Reali is a digital, mobile first, Real-estate app and service that provides buyer and sellers all of the tools necessary to complete an informed home-buying transaction by themselves. The seamless digital experience matches a curated search experience with a powerful and transparent buyer-focused purchasing process. Digitally schedule an open house, use your phone to unlock a house, and learn about properties with connected Bluetooth beacons placed throughout Reali homes. A live expert accessible within the app helps you navigate questions on your schedule, putting home buyers and sellers in control, not agents.

Designed for the HGTV generation, our challenge with Reali was to bring transparency and efficiency to an industry long ruled by "expert" agents who perpetuate their industry through opaque transactions and arbitrary valuations. Reali would be a new way forward for a stodgy industry - a mobile first, digital and on-demand service and app.

Researching the industry and the new wave of homebuyer Reali targets, we found an extreme disconnect between the 'old' way of doing thing and what a digital first generation expected. Designing the service, strategy, brand and experience from this backdrop, we were challenged to create an experience that matched the 'process knowledge' of an agent with the on-site presence needed to do simple things like open a home to tour.

Our tool would tactically need to create an engaging way to evaluate the value of the property, make an informed offer, and finalize the transaction for buyers. Beyond this, we needed to break the physical barrier and create a system for open houses and find a way to provide in-depth information for each room without an agent present.

Diving deep into the users, the service and brand experience we helped craft Reali. While digital real estate services (Zillow, Redfin, etc.) simply repackage MLS home data and provide tools to sort, save and share, Reali presents stock MLS data with an editorial experience that is optimized for the smartphone, making browsing homes a pleasurable experience.

Digitally, Reali provides control and cues into each property. Homes can be toured in person by scheduling a private open house right within the app. The Reali app will unlock the homes door and provide a tour of the home via Bluetooth beacons placed around the home. These beacons give sellers a simple way to provide additional information to buyers about their favorite rooms, features and details in their home. Beyond the home listing, Reali provides tools to buyers to come up with a fair offer for a home, place the offer, see competing offers, and finally close on the home. It is a one-stop home marketplace that keeps the buyer in control and looped-in throughout the home buying process.

Reali makes a dense, complicated process that traditionally encompasses multiple parties (buyer's agent, seller's agent, mortgage broker, escrow officer, etc.) and reams of paperwork easy enough to conduct on a smartphone. While extremely simple, the process is not trivialized, but guided by the Reali Expert to ensure that the buyer's best interests are always represented and the buyer has all the necessary data to make an informed decision.

The expert is there to answer questions, offer suggestions and give advice – all for free and on demand. Simply tap the expert to text back and forth with a live agent, or tap the phone icon to talk things over in person. The expert guarantees needs are met whether you are house hunting, selling, or just learning the ropes.

As the first mobile first real estate play, we took care to design Reali's app experience to be clean and modern, yet deeply powerful. Every aspect of the home buying experience can be handled via phone. You can filter, sort and find the right home in moments, then upload documents, get approved for a loan, adjust terms and even bid on homes. Each transaction for a Reali home is completely transparent: offers, counter offers, term sheet, etc. are all visible for buyers and sellers to see.

Beyond the vastly improved user experience of buying a home, because the service is largely digitized, tremendous savings can be realized. The Reali service returns 2.5% cash back to the buyer at closing. This savings could amount to well over $100,000 in savings for a San Francisco bay area home.

Reali is a transformative product and service for the real estate market, pulling the various middleman out of the equation to return power, information and control to the buyers and sellers.