Company

Context

Problem

Objective

Design Process

Outcome

Future iterations

Kukoo is ultimate house-hacking app that offers a seamless experience for first-time home buyers.

House hacking is a strategy where an individual purchases a property with the intention of renting out a portion of it while living in another part of the property themselves to reduce or eliminate the cost of housing.

House hacking involves three main things:

Purchasing the property
Renting out part of the property
Managing the property

What is House Hacking?

The decision to choose house hacking for my project, Kukoo, the ultimate house-hacking app, was driven by personal struggles in Toronto's expensive housing market, where affording a home was a constant challenge.

Discovering house hacking through a YouTube video sparked my interest, but the fragmented process of gathering information led to a realization of a significant problem faced by first-time home buyers.

Empathizing with others in similar situations, I decided to leverage my skills as a UX designer to create Kukoo, a user-friendly platform aiming to simplify house hacking and provide an accessible pathway to affordable homeownership, making a positive impact on many lives.

Why did I choose this topic?

Secondary research

Through research, I streamlined the fragmented user journey of the house-hacking process, where users typically resort to different solutions for each step.

There is no seamless experience for the user involved in the house hacking process. There are multiple parties and tools involved that can cause a variety of issues.

Research, strategize, and design a seamless house hacking app that enables users to easily discover, analyze, and manage their property with a focus on simplifying complex financial calculations.

Discovery

The research discovery process for Kukoo was an essential step in understanding the unique challenges faced by first-time home buyers. As a relatively new concept, house hacking was not widely understood by many people, making comprehensive research even more crucial.

To start, I dived into an intensive two-week research sprint

Conducted user interviews
Investigated Reddit /r/house_hacking, Facebook Groups, and watched tutorials on YouTube
Mapped out a user journey map

User interviews

I conducted user interviews with individuals who practiced house hacking and mostly young professionals planning to buy their homes within one to five years. From these interviews, three major points emerged:

Participants in the research had a traditional mindset about homeownership, viewing it as personal use or investment. House hacking was a novel concept to many, highlighting the need for education and awareness about this innovative approach.

Traditional house mindset

Low-to-moderate financial literacy

Many aspirations and preferences

Participants showed limited financial literacy, emphasizing the need for an app that simplifies complex financial concepts.

Interviewees expressed diverse aspirations and preferences for their ideal home despite financial challenges. Addressing these varied preferences was crucial in tailoring the app to meet diverse user needs.

To complement my research, I also watched tutorials on YouTube explaining how to house hack. These tutorials helped demystify the process and shed light on different house-hacking strategies and approaches.

User journey

Conceptualize

Affinity Diagramming

I extensively researched house hacking through online platforms, particularly Reddit (r/house_hacking and r/realestateinvesting), Facebook groups, Biggerpockets. The vibrant community shared firsthand knowledge, insights, and pain points, enriching my understanding of user perspectives.

Many users identified as would-be first time homebuyers with limited experience in financial management.

Users expressed purchasing a home is complex and overwhelming enough. On top of that, being a landlord is even more challenging.

Users expressed that many individuals may need significant guidance and support during their house-hacking journey. Not everyone has the time or expertise to research and navigate the complexities on their own.

Ideation

These ideas aim to create a comprehensive and user-friendly platform that addresses the pain points of house hacking and provides users with the support they need to successfully navigate the home-buying and landlord process.

Due to the relative novelty of house hacking, many potential users had limited understanding of the concept. Thus, providing users with educational materials and guiding them through a walkthrough tutorial will ensure the app’s content and functionality were clear and easy to understand.

Design

Based on research and empathizing with our target users (Millennial first-time home buyers), I focused on three key areas, each addressing a critical step in the house-hacking process. These areas served as the driving force behind the design direction for Kukoo.

Creating a walkthrough tutorial for financial feasibility
Listing the property to rent
Managing and screening applicants

Style guide

Kukoo was designed with simplicity and with an intuitive UI in mind because the house hacking process is complicated enough. These design elements of illustrations, clean icons, san-serif typeface, and colors of green and white come together to give the appearance of professionalism, reliability, and trustworthiness.

Usability testing

Based on testing, there were three main issues that users encountered:

1.Walkthrough tutorial was difficult to follow

Some users were uncertain, disengaged, or failed to understand the tutorial’s purpose. The initial intention was trying to minimize the information provided to the user to avoid overwhelming them. However, feedback from the test proved that has backfired.

To address this issue, the tutorial was revamped to include more detailed guidance, tooltips, and clearer instructions for the user who is unfamiliar with the concept of house hacking.

2. Unit selection process was confusing

Users struggled to understand the available options, which led to guessing their choices or randomly selecting an option. Possible explanations may include the lack of clarity in the labeling of the options and the complexity of house hacking in general.

To address this issue, the options were presented with greater clarity by providing clearer and more concise descriptions, labels, and images for context.

3. Request for financial information were unfriendly

The lack of financial knowledge may have caused confusion among some users who struggled with certain financial terms. For example, some users were uncertain about whether to input their annual or monthly income. Also, they found the UI to be confusing.

To address this issue, wording of the questions were revised to be more user-friendly and the UI was simplified to improve usability.

A comprehensive house hacking solution that is accessible to many users.

90% of testers would recommend Kukoo to their friends. Received great positive feedback.
The streamlined experience has saved time and effort.
By having everything in one place for house hacking, the app provided tremenous value to users. It also helps Millenials one-step closer in achieving homeownership.

Allow users to preview their listing before publishing. This would enable them to review and edit their listing for accuracy and completion.

The use of AI to generate description of the property based on images and location. This would save the users time and effort who may not be creative in coming up with an appealing property description.

Create a compatibility screening for landlords and tenants. This would help match users based on preferences, lifestyle, and other factors to minimize conflicts and create a harmonious living space.