RentHome

B2C, Real Estate - Quick Book Viewing to Easy Leasing.

Background

As a new immigrant, my wife and I faced difficulties finding suitable rental accommodation. We struggled with poor credit scores, a disjointed search process, and a lengthy lease-signing process. To simplify this process for other new immigrants, I came up with the idea of developing a comprehensive rental application that streamlines the entire process, making it easier for both landlords and tenants.

OVERVIEW

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Project

Academic; User Experience Certification at BrainStation

Timeline

Tools

Platform

Mobile iOS

Industry

Real estate, specifically in the rental or property management sector.

Research

Customer Interviews, Idea evaluation, Research, Problem statement, User persona, Empathy mapping, Affinity mapping, Journey mapping,

Design

Information Architecture, User flows, Sketches, mi-fi Low-fi wireframes, Design system, Prototypes.

Problem

Renting a property is a complex process for both landlords and tenants, and it is often difficult to find a suitable property, navigate the rental process, and manage ongoing maintenance and communication. This can lead to headaches and stress for both parties, and there is a need for a simpler and more transparent solution.

Solution

Maintaining multiple tenants’ and landlords’ problems like finding a suitable property and signing a lease within a platform they do not need to meet physically to sign a lease. This app enables them to manage the ongoing interactions with their landlord through a secure online application, generate contract, (including invoicing, payment, inventory management, maintenance and repair tracking and many other services), throughout the duration of the lease
agreement.

My DESIGN APPROACH

Following the convergent and divergent thinking of the Double Diamond Design Methodology, helped me establish a creative process and guided me through four defined stages to organize my design process.

Empathize

(Collecting data regarding a problem)

Define

(Understanding and defining the problem)

Problem statement
Assumptions
User persona
Empathy mapping
Affinity mapping
Journey map
Idea evaluation

Ideate

(Finding solutions of the problem)

Prototype

(Making UI designs for the solutions)

Testing

(Testing the designs with real users)

RESEARCH

I conducted both secondary and primary research for rental applications in Canada. For secondary research, I gathered insights from existing rental applications and surveys. For primary research, I conducted in-depth interviews with three participants who are new immigrants and local natives, including tenants and landlords.

Secondary, Primary Research

I began researching surveys, website articles, and other rental websites Some key insights that emerged from my research include:

Rentals.ca

Rent for one-bedroom apartments in Canada went up by 5.5% in 2020, while two-bedroom apartments saw a 2.9% increase, according to a survey by Rentals.ca.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

In 2020, Canada’s rental vacancy rate dropped to 2.2% from 2.4% in 2019, per CMHC study, suggesting a more competitive rental market.

Padmapper

Padmapper survey: Average one-bedroom rent in Toronto was $2,090/month in Jan 2021, while two-bedroom rent averaged $2,680/month.

Zoocasa

Condo rental time in Toronto increased from 22 to 27 days (2019 to 2020), suggesting landlords face challenges in finding tenants.

I asked about 29 questions to each with this categories.

I conducted extensive interviews with three interviewees who came as new immigrants and local natives, including tenants and landlords aged 25 to 40.

Define

The Define stage in design thinking involves synthesizing the research findings to gain insights and formulating a clear problem statement to guide the ideation phase.

Problem statement

Based on Primary and secondary research conducted with users, I have put together Insights. I found a clear problem statement that clearly defines the issue at hand.

Insights

Who are the target users for the rental property?

Professional job holders, new immigrants, and full-time accountants are the target users for the rental property.

Who are the target users for the rental property?

The target users prefer apartments, detached houses, single-family houses, and condos for rental properties.

When do the target users typically sign lease agreements?

The target users typically sign lease agreements either in person or digitally using a third-party service.

Where do the target users prefer to rent properties?

The target users face challenges when finding rental properties due to the competitive rental market, high rental costs, and difficulty proving creditworthiness to landlords.

How can rental property owners improve the rental experience for the target users?

