Market Insights
Real Estate Valuation Tool
A transparent and empowering home valuation tool inspires consumer confidence
Principal Designer @ Ten-X Homes
Balsamiq | Sketch | InVision
Principal Designer @ Ten-X Homes
Balsamiq | Sketch | InVision
Background
A valuation tool was conceived to generate leads by attracting wouldbe sellers and buyers interested in potential home market values. Research suggested that many of the existing valuation tools didn’t inspire consumer confidence as they lacked substance supporting their estimated valuations. On the flip side, agents were opposed to such valuation tools as they often armed their clients with unsubstantiated or inaccurate opinions on home values, ultimately requiring more work on their part to recalibrate client expectations.
Goals & Rational
- Funnel new users and listings into the platform
- Build trust and credibility with buyers and sellers
- Bridge the gap between agents and their clients
The team believed that providing a superior valuation tool that exposes the underlying context of an estimated home value calculation would build trust and credibility with users. Attracting these users to the platform at the early stages of the selling and buying journeys would be an opportunity to increase inflow into the funnel on both sides of the real estate transaction.
Research to Whiteboard
Our guerrilla research clearly pointed to an opportunity to design a valuation tool that exposed the necessary context to earn consumer trust and credibility. Flows and interfaces addressing this need were fleshed out on whiteboards with constant feedback from buyers, sellers and industry experts.
Triangulating the Value
Evaluating comparable homes on a single interface presenting the relationship between price, location and home specifications would provide much deeper insights into home values, the local markets and any potential outliers.
Modifying the Model
We generated estimated value ranges from an automated valuation model that considered the 15 most relevant comparable homes and then empowered users to refine the calculation by removing outliers.
Curbside Use Case
Users investigating home values on neighbourhood research drives needed to access a mobile friendly interface for curbside valuations.
Results
Usability lab testing showed that users found contextual information surrounding the tool’s valuations very impactful. It not only provided a better understanding of home values but it was perceived as a more trusted source of information compared to competing alternatives. Agents said that they would use the tool to walk clients through home values because of how clearly it tells the valuation story.
Outcomes
- Lab testing showed that users trusted the valuations more than any other they had previously experienced on the market
- Lab testing showed that the tool provided value to inexperienced users as well as expert agents
- Awarded a design patent pending for the home valuation triangulation interface and interactions
“It takes the guesswork out of it – I don’t have to compare all home features for every comp”
–Home Seller
“It could help me work alongside clients so they know we’re not just pulling numbers out of a hat… It’s even better than any agent facing tool!”
–Real Estate Agent
Thank You Kindly
