Roots

Problem Space

Problem Statement:

“How might we foster open communication and planning about housing goals among connected individuals within a social network, thereby enhancing intentional community building, facilitating residence searches, and enabling individuals to discover shared housing needs among their peers?”

Problem Background:

‍Currently, the housing landscape in the US lacks proactive discussions and collaborations about housing plans, leading to missed opportunities for intentional community building and shared housing arrangements among friends and family.

‍

Research Insights

Research efforts include deployment of a convenience sample survey (n=20) and 5 in-depth interviews (founder selected focus groups) based on discovered user  demographics. The problems that Roots addresses, corroborated by survey results and user interviews, are as follows: 

Lack of Proactive Housing Discussions: The current housing landscape in the US lacks proactive discussions and collaborations about housing plans, leading to missed opportunities for intentional community building and shared housing arrangements among friends and family.

“My brother and I were looking to buy houses at the same time, but neither of us told one another about it. We ended up a few towns over, but we both wish in hindsight we told each other so we could have planned to live a bit closer together. It would have been awesome to be in the same neighborhood.”

Overlooked Housing Planning: Housing plans often go overlooked within social networks, resulting in a disconnect between individuals' housing goals and the potential for collaborative decision-making, thereby hindering the creation of supportive living environments and contributing to feelings of loneliness and isolation.

“I knew I needed a roommate but I didn’t put it out there on my social media channels. Turns out that one of my friends just signed onto a lease with someone else. I wish we planned better. Now, I feel alone and will have to find a random roommate somehow.”

Inefficient Residence Searches: As housing and rental property prices continue to rise across all age demographics, individuals face challenges in efficiently searching for suitable residences that meet their needs and preferences, particularly in terms of affordability, flexibility, and proximity to their social network.

“I never know if I should use a real estate agent, Zillow, or drive around a neighborhood. The rates are insane and ever changing. I don’t want to pay a real estate agent. Nothing by my work is affordable, so I guess I have to rent for now. I know people that own second properties, but I’ve never known how to approach them about renting to me.”

“I often post on Instagram when I need to sublease my room, but my story reaches a small portion of my network. Airbnb has gotten expensive, and I also have a ton of friends traveling. It would be cool to work something out with them while they’re gone since I work remotely.”

Growing Trend of Coliving: With a surge in coliving arrangements across various demographics, there is a need for platforms like Roots to facilitate seamless communication and coordination among individuals seeking shared living spaces or interested in exploring housing options within their existing networks.

"My husband died last year, and I had to look for a roommate. I decided to live with a friend in a similar boat, and I wish that was easily coordinated for everyone.”

“I’m at the age where I am expected to have a family but instead I have a dog and two roommates. Things are different now.”

Addressing Loneliness and Isolation: Research suggests an increasing prevalence of loneliness and isolation, exacerbated by living arrangements where individuals often lack meaningful connections with their roommates or neighbors. Roots aims to address this by facilitating connections with trusted individuals within one's social network, fostering a sense of community and belonging.

“Honestly, postgrad, I felt super lonely. I moved to a new city, away from my social network. I wish I thought more about where people would be because now I am spending a lot of money traveling back and forth.”

Lack of Structured Housing Planning: Many individuals lack a structured approach to housing planning, including aligning priorities such as price, aesthetics, or desired location for career and family goals. Roots provides a platform for documenting and sharing housing plans within social networks, enhancing transparency and communication among like-minded individuals.

“Amongst my friends and family, I’m interested in seeing where people want to live. Where do you want to raise kids? Or have your career? Can we talk about that?”

“It’s been interesting to see who has moved to a big city and who hasn’t. Are those people planning on coming back?”

“Who in my network can be a potential roommate because they have similar goals and likes as me?”

38% percent of people surveyed reported that finding housing close to people they know is very important. However, only 44% of the sample reported using their social network to find housing. Only 5% are using digital tools to communicate about it.

‍

Feedback

Through user interviews and survey data, finding roommates in coliving situations appears to be the largest pain point across age demographics and is the suggested P0 feature focus on while building roots. Currently, three of the top ways include using social media, such as Facebook Groups, alumni pages, and Nextdoor groups, which often involve ultimately living with a stranger outside of your social network. Roots will first target features serving this demographic, but aims to ultimately serve a large audience. It will feature available spaces, pricing, pictures, and specific geographic locations without addresses. There will be a like feature. 

‍

Landing on the Solution

While there’s a multiple of pain points surrounding housing, this stage of the project wants to encourage more of a narrow scope. Logistically, Roots pulls information from a user's iPhone, social media, online address books, and email to create notifications about housing opportunities within your network. Thereafter, users are encouraged to begin to plan and communicate about their residence (reaching out to people to be roommates, asking about the availability of an extra bedroom, subleasing for a certain amount of time, buying property close to each other, building in the same neighborhood, etc.). Connecting users’ disparate social networks solves the pain point of trying connecting with strangers on the internet over housing options. 

From a design perspective, Roots features notifications and highlights about available housing opportunities within your social network, enables chat between users, geographically shows where people want to live, and also has a Pinterest-like segment where people can showcase their ideal home aesthetic and see who also appreciates that style. This visual “mood board” allows users to envision their future residence, explore their style, and find others who have a similar taste (e.g. modern farmhouse vs midcentury modern). 

Explanation of Solution

After I showcased my prototype to the users again, I learned that people want an in-app feature to chat with others about housing opportunities (specifically coliving).

From a design perspective, Roots features notifications and highlights about available housing opportunities within your social network, enables chat between users, geographically shows where people want to live, and also has a Pinterest-like segment where people can showcase their ideal home aesthetic and see who also appreciates that style. This visual “mood board” allows users to envision their future residence, explore their style, and find others who have a similar taste (e.g. modern farmhouse vs midcentury modern). 

‍

Future Steps

My P2 feature will be making a ‘Favorite Cities for Different Life Stages’ that will also operate like a moodboard that people can like and see. After that, developing the ‘Style’ quiz and feature will take precedence.