Transforming Property Search with Personalized AI Recommendations
DURATION
4 Weeks
MY ROLES
Product Designer
UX Researcher
UX Writer
Visual Designer
Interaction Designer
TOOLS
Figma
Figjam
Notion
Google Forms
Introduction
Overview
I designed Hoomli, an AI-powered mobile app concept that transforms the real estate search and acquisition experience. The app’s main goal is to help first-time or recurring real estate buyers and renters find properties that match their lifestyle, budget, and preferences. Traditional property listings can be overwhelming, requiring people to manually filter through thousands of options. By eliminating the inefficiencies of manual property searches, Hoomli simplifies the process, making it easier for people to explore and connect with suitable properties.
The Challenge
Many people, especially first-time real estate customers, feel overwhelmed by traditional property search platforms. These platforms are often cluttered and disorganized, forcing users to sift through countless options that may not match their lifestyle, budget, or specific needs. This creates a frustrating, time-consuming experience when finding a home should be simple and exciting.
Meanwhile, from a business perspective, property agents and agencies struggled to connect with the right clients in a timely manner amid an oversaturated market. High bounce rates and low user engagement reduce the chances of successful transactions, highlighting inefficiencies for both users and businesses.
Proposed Solution
The opportunity was clear: transform this chaotic experience into a streamlined, user-friendly journey. The goal was to design a mobile solution that simplifies the search and discovery experience for potential users.
Solution Impact
The expected impact includes:
- Faster property discovery through AI-powered search.
- Improved user experience with personalized, intuitive navigation.
- Higher conversion rates for real estate agents due to better-targeted leads.
My Approach
I employed the iterative five-steps design thinking approach for this project:
- Empathize (research user needs)
- Define (clarify problems)
- Ideate (brainstorm solutions)
- Prototype (create mockups)
- Test (gather feedback and refine)
Phase 1: Competitor Analysis
I began the research process by evaluating four primary competitors, two secondary competitors, and three indirect alternatives in the property rental and real estate sector. My research covered user interface design, features, usability, and customer satisfaction.
This stage was crucial to understand the landscape, identify gaps, and benchmark our product.
- Primary Competitors: Private Property Nigeria, Nigeria Property Centre (NPC), PropertyPro, and Jiji Nigeria (Real Estate section)
- Secondary Competitors: NaijaHouses and BuyLetLive
- Indirect Competitors: Zillow, Redfin, and Airbnb
Customer Reviews
I collected and analyzed recent user feedback from product review websites, app stores, forums, and social media for the four key competitor products. This helped me identify recurring pain points and unmet user needs.
SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis helped evaluate competitor strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential threats in the market.
Perceptual Map
With insights from the concluded competitive research, I created a perceptual map to visually position Nigeria’s top real estate platforms based on quality (user experience, listing reliability, features) and pricing (listing fees, premium costs).
This mapping highlights a clear gap in the industry: a lack of innovative, high-quality solutions at competitive prices, presenting an opportunity for disruption in Nigeria’s real estate sector.
Opportunities to Differentiate
This in-depth competitor analysis helped me identify opportunities to stand out in the real estate market by delivering high-quality, affordable solutions with innovative features and offerings.
Key opportunities include, but are not limited to:
- Hyper-Personalization: Leverage advanced AI to deliver even more precise property search, matches, and recommendations.
- Enhanced Mobile App Experience: Develop a native, intuitive mobile app with a sleek, modern interface to address the limited mobile features and clunky designs noted in competitors.
- Robust Verification Processes: Implement rigorous property and agent verification systems to eliminate scammers and build user trust, tackling issues like fraudulent listings and trust concerns.
- Interactive User Ratings: Enable detailed, real-time user reviews and ratings for properties and agents to enhance transparency and user experience.
- Real-Time Property Updates: Ensure uploaded properties are always up-to-date and available, addressing issues with outdated or unavailable listings on competitor platforms.
This deep dive into competitors informed my decisions to prioritize simplicity, personalization, and security in Hoomli.
Phase 2: User Research
Research Methodology
Following competitive research, I concentrated on understanding user goals, needs, motivations, and pain points. My target audience consisted of real estate buyers, renters, agents, and brokerage firms spanning diverse locations across Nigeria.
