Luxury Real Estate App
Overview
My team and I were were brought on as a consultants to lead the design and development of a new mobile app from the ground up in the luxury real estate space. Designed all UI, interactions, and flows for multiple types of interactions and user types to help facilitate the luxury real estate purchase process. The company exited successfully and sold the code and IP.
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A good engineering friend of mine and I paired up, and for several months we fully specced, designed, and launched a mobile app from the ground up. This was one of those situations where a friend of a friend of a friend had a company looking to build a mobile app for their business. We teamed up, put together our pitch and were awarded the contract to build out this mobile app for a major Chicago-land real estate firm. I got the chance to lead the design of a mobile app from the ground up.
My Role
Lead UX and UI Designer
Timeline and Status
8+ Months, Acquired
Team
Tom Scanlan
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Lead Software Engineer
Erik
•
Software Engineer
Kicking this off
Introduction

This was an already established brand with a handful of guidelines already in place. The new app needed to match the look and feel of the current brand, while providing what is essentially the capabilities of what Redfin or Zillow may offer to the masses. This business sells and brokers some of the most expensive real estate in the country. Their users expect a high-touch and tailored experience, and by offering their own mobile app to help facilitate this process, it was a way for our client to really elevate their brand perception and further help facilitate the sales process.

This is a luxury MLS buying and renting platform, and before I dove into the designs itself I myself needed to take time to understand the users, target audience, and most importantly the real estate industry. This app didn't require a ton of "discovery" in the traditional sense, as the target users and many of the potential use-cases were already defined. This was a very "execution" focused project in the sense that the end result was tightly defined. Any of the usability testing or experiential aspects would have to be done on the way to the finish line.

The focus was meeting the requirements on time, building and prototyping slick UI, and making sure that the client felt heard and included in the process while simultaneously taking calculated risks with the user experience and trying to wrap my head around the real estate buying and selling process.

Luxury Real Estate Made Simple
The app's intuitive UI guides users step-by-step from registration to closing. The "Your Sales Journey" screen provides a clear to-do list, including steps like getting to know the selling journey, accessing the listing agreement, and scheduling open houses and showings. The app also features a dedicated "Docs" section for easy search and completion of necessary documents, ensuring all paperwork is organized. Users can personalize their experience with agent recommendations and track their progress with detailed checklists, making the entire selling process straightforward and efficient.
Luxury Real Estate Made Simple
The app's intuitive UI guides users step-by-step from registration to closing. The "Your Sales Journey" screen provides a clear to-do list, including steps like getting to know the selling journey, accessing the listing agreement, and scheduling open houses and showings. The app also features a dedicated "Docs" section for easy search and completion of necessary documents, ensuring all paperwork is organized. Users can personalize their experience with agent recommendations and track their progress with detailed checklists, making the entire selling process straightforward and efficient.
Luxury Real Estate Made Simple
The app’s sleek UI simplifies every step of the sales journey. Users start with the “Your Sales Journey” screen, which outlines clear tasks from understanding the selling process to scheduling showings. The “My Clients” section enables easy management of client interactions with direct call and SMS options. The “Filters” screen offers advanced search capabilities, allowing users to customize their property search by price, bed and bath count, square footage, and more. This comprehensive app design ensures users can efficiently manage their real estate tasks, personalize their workflow, and maintain organization, making property selling a seamless experience.
Mobile App Design Structure and Organization
The sitemap for MVP v.2 showcases a well-organized structure of the mobile app, developed through client workshops before any high-fidelity UI explorations. Happy to review this in more depth via portfolio review.
Workshopping with the Client
Began with thorough client workshops to understand their vision, requirements, and user needs, ensuring alignment with client expectations.
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Main Sections
Central flow highlighted in purple, indicating core user journey and primary interactions. Major sections like onboarding, user profile, and main features are clearly mapped.
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Features and Functionalities
Green nodes represent features and functionalities, logically linked to show the flow between them. Detailed user tasks and actions ensure comprehensive coverage of user needs.
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User Journey
Visual representation of the user journey from start to finish, including registration, navigation, and key actions. Each step is mapped out, highlighting critical touchpoints and decisions.
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Reflective thoughts

This was one of the more challenging user journeys I had to work on. It needed to define the flows of 3 different user types, and it was actually quite dense in its requirements. Each user journey had multiple touchpoints where information was shared between them as the sales journey developed.

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I created this journey in close collaboration with the client, interpreting their ideas and business needs into these flows to both make sure that I capture their understanding and that the functionality itself is covered, but also to be used as a guide for engineering. It's our Map of Truth™ that guided the entire project.

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Happy to review this in more detail upon request.

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IT WAS A SUCCESS!

Was a challenging project but we excited the stakeholders and fullfilled the product vision. The app made a successful 8-figure exit and has since grown and expanded nationally.

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