What do you think about this property app?

Hi, hey, hello!

I'm Sam and I'm new to this forum. I've been working on a little project over the last couple of days to create an app that will help people who are looking to buy a house for the first time (or again).

I hope to address the problem around how fragmented and unpersonalised it is to find the right information, property and products/services needed through using artificial intelligence.

You can check out the demo here for a better idea: https://goo.gl/pu40Zn

The app breaks down the process into 4 stages and guides you through each stage using messenger-based interactions to empower you to make informed decisions.


If you've made it this far, I would love to receive some feedback on the app concept before I continue building a product that nobody will use

Thanks so much for your time and helping me out!

Cheers,
Samantha

 

Hi again, just a quick reply on whether you will use an app like this would be enough

 

General information and checklists are really useful. A step by step process of what needs to be done at each stage and who people need to get advice from. Don't try to give them that advice directly.

Consider the following scenario:
* Purchaser uses the app to figure out borrowing capacity and gets a recommendation for a product. They ignore the section about mortgage brokers because the app just sorted all that out for them.
* They attend an auction, bid up to the limit the app tells them and purchase the house. They pay the10% deposit.
* They visit the branch of the lender the app recommended. The lender looks at their financial and tells them they're not eligible for a loan.
* They can't purchase the property and loose their 10% deposit. In this case it's $60,000 which they've spent 3 years saving.

Their next move is to take legal action against those who gave them advice on all this, which is the app developer.


Lending and credit advice is regulated by ASIC and a credit license is required. Trying to give specific information such as borrowing amounts and recommending lenders and products without a license will leave you in serious legal trouble.

Artificial intelligence isn't up to scratch on this either. Working out borrowing capacity isn't as simple as plugging a few numbers into an app. Unfortunately the software used by mortgage brokers isn't keeping up with all the changes we've been seeing over the past 18 months and isn't accurate. I've reviewed 6 different packages over the last few months, none of them work properly when working out borrowing capacity. A mobile app isn't going to solve this complex problem. Even if it could, people won't give it accurate information.

I do have some ideas on an app which helps people when trying to find the right property. I've never had the time to put it together. I'd be happy to discuss it with you if you're interested.

 

I dont think this forum will have your target market.

 

Perhaps not, but there would be lots of knowledge and advice on here about what not to put on the app and what to put on the app.

The checklist is a great idea.

 

Hasn't this kinda stuff been done before? not sure, but I'd think so.
I am not sure I see unique value propositions for this.

 

Nothing a few well written disclaimers can't fix

If someone attends an auction and bids up to the limit an app tells them, they deserve what's coming to them

I think it's a good idea - the challenge is going to be in the implementation. I don't think AI is up to the standard necessary but within a decade or two we would start to see brokers and real estate agents (which are another type of broker really) automated away. Human analysis is required because of the myriad of unique requirements by each lender, and there's also always a degree of wiggling around with white lies and half truths and whatnot to get things over the line with many mortgage applications (at least in my personal experience) - AI can't do that. Also the way things are set up currently - all banks have broker teams and the better brokers are chummy with the right BDMs and decision makers at banks and their social capital gets marginal applications over the line, similar to the previous point. Current system too entrenched. Will expect change next decade or two and something powered by AI can automate this entire function away. Not today.

 

You can't give financial advice without the correct qualifications.
And giving advice on the buying process would require considerable legal knowledge of contract law as different states have different laws.

Do you have the qualifications necessary?

Sure you can direct people to websites, but so can google.
Marg

 

A disclaimer isn't going to cover you on this sort of thing. The app wants to give credit, financial and legal advice and it's fairly clear at this stage that it's unqualified.

Just looking at the sample I can immediately see two immediate mistakes that would leave the app developer with a certain amount of exposure if launched. There's factually incorrect credit information in the sample and legal information which is inappropriate about 70% of the time.