To gather insights, I conducted:
- 9 in-depth interviews with property seekers to learn more about their digital property search experiences.
- A 42-person survey to collect both quantitative and qualitative data on preferences and challenges for both real estate sellers and customers.
Sample interview questions included:
- “How do you currently search for properties online?”
- “What are the biggest challenges you face when searching for a property online?”
- “What additional features would improve your experience?”
Sample survey questions for real estate customers included:
- “What information do you find most lacking in property listings?”
- “Which feature do you use most frequently on your preferred property search platform(s)?”
- “What additional filtering options would you like to see?”
Sample survey questions for real estate sellers included:
- “What information takes the most time to input when listing a property?”
- “How do you measure the success of your property listings?”
- “If you could design the perfect platform for real estate sellers, what would it include?”
Quantitative Reports
Key responses from the real estate customer survey revealed:
- 58.3% of respondents prioritized property price as the main detail when searching for a property.
- 75% of respondents used filters more frequently than other platform features.
- 50% of respondents preferred phone calls to contact property agents or sellers.
- 66.7% of respondents would switch to a new property listing platform if it had more available listings.
Key responses from the real estate seller survey revealed:
- 46.7% of respondents would switched to a new property listing platform for better features.
- 66.7% of respondents said property descriptions take the most time to input when listing a property.
- 36.7% of respondents preferred WhatsApp for communicating with potential customers.
- 70% of respondents measured property listing success by the time it takes to close a deal.
Qualitative Findings
After analyzing customer feedback from competitor research and responses to open-ended user research questions, I uncovered key insights and pain points, highlighting opportunities for Hoomli to deliver innovative solutions.
Using these findings, I outlined some potential features and enhancements for Hoomli that directly tackle user challenges and improve user satisfaction.
These insights deepened my understanding of user needs and preferences, paving the way for a clear problem statement and well-defined user personas.
User Personas
Based on the information gotten from the foundational research, I created two user personas whose goals, motivations, behaviors, and frustrations represent the needs of the different target user groups.
Meet Chisom…
Meet Donald…
These personas guided every design decision, ensuring the app addressed real user needs and behaviors.
Empathy Maps
Using the data from interviews and surveys, I developed empathy maps reflecting the thoughts, feelings, and actions for each key persona.
Chisom’s empathy map…
Donald’s empathy map…
User Journey Map
I mapped Chisom’s journey from discovering the app to becoming a loyal user, identifying key touchpoints and opportunities to enhance her experience.
Problem Statement
For customers
My research revealed that customers struggle with unreliable property listings—outdated availability, missing neighborhood details, and a lack of verification tools—leading to wasted time and frustration.
Take Chisom, my working professional persona: She relies on filters to streamline her property search but is often hindered by misleading listings, poor platform usability, and slow agent communication.
For sellers
My research also revealed that real estate agents and brokers struggle with slow listing approvals, limited multimedia support, and poor visibility—barriers that delay deals and hinder success.
Take Donald, my experienced real estate broker persona: He relies on digital platforms to attract high-value buyers but faces frustrating inefficiencies—long approval times, limited listing exposure, poor platform usability, and the inability to showcase properties effectively.
Now we know the exact problems faced by our users. So, what next?
Phase 3: Design
User Flows
To achieve my goal of creating an intuitive, research-driven design, I mapped out user flows to ensure a logical and familiar navigation. These sequences ensures each step is purposeful, guiding users toward their goals while boosting engagement and minimizing drop-offs.
Chisom’s user flow…
Donald’s user flow…
Information Hierarchy
To outline the app’s structure, I developed a tree map detailing key functionalities, screens, and high-level content structure. This hierarchy ensured logical connections and seamless navigation, grounded in robust information architecture principles.
Mapping the customer experience…
Mapping the seller experience…
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
With the user flow and information hierarchy defined, I moved on to designing low-fidelity wireframes. These layouts captured navigation, functionality, and content placement, adhering to Gestalt principles and a clear hierarchy to ensure key features were instantly accessible.
I transformed the low-fi wireframes into an interactive low-fi prototype, which was reviewed by users to validate design choices and identify areas for improvement. Refinements were made until I finalized the visual structure for Hoomli.
