The Background

KTO founders Alberto and Trevor are driven by a belief that everyone should have access to all the resources needed throughout the complex home-buying process. They understood that, especially for first-time buyers, the path to homeownership is daunting with confusing paperwork, steep requirements, and roadblocks at every turn. With rising home prices and rent costs, entering the property market is increasingly difficult, especially for young people.

The data speaks for itself: only one-third of Americans under 34 own homes, and homeownership rates reveal racial disparities. While 64% of white, non-Hispanic individuals own homes, only 43% of Black Americans and 46% of Hispanic Americans do. KTO’s mission was clear: level the playing field by increasing accessibility to home-buying resources.

The Challenge

In 2021, Alberto and Trevor approached us with an ambitious vision: to design an app that seamlessly integrates all aspects of the home buying process, powered by AI to guide users along their journey. They had big ideas but lacked direction on how to execute something this complex. At the time, their assets were limited to a simple marketing page, a logo, and a very basic user experience.

During our discovery phase, we quickly identified an issue: while onboarding was essential for collecting data for the AI, it was cumbersome and glitchy, just like the bureaucratic forms of banks and government agencies KTO sought to replace. The onboarding process felt daunting, undermining the ease and user-friendliness they were striving for.

The Process

To address the challenge, we explored these questions:

Then, we mapped out the complexity of the project and developed a robust Information Architecture that covered every aspect of the app and divided the experience into three key areas for distinct user types:

• The Consumer App
• The Partner Experience
• The Admin Dashboard

The Result

The onboarding experience, the dashboard, and matches were areas of the consumer app that needed the most human touch.

For onboarding, our goal was to instill trust and comfort from the start. Questions about income and debt can feel robotic and intrusive, especially as a user’s first interaction with the app. To counter this, we adopted conversational language that aligned with user goals. Instead of generic, impersonal prompts, users would encounter questions like, “Where are you buying a home? Are you open to nearby zip codes?”

For the dashboard, we created a personalized timeline that guides users through each step of the home-buying process. This approach helped to set expectations, eliminate uncertainty, and make the experience more engaging.

On the matches page, we introduced interactions with status updates, letting users know when an application was viewed, under review, or approved. This feature also provided feedback from partners, offering transparency often lacking in grant and loan processes, which can leave homebuyers waiting in the dark for months. We also added a dynamic sidebar that updates with relevant content based on the user’s journey.

One of the most challenging aspects of this project was ensuring seamless communication between the consumer and partner experiences. The partner experience was designed for representatives of agencies and companies offering grants, mortgages, and services, while the admin dashboard served as a gatekeeper for managing partner interactions and providing insights into consumer behavior.