Current Problems:
- Different properties are currently scattered across hundreds of different letting agents, landlords and student websites therefore it is difficult to find the best possible housing for your budget, making students panic and choose one too early or put it off and choose one too late, leaving them with the leftovers.
- Layouts of these websites are sometimes confusing and can be a chore to navigate.
- Browsing these websites on a smart phone is tedious and nearly impossible.
- Filters are hard to select.
- Specific filters like open plan kitchen/living room or ensuites are impossible to search.
- Options like 'within a 1/2 mile radius from the University' or 'close to a supermarket' are impossible to select
- Some properties don't have enough images with them
- Can't see from these websites whether the letting agents / landlords are helpful or reliable.
- Can't choose specific Streets to live on
- Lots of these websites look dated.
- Can't favourite your searches or find related properties.
- Won't know if a house matching your search criteria comes available without physically having to search for it every day.
- Can't favourite your searches or keep them all in one place to compare housing.
Service Features:
- Every property from every letting agent available to view from one simple platform.
- Filters easy to adjust to find a house that is within budget and easy to navigate.
- App that lets you take a picture of a house you like the look of, view the price, number of bedrooms and some images of the inside.
- Reviews from previous tenants available on the website, letting you know how fast landlords were at resolving problems.
- Section which allows you to find house shares, Erasmus Students able to find temporary replacements.
- Option to tag and add your housemates on the app
- Notifications for when your 'dream house' becomes available.
- Advanced search criteria allows you to see every student house in Leeds and whether it will be available in the next year.
- Favourites option to save houses you like.
- Allows you to see how many views a house has had.
- Every house that is a student house in Leeds would be on the website with availability status next to it.
What platform?
- When surveyed most students preferred house hunting on their laptop rather than their phone allowing them to view larger images of each house. However this is because the current websites are tedious to browse on a phone.
- An clear and easy app that makes house hunting in your spare moments such as the bus ride home much more accessable.
- An add on feature to existing websites such as Rightmove.
The service would need to be modern, uncluttered and easy to use.
The target market is primarily students aged between 18 - 25, moving out of university halls and going into their second, third, fourth years of university etc. with friends, on their own or trying to find a room to house share etc.
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