Style Guide
I then established a visual system in Figma that included color palettes, typography, and icons sourced from SF Symbols. This system ensured consistency across every screen and maintained adherence to both Apple’s HIG and Google’s M3 guidelines for mobile design.
High-Fidelity Designs
After establishing the visual language for Hoomli, I translated my low-fi wireframes into high-fidelity designs. Every visual detail was crafted to be both aesthetically pleasing and functionally sound, ensuring a cohesive and accessible user experience.
High-Fidelity Prototype
After designing the high-fidelity screens, I linked them to build an interactive prototype, showcasing key features and interactions. This model simulated the tailored user journey, serving as an essential tool for usability testing and providing a realistic glimpse of the final product.
Phase 4: Testing
Usability Testing
To validate the high-fidelity prototype’s performance and user experience, I conducted further rounds of usability testing, both remotely and in-person. These sessions focused on refining key interactions, while assessing task efficiency, interface intuitiveness, and user satisfaction.
Observing participants’ interactions and gathering their feedback helped uncover subtle usability issues and opportunities to enhance engagement.
Key Insights & Refinement
Key insights included:
Based on usability study insights, I iteratively refined the high-fidelity mockups. Before-and-after comparisons revealed improved usability and accessibility.
Seller Home Screen
Improvement:
- Added a visible signifier to indicate interactivity and improve discoverability.
Filter Search Modal View
Improvements:
- Added a outlined style to selected chips to improve contrast and make selections more visually prominent.
- Updated field labels to "Min Price" and "Max Price" to clarify their purpose and guide user input.
Qualitative Feedback
Users appreciated the innovative, intuitive, and clutter-free design.
Some early adopters noted:
- “I found it pretty easy to filter properties and message agents. It’s similar to other apps I’ve used, but this one feels more modern and simple.” - Dennis, Customer
- "The UI looks very clean and minimal, and I can quickly find what I need.." - Femi, Customer
- "The app looks straightforward and professional, which I like since I’m dealing with real estate." - Laraba, Realtor.
Some expert UX reviewers noted:
- “Hoomli has strong potential to improve the property search experience. The UI is clean and professional, and the concept addresses a genuine need. With some refinement to the personalization features and user flows, it could deliver significant value to both property seekers and agents.” - Michał, Product Designer
- “Great design! And love the idea. I'm particularly impressed by how you've maintained simplicity despite the complexity of real estate transactions.” - Filip, Founder and UX designer
Reflections & Learning
Challenges Faced
Designing Hoomli required balancing a feature-rich solution with simplicity. Iterative testing revealed that too many options could overwhelm users, prompting continuous refinements to achieve an optimal blend of functionality and clarity.
Key challenges included:
- Data Overload: Presenting comprehensive property data without cluttering the interface demanded careful balance.
- Iterative Refinement: Adapting to diverse user feedback across multiple iterations was challenging yet crucial.
- Accessibility: Meeting rigorous accessibility standards while maintaining visual appeal added further complexity.
These challenges shaped a design that prioritizes clarity and inclusivity without sacrificing innovation.
Lessons Learned
Testing with real users provides valuable perspectives. Each person interacts differently, reinforcing the need for diverse usability testing to truly understand a product’s usability.
I discovered that empathy and continuous user feedback are essential for effective design. By focusing on accessibility and applying UX principles—such as Gestalt laws—I created an experience that’s both engaging and easy to use.
Key takeaways:
- Simplicity: A straightforward, uncluttered interface improves usability and adoption.
- Empathy-Driven Design: Addressing user struggles leads to more meaningful solutions.
- Iterative Testing: Ongoing testing ensures a design remains user-focused and refined.
Thanks for Reading!
Thank you for exploring the journey of Hoomli. This project was more than just designing an app—it was a transformative opportunity to redefine how people find their future homes in the digital age. By combining creative storytelling with rigorous user research, iterative design, and AI-driven insights, I transformed a complex problem into an elegant, user-centered solution that simplifies home searches while delivering personalized value.
Reflecting on this experience, I am grateful for how it deepened my expertise in accessibility, iterative design, and user-driven innovation. Thank you for your time and interest in this case study. I hope it inspires future UX innovations, and I look forward to applying these insights to new opportunities.
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