Our client, Dee & Heard, hired us to build a solution for property owners

struggling to stay organized and consistent while trying to manage their properties.

During interviews, we discovered that while most property owners had a “process that worked,” they still experienced:

Overwhelm and stress from juggling multiple tasks and tools.
Concerns about being neglectful landlords, fearing they weren’t meeting tenant needs effectively.
Limited time to focus on growth, leaving little room to expand their property portfolio.

As Product Designer, I led the initiative to transform how these property owners operate their businesses,

moving them from a chaotic, time-consuming processes to an intelligent, streamlined mobile solution, allowing them to do more of what they love.

AI-Powered Document Management

Simplify property and tenant data management with AI-enabled uploads. Easily scan leases, contracts, and tax documents to automatically organize key information and securely store files. With a powerful in-app search feature, you can quickly find answers and access critical details from anywhere, saving time and reducing stress.

Automated Task Prioritization

Stay responsive without the hassle by automating how property tasks and issues are prioritized. Set custom keywords to automatically categorize and rank incoming tenant requests, ensuring high-priority issues are addressed first while maintaining a professional and attentive landlord experience.

Why Mobile First?‍

Constraining our designs to fit mobile ensured we chose the most impactful features needed to meet user's outcomes. Even though most solutions rely on intelligent dashboards and complex design components, better viewed from a larger screen, we aimed to shift our user's focus from familiarity to simplicity. Mobile also allowed users to engage in our solution while on-the-go.

Smart Messaging Hub

Effortlessly manage property communication with a centralized messaging hub that keeps you in control. Proactively resolve high-priority issues by creating and assigning tasks directly from conversations. Streamline interactions with tenants and contractors using automated messaging and assign tasks to your "go-to" contractors for seamless resolution. Simplify your workflows and stay ahead of property management challenges.

Investment Insights and Scenario Planning.

Explore scenario templates to visualize the impact of big decisions, like selling or purchasing properties, on your investment portfolio. Make confident, data-driven decisions and refine your investment strategy with tools designed to evaluate every move effectively.

Overcoming Hesitancy to Switch from Established Processes

Throughout our research, we identified a significant hurdle: many property owners were hesitant to transition to a new system.

They invested substantial time and energy into creating processes that "worked for them,"

even if they were chaotic and inefficient. These workflows often relied on a patchwork of tools like Excel, Mint, QuickBooks, and text/email threads, tailored over time to meet their needs.

This "sunk cost" mentality made users wary of starting from scratch with a new product.

The challenge was to not only demonstrate the inefficiencies of their current approach but also build trust that our solution could streamline their work without disrupting what they had already built.

We were able to anticipate and address these anxieties

by sticking to our strategy—conducting in-depth interviews, surveying to identify underserved needs (low satisfaction, high importance), and pitching the product to our audience.

Our research informed our design and marketing approach, ensuring the new tool felt like an evolution of their existing processes, not a complete reset.

Everything from the way we talked about the product, the features that we created, and the hook in our unique value proposition came directly from the types of property managers we aimed to help. Our product is not only a powerful solution for them, it is the result of active listening, comprehensive insights gathering, and creative problem solving.

Empowering Property Owners to Focus on What They Love

Our product transforms how property owners manage their properties by streamlining communication, prioritizing tasks, and resolving issues efficiently.

By investing an average of $2,000 per year, owners can reclaim an estimated 30-40 hours a month previously lost to inefficient workflows.

This small investment enables property owners to refocus their energy on growing their portfolios and pursuing what they’re truly passionate about.

Whether it’s expanding their investments, spending time with family, or exploring new ventures, Property Pro empowers them to do more of what they love.

Carving Out a Unique and Clear Market Strategy

We helped our client identify and position their product in an underserved market segment. Property Pro sits perfectly between two extremes—spending time and money on DIY tools or hiring an assistant, and investing in high-cost property management companies or software solutions.

By focusing on a niche target user, we provided a:

Clear Market Positioning: A well-defined audience and unique value proposition tailored to their specific needs.
Validated Business Model and Pricing Strategy: Grounded in user feedback and willingness to pay, ensuring alignment with market expectations.
Foundation for Scalable Growth: A product that can grow with the target audience, offering a path to achieving $1M+ ARR with minimal marginal costs.

With a validated target market and scalable platform, our client is equipped to build upon this foundation.

The next steps include refining product features, continuing user engagement, and expanding the solution to adjacent segments within the property management space.

PropertyPRO

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