly, from a craigslist link or from a photo
• compare different units based on a variety of factors such as cost, size and location
• make informed decisions​
• details what fair housing is, and the rights of a renter