Rental property owners can improve the rental experience for the target users by providing properties with in-suite laundry, spacious living rooms, good security, and managing the properties themselves.

Assumptions

After analyzing the problem statement and insights related to renting properties, I have formulated assumptions that can address user problems and alleviate pain points.

Rising rents, lower vacancies in Canada create competitive rental market.

Possible reasons for landlords facing challenges in finding suitable tenants could be high rental costs or past experiences with problematic tenants.

Renters in the area may have different preferences for property type and specific features in a rental property.

The rental application process may involve a combination of physical and digital paperwork, as well as background and credit checks on potential tenants.

Online viewings and applications can save time and effort for both landlords and potential tenants.

User persona & Empathy Mapping

Based on the findings from primary and secondary research, as well as the problem statement and my own assumptions, I have developed two personas and empathy maps for both landlords and tenants. These personas and maps help to identify the pain points of each group, as well as their emotional states and what actions make them feel good or satisfied.

Tenant Persona

Tanent Empathy Mapping

Landlord Persona

Landlord Empathy Mapping

Affinity mapping

Based on my secondary research, primary research, and user interviews, I developed personas and created an affinity map to organize all the insights that helped me make decisions and solve problems related to finding a suitable rental property. For example, the affinity mapping helped me identify the need for a platform where users can book viewings and complete rental applications in one place.

Journey map

I developed a persona and created a journey map for both the tenant and landlord, identifying pain points and actions that helped me design solutions to meet the needs of both parties.

Idea evaluation

After a journey with both users, I came to my idea which is to help them to solve the problem. RentHome is an app that helps people rent a property and manage their tenancy with their landlord. You can find a suitable place to live, sign a lease, and handle all the paperwork and communication with your landlord through the app. This makes renting easier and more convenient, as you don’t have to meet with your landlord physically and can handle everything online.

How it works For Landlords:

Landlords can create an account on HomeRent and post their rental properties on the platform.
add property listing with detailed property descriptions, photos, and rental terms and conditions.
Activate listing, show property to accredited tenants.
Landlords can easily communicate with prospective tenants, schedule property viewings, and accept or decline rental applications.

How it works For Tanent:

Tenants can create an account on RentHome and browse available rental properties.
They can filter their search results based on location, rental price, property type, and other criteria.
Tenants can book a viewing of the property through the RentHome platform.
Tenants can apply for rental properties directly through RentHome and submit their rental application, including their credit score and rental references.
Tenants can apply for rental properties directly through RentHome and submit their rental application, including their credit score and rental references.

Benefits:

Ideate

In the ideate stage, information gathered from the define stage, such as user research, insights, and pain points can be considered to generate ideas for features and solutions that meet the users’ needs. The ideate stage also covers creating a mood board for design inspiration, information architecture for organizing information and features, user flow for mapping the user’s journey, and sketches for visualizing design concepts.

Moodboard

My design vision is inspired by user research and persona interests. Through a captivating collage of images and colors, I capture the essence of my vision and set the project’s tone.

Information Architecture

I’ve created a design vision that incorporates user insights and interests. Through an inspiring collage of images and colors, I’ve captured the essence of my vision and set the project’s tone.

Users flows

To explain how the users will use the app, navigate through it, and perform activities, I have made some user flows for landlord and tenant.

Tanent Flow

Landlord Flow

Sketches (Crazy 8’s)

Based on User flows and information architecture, I formed designing sketches using crazy 8’s Methods to help me think of different ideas about the same action. And help me to visualize the layouts will be and what purpose of each screen.

Landlord Flow

Prototype

At this stage, I worked on wireframes from sketches I had designed, then worked on the Hi-fi user interface so that close look of realistic view.

Mi-fi wireframes

Usability Testing and Learnings

I conducted two rounds of usability tests. Each testing round consisted of 3 users. Participants were asked to perform a task in the prototype and were observed based on these parameters:

Users were tasked with booking a property for viewing and booking an appointment by sending the application to the landlord and signing a lease online.

BEFORE

Revised screen

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