Work in progress
Context
PROPCON 2020 is a hackathon dedicated to the real estate and construction tech industry. The hackathon is sponsored by leading companies such as CanadaIsrael, Deloitte, LafargeHolcim, WeWork and more.
Property tech is a fast-growing field with new products and services created all the time. In Israel, both fields are gaining momentum within the local startup ecosystem, with over 100 active companies, and a growing community of real estate tech users.
“keepie” is a young proptech startup that is aiming to change the way people invest in real estate by shifting the trading domain to an online platform, giving investors services and advanced tools to make smart investments. We decided to take part in the hackathon as an opportunity to jumpstart our startup.
As there is a lot of information and financial variables involved and many decisions to be made, a user-friendly platform is of great interest. My role is to create a user experience that supports the platform's features and make it accessible and appealing to a wide range of real estate investors.
The Challenge
Shopping practices have changed dramatically in the last few years, with more and more people opening up to buying diverse products online. The digital domain has changed the world's consumption habits.
However, in real estate, no technological solution has been introduced that would drive people buy property online in large numbers, despite the fact that it is the fastest-growing investment track in the world.
The challenge is to create a reliable and easy to use web platform or app that would drive people to purchase real estate online. This would reduce the need for salespeople, and thus reduce costs and allow for more sales to take place, without the need for an agent. There are various technologies already in place such as VR tours, bots that know the right questions to ask, smart maps and more. However, the challenge is to break the psychological barrier that keeps people from actually purchasing property online.
The Problem
In Israel today, when an investor is looking to buy a property for an investment he has to deal with many bodies at the same time, such as the property seller, a real estate agent, mortgage advisor, bank and more. Each body has its own interests and they are not cooperating for the benefit of the investor. Dealing with all these bodies takes a lot of effort, money and valuable time from the investor. The process of purchasing an apartment takes on average 3-6 months. An investor might look at 2-5 properties before he closes the deal. That is if he didn’t give up in the first place.
At the same time, there are many factors an investor has to consider when investing in real estate. What is his budget? What is the ROI on the property? Where should he invest? What is the value forecast? Should he renovate? Should he invest in the long term or flip?
In conclusion, investing in real estate is not easy. Yet at the same time, everyone is talking about it! It seems like you are crazy if you don’t invest in real estate.
So how do you do it? How do you juggle all these balls in the air while staying on top of things with the fast changing market?
The Concept
Keepie is a custom fit online platform that centralizes all the services, tools and information needed to manage real estate investments.
How It Works
Profiling
By entering the user's personal and financial details the system builds a financial profile to give the user a better understanding of his investment possibilities.
Locating a property
The system then locates investment properties that fit the user’s budget. When a property is selected the system provides important information about the property, the neighborhood and crucial financial data such as ROI, payment conditions and more.
Financing
According to the user's profile and the requested property, the system can offer mortgage and financing plans.
Management
When the user buys a property investment or if he already has a property, he can manage it using the platform.
Dashboard
This way the platform provides a solution for the entire lifecycle of a real estate investment. The user can monitor and manage the process using the platform's dashboard.
Results
Home Page Wizard
The keepie home page banner features a wizard that builds a financial profile and locates property investments according to the user's input. The challenge is to make it short and simple so it will be accessible yet clear and accurate so it will provide valuable results and attract leads.
Wizard Results
After filling in the wizard the user receives an overview of his investment budget and different costs. The user can adjust some of the inputs using the sliders so he can get more accurate results.
Property Location Recommendation
According to the user's investment budget, the system recommends different properties divided according to attractive investment locations.
Property Search
Property Investment Management System
Property Profile
Property Investment Management System
