see live project
Country
Canada
Domain
PropTech
Visitors
650K+ per month
Project duration
Started on February 27, 2023 (Ongoing)

A Canadian real estate appraisal platform

HonestDoor is an Edmonton-based company that provides free real estate data on residential and commercial properties, such as sold prices, estimated home values, and property details. HonestDoor combines real estate data with data science and machine learning to produce estimated property values for Canadian real estate buyers, sellers, investors, and lenders.

task set
  • Create revenue-generating features that will expand HonestDoor service’s service offerings for both business and individual clients
  • Decrease the number of manual tasks/processes for the product team
  • Extend the functionality of the administrative dashboard for back-office needs and increase the automation level
  • Improve/refactor existing codebase and infrastructure
  • Resolve the existing known project issues/bugs
  • Improve communication between development and product teams 
  • Set up transparent delivery processes
  • Partial redesign of some website pages and sections
team
UniRidge:
2 Senior Fullstack Developers (React JS, Chakra UI for frontend, NodeJS for backend)
Client’s side:
1 Product Manager/Owner
QA team
technology
React, NextJS, Chakra UI
Mapbox GL JS
NestJS, Express, AWS Lambda API Gateway
PostgreSQL, Redis, AWS Open Search, S3
AWS Glue, SES
AWS EKS, ECS, ECR, EC2
Terraform, Docker, Github Actions
Stripe payments and subscriptions

Our Part

System modernization
System modernization

Our team tackled the existing project issues, reducing the number of known problems and bugs and improving the platform’s stability. We also boosted the overall system performance, including page load time and the ability to handle the increased number of daily users.

Automation
Automation

We reduced the number of manual tasks and processes for the product team and enhanced the administrative dashboard to better support back-office needs. The dashboard now enables managers to view statistics, reports, ad campaigns, and listings, as well as initiate mailings — tasks that were previously handled by software engineers.

Lead generation tool
Lead generation tool

We created a paid embeddable widget for third-party websites for real estate agency clients. This widget can be integrated into the client’s website, enabling users to receive specific information about a property, particularly its relevant and estimated cost.

Later, we expanded the functionality to include lead generation. Now, the widget is integrated with our client’s API and database, requiring users to provide some information (such as phone, email, etc.). This data is stored in the database. After receiving the information, we send two emails: one to the user with all the data about the required property and another to the real estate agent, notifying them of the new lead.

We also created an admin panel for real estate agents, where they can view and export information about their leads. 

Advertisement
Advertisement

Real estate agents can use the admin panel to set up banners on our client’s website. We expanded the number of ad placements and added an analytics tool to track the results (clicks and impressions). 

Notification tool
Notification tool

Our client previously had a solution for sending email notifications to their users (60,000+ user base), allowing them to subscribe to specific locations, regions, or addresses and receive updates about new listings or price changes. However, this solution was unstable and lacked monitoring options.

We completely rewrote the tool from scratch, expanding its capabilities to handle more emails and redesigning it to include additional information in each notification. We also reduced the time required to send email newsletters from 36 to 1-2 hours. Additionally, we integrated an analytics tool that provides comprehensive data about emails.

Private listing tool
Private listing tool

It’s a paid service that addresses the challenges of real estate licensing in Canada. To sell a house, a seller or real estate agent must obtain a license in each province where they wish to operate, leading to extensive bureaucratic work and significant expenses.

Our product team developed a solution to streamline this process. For a small fee, users can submit information and photos of the property they want to sell. The service handles all bureaucratic details, including licenses, and helps to list properties across Canada without unnecessary red tape or human intervention.

CMA report
CMA report

We created a form where users can request a paid extended report on a specific property they are interested in. The report is prepared in a specialized format and includes historical records and extended details (such as price changes). After the payment, the user receives the report by email. 

Data import and sync workflow
Data import and sync workflow

Our client aims to provide users with extended reports about properties across Canada. Previously, they used only one service, CREA, but the information wasn’t always complete.

We needed to receive data from the provinces and territories of Canada where the properties are registered. Each province uses a separate API (often obsolete), so direct integration would be challenging, as we would need to create a custom solution for each API from scratch. After research, we decided to integrate a third-party solution that is already integrated with all the required APIs. This allowed us to save the customer’s money and simplify future maintenance and support.

Now, the client’s website contains more information about listings, including historical data about properties. We added more web pages and rewrote our API to handle new extended data. 

Data aggregation solution
Data aggregation solution

We created a data aggregation solution and developed an effective GraphQL API for querying, including geo-searching.

Agile Scrum approach
Agile Scrum approach

We improved communication between development and product teams and set up transparent delivery processes. 

Website redesign
Website redesign

We redesigned some website pages/sections and created new pages that significantly improved UX. 

Improved map search
Improved map search

We extended the existing map search, structured and clustered the information, and added new filters. Now, our maps show real estate for sale, rent, sold properties, and more. 

Results

 

  • Designed and implemented a data import and sync workflow for real estate listings across Canada 
  • Implemented lead generation tool for real estate agents as an embeddable widget for third-party websites
  • Implemented a new extended version of paid public API services for B2B clients
  • Added an ability to list own properties on MLS® System / REALTOR.ca for B2C clients
  • Developed an effective GraphQL API for querying, including geo-searching
  • Redesigned and implemented a new version of the email reports/notifications send-out processes
  • Reduced the time required to send email newsletters to a user base of 60k+ from 36 to 1-2 hours
  • Implemented email monitoring and analyzing tools
  • 10+ times faster overall website workflow due to reduced system and database load, as well as global system optimization
  • Greatly improved stability and observability of the whole system
  • Significantly expanded administrative dashboard functional for the back-office, which allows users to manage statistics, mailing, ads services, and more.