Even simply referring someone to a broker or a bank can require formal agreements and a lot of care in how that introduction is made.

 

Thanks Peter for your reply, you've raised very valid points. I'll make sure I make it clear that the app provides only guidance and not financial advice. I see a lot of website with disclaimers around this which should be okay (but I will get proper legal advice myself).

As for having reviewed 6 different packages over the last few months where none of them work properly when working out borrowing capacity. I believe these applications have been in production for a very long time (talking years) and haven't been developed on since then. You'd be amazed at how rapidly technology is changing and what can be achieved today, however financial services are slow to adopt to these changes which creates the idea that things are too complex to achieve.

 

@Samantha W in additional to being a mortgage broker, I have a degree in software engineering from RMIT and spent 10 years developing software across three different countries. I admit I'm a bit out of touch with current platforms, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone with a better domain knowledge and serious hands on software development experience.

With 3 of those 6 applications, I've had fact to face meetings in the last few months with the software developers themselves. They're actively working on the problem and they acknowledged that they are having trouble keeping up with accurately assessing borrowing capacity. The sort of packages we're talking about are constantly being developed and I get weekly updates on some of them. Some of these packages have been evolving for a decade but they are still being developed and upgraded very, very actively.

I believe the main reason why software borrowing capacity calculators are inaccurate is because the banks themselves are not releasing the required information to ensure the required accuracy. I have a very serious vested interest in accurate software. If it were that simple, I would have written it myself.

 

@Peter_Tersteeg Thanks for the insight, that is very valuable information.

 

The problem of borrowing capacity, finance strategy and product recommendation isn't one that can be solved by a database or an AI. An AI is too ridged in it's approach and will hit roadblocks around compliance. It can't see past the compliance problem to get into the nuances of the decisions and problem solving required. A database is far to simplistic. Overlaying all this is the problem that the lenders won't actually give you the information to make an accurate assessment.

Focus on the purchasing process and property selection part of the transaction. It's a reasonably well defined process. There's plenty of apps out there that have various check-lists but they're really just simple check-lists and there's a lot more that could be done using simple metrics and comparative analysis. It's a problem that can realistically be tackled and has minimum legal exposure. It probably also has higher demand.

 

Sorry...no. I understand the theory..but no one has done this well, yet. No one. Even the custom servicing calcs given to brokers arent precisely what the banks own credit people use. And there is simply no way to know in advance of an application being lodegd, what any lenders credit scoring algorythms will or wont like or dislike.

This is why pre approvals are useless.... just quietly.

banks cant even agree on one application form that can be used for all products and all lenders .... companies have been trying to get straight through processing to fly for a decade but more paperwork than ever is required these days...

The rest of what you are proposing with the app is excellent - but as peter has said, offering credit advice is not going work... better that it refers clients to a broker who pays you a fee to be on a short list of brokers for a postcode . This way you can generate income as a mortgage lead generator.

 

Just make sure you cover off the compliance component of this. There is legislation in place that governs how referrals can be given, especially if you get paid for it.

 

Maybe cut out 1-3-4 as everybody is focussed on the outcome and not the process,.

 

To be honest in my age range down too someone in their 20,s the scale who be vastly different parameters but just 3 platforms ..Price Size Location
would cover most then just break each down again and again..

 

I respectfully disagree - the state of the art of AI today is already better than some of the smartest humans at the job they trained to do - e.g. IBM's watson can read and digest 1000s of medical journals and diagnose at higher accuracy than most doctors. Digesting matters of compliance would be a lighter weight task compared to that I would reckon. Compliance and law is more clearcut than medical knowledge and if AI can digest medical knowledge (not merely index key words but semantically understand the content), legal work would be trivial. Of course that's current state of the art, but it's a glimpse of what's to come mainstream wise next decade.

 

@Samantha W I've got a project that I'd like your help on if you have the right skillset for it. PM me and we can talk further if you are interested. This project has global potential with minimal effort.

Cheers