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Harry Potter and the
Property Management App

Project Brief

If you are someone who rent, have you encountered issues such as slow communication with management, need to be home to confirm service, and must manually track service frequency, including routine maintenance? I for one unfortunately have, thanks to New York City pre-war buildings.



That’s why Property Sage was born; it is an AI-driven platform (I know, I know) to streamline property management for companies facing staffing challenges and high tenant demands. It’s like magic... with a chance to happen.

Highlights

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Real User Interviews

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Full Scope Pitch Deck

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Future Business Plan

My Role

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I did everything

Project Timeline

Ideation

Sep 2023

Initial design

Oct 2023

Data organization

Nov 2023

Pitch deck presentation

Market research

Sep 2023

Oct 2023

User interview

1st iteration

Nov 2023

Dec 2023

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Users

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Tenants

Mostly living in largest metro areas, millennial, tech-savvy
(Interviewed)

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Management company

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Landlord/ 
Board members

  

(Interviewed)

Painpoints - Solutions

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Tenants

Slow communication with landlords for issue resolution

Manual tracking of service frequency and scheduling

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Understaffed and overwhelmed, lacking capacity to handle tenant requests

Management company

Little adaption of automation in the current market

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An application that utilizes:
 

  • (Tenant side) Request Tracking & Data Reports

  • AI-assisted Request Urgency Level System

  • AI-generated Data Report

  • AI-automated Preventative Reminder

User Journey Mapping

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Tenants

Encounter issue

Keep waiting...

Send request to building to fix issue

Calling/emailing for update

Building sends someone; 

issue solved

See Request Status update

Set “auto-reminder”
 if no update in 24/48 hours

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Management
company

Come to work

Deal with hundreds of requests with 3 hundred more to come

Solved as much as they can;
 Go home

Deal with requests based on urgency level

Check data report and reminder to set up routine/preventative service

Design Discussion

To find the right people to talk to

Finding the right people to talk to without offering incentives can be tough, especially for a solo project. You want genuine insights, not just opinions from friends. Luckily, my capstone project professor stepped in and helped me connect with board members from NYC co-op buildings. This gave me a real look into what tenants experience when dealing with management companies.
 

To justify using AI

From a product design standpoint, using AI makes a lot of sense here because it's great at spotting patterns, which is exactly what we need. It's not just a trendy buzzword, but a practical choice given the huge amount of data our app can collect. This data will be really useful for analyzing and coming up with solutions, as well as for managing things with clear seasonal demands - the buildings.
 

To make money

This aspect of product design is crucial, yet it’s often a topic that designers hesitate to discuss openly. Yes, the negative connotation. However, the profit model and strategies for encouraging user retention are integral to the overall user experience—something we can’t overlook. I addressed this in the pitch deck.

Design Overview

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Final Thoughts

One concern we should address is the possibility of competitors adding data reports and reminder features as follow-ups. This could potentially pose a threat to Property Sage, and the reality is that the market already contains several AI-powered management tools, making it essential for us to differentiate ourselves.

To outperform our competitors, we can focus on a few key strategies:


Algorithm Reliability: Enhancing our algorithm's reliability will give us a strong competitive edge - this requires great engineering effort.


Timely Market Opportunities: We should seize market gaps, especially where competitors haven’t caught up with us feature wise yet. Strengthening our marketing and sales can help us capture significant market share quickly.


Navigating Price Wars: To withstand price competition, we need adequate funding. Pricing should accurately reflect our product quality, but we also need to remain flexible with discounts and promotions, particularly during key phases of market share acquisition.


Service Integration: Developing partnerships with major third-party maintenance companies will streamline processes for property managers. A strong network of property management firms will attract more service providers, enhancing our platform's appeal.

And Above all; stay flexible to the market, act precautiously and accordingly.

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