Ko-Buyers
A match-making platform that empowers users to co-buy property by finding aligned, trusted partners. Turning real estate dreams into shared realities.
Challenge
Over the past decade, rising home prices, significantly higher interest rates, and stagnant incomes have made buying property much more challenging. Over the past twenty years, real home prices increased by about 65% from 2000 to 2020, far surpassing income growth.
Role
Product Designer
Solution
Ko-Buyers! We connect people who want to share the cost of ownership—whether it’s a starter home, vacation getaway, or investment property.
Tools
Figma, Whimsical, Loom, Maze, Squarespace
Defining Goals & Vision
When I initiated the conversation with the business owner, I used a focused list of discovery questions to align our understanding of the business goals, functional requirements, and brand identity.
This discussion was vital for managing expectations and creating a clear foundation for the design direction. Here's what I learned:
Build a trusted, user-friendly platform to match co-buyers and start their co-ownership journey
Goals
Mood
Trustworthy, optimistic, empowering
“Make Ownership A Reality”
Motto
Brand Colors
Primary Color: Green
Requested features:
Messaging between users
Ability for users to connect their social media accounts to their profile
Matchmaking based on users’ preferences
Key Insights
Before I joined the project, the client conducted early-stage user interviews with potential customers to gain a deeper understanding of their needs and pain points. While I wasn’t directly involved in these interviews, the client shared key takeaways that shaped the direction of my design work.
Based on the client’s findings, I learned:
Many people are feeling frustrated and disheartened about the prospect of owning property. Most believe they won’t be able to afford one until they are over 40, if they can afford one at all.
A primary concern for users of this platform is ensuring their financial safety when purchasing property with another person.
There is a significant population of individuals who wish to own property and are interested in sharing the responsibilities with a partner.
Through my secondary research, I found that there are no direct competitors in this market. Additionally, after discussing ownership with individuals aged 20 to 30, they expressed a consensus that owning something is often out of reach for most of them if they attempt to do it alone.
The Layout
After completing the discovery and research phase, I moved into defining the site map, ensuring it reflected both the product vision and user needs. I began by compiling a comprehensive list of potential features, including messaging between users, user profiles, matches, and an FAQ page. From there, I collaborated closely with the business owner to align on priorities, discussing which features were critical for the MVP and which could be deferred for later iterations. These conversations balanced the platform’s core value proposition (helping users connect and align on co-buying goals) with technical feasibility and timeline constraints.
User research played a key role in these decisions. Insights from early interviews revealed that potential users valued clear communication channels and compatibility indicators above all else, while also needing quick access to educational resources about co-buying. This informed our decision to prioritize messaging, matching, and an FAQ hub in the MVP, ensuring the site map supported the most immediate and high-impact user journeys.
Initial Site Map
