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DwellWell — We make the home buying process seamless
Buying a home is a long, complicated process that hasn’t changed in decades. DwellWell provides homebuyers with a guided online experience that features education, decision-making tools, and connections to helpful experts, empowering buyers at every step.
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Stephen Campbell
literally came on here to say A+ name. Very nice.
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@nj_diver We're a web app for now (native apps coming next year!). You can find us on https://dwellwell.com
This is great to see live! The home buying process is such mystery with tons of unknowns that get thrown at you when you least expect it. I wish this was around when I bought my home.
How has the pandemic changed your strategy?
@adam_barton Thanks for the question! We will always be here when you are going to make your second home purchase :)
The pandemic has massively changed homebuying dynamics. Remote work has untethered people from the office, allowing them to look into buying a home in neighborhoods that were previously out of reach.These moves often come with a great amount of confusion since the homebuyer is less familiar with the area. The pandemic has also made the competition for homes much more fierce as people look to upsize given WFH. The most prepared and confident homebuyer wins in this market. We think that both of these changes are well-suited to what we are building at DwellWell.
@mdcanzoneri @mike_demko Thanks Mike! Looking into this now -- seems to only be happening for some users!
@coachryanfitnes Thanks so much, and we couldn’t agree more. Any purchasing process where there is a power imbalance is rife for disruption (especially a purchase costing hundreds of thousands of dollars).
Congrats on the launch y’all!! Super great. I’d love to hear more about how you’re tackling the neighborhood problem.
What data do you use to help people make decisions around that? It’s been a big part of something I’ve thought about as a remote tech worker and I think it’s super interesting to help folks narrow down!
@chris_dary Thanks for the question!
The first step is to understand what the homebuyer wants - what locations do they need to be close to (family, friends, great schools, work, airport, etc), what vibe are they looking for (spritely downtown vs. family-friendly suburb), the type and characteristics of their dream property, and whether they have any areas in mind. We will then surface neighborhoods that fit their criteria and show them pictures of what their budget can get them in each of these areas.
In the long-term, we would love to be able to make this even more intelligent by recommending neighborhoods based on where people similar to you have decided to buy.
As a soon to be first-time home buyer, I am loving this. How are you all choosing the vendors (agents, etc) that are on the platform?
@evan_vandenberg3 Thanks Evan! Our primary vendors right now are agents. We’ve talked to a ton of people who’ve ended up using their Mom’s neighbor’s kid as their agent, without regard for that person’s expertise or experience level. I’ve spoken to one home buyer who bought a house in Napa using an agent who primarily worked in Oakland (cities over an hour away from one another), which seems crazy! With hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, why don’t people seek out their perfect match?
There are three quantitative qualities we screen for with our agents, to ensure we give you the best match:
1. Do they specialize in working with home buyers (rather than sellers)? This matters a lot -- working with buyers is an entirely different ballgame than representing the sell side of the process. We need agents who like hustling, working with people, and understand the emotional aspect of home buying.
2. Are they specialists in the neighborhoods we need them to be familiar with? Typically it’s best to work with someone who has years of experience in the specific areas you’re looking in. They’ll be much more familiar with local trends, and will be able to give hyper-local recommendations.
3. Do they have enough experience? Unless you are well-versed in real estate yourself, it can be dangerous to work with a rookie. We don’t recommend it, especially for first-time homebuyers.
On the qualitative side, we also make sure that they use things like DocuSign, know how to text message, and are generally tech-savvy. We really don’t want people running around to fax machines (yes, people still use them!!!).
Upcoming we’ll be adding financing options, like pre-approvals and mortgages. We’re partnering with a company that specializes in scouring the web for the best mortgage rates based on your specific needs/scenario, to ensure you get the best financing without having to make a thousand phone calls across different banks.
As someone who has recently purchased a home (knowing nothing about the process) - I must say I would've LOVED to have had this tool to help me in the process
@glen_creaser Thanks for the positive comment, Glen. Totally agree! When I first heard about DwellWell, I felt jealous. Where was this when I was buying a house? And where was it when friends asked me for advice? A solution seems long overdue and we’re so proud to be working on it.
🤠 Howdy Product Hunt
I’m Matt Canzoneri, Cofounder & CEO of DwellWell. After months of building, we’re stoked to get our product into the hands of the Product Hunt community!
🏡 DwellWell is a step-by-step home buying web app that walks you through every step of the buying process - providing education, decision-making tools, and recommendations along the way.
The initial inspiration for DwellWell was hyper-specific and personal. My wife and I started looking into buying a house, but we couldn’t agree on neighborhoods. We were stuck at step 1. This set off the proverbial lightbulb - triangulating ideal neighborhoods based on personal preferences, price range, and distance to specific locations is a problem well suited to technology.
💡 Cool idea, but not a business... yet. The full scope of the problem showed itself when we transitioned from “daydreaming on Zillow” to “ready to take action.” I am a serial researcher when making any purchase, so why should my largest purchase ever be any different?
I set out to learn as much as I could before getting started. It was not a fruitful endeavor. The content I found online was scattered, biased, overly general, or required you to give up your personal information to access it (cue incessant calls from agents and banks).
As a typical millennial, I thought that this process was less than stellar. The internet had taught me to:
- Research purchases before engaging a salesperson
- Leverage crowd-sourced opinions
- Expect a personalized purchase experience, including recommendations
Homebuying went against all of the buying behaviors that have become second nature to me. It is a process reliant on the advice of the vendors you choose to work with - makes choosing your grandma’s friend’s son as your agent an awfully risky choice.
So we set out to create a seamless, end-to-end homebuying process that puts the power in the hands of the homebuyer (after all, you’re the only one parting with money in this transaction). We like to think of DwellWell as TurboTax for homebuying (with significantly more personality).
👋 The team and I will be around all day, so please post your comments, questions, and feedback. Your insights will be crucial in our ability to create the homebuying experience you expect and deserve!
Congratulations to the DwellWell team - as an individual who just went through the home buying process, I can tell you first hand it is not easy; and I am a seasoned real estate professional! Looking forward to seeing this group change the game and help people acquire their dream assets.
Hey @andrewsinasohn - Thanks for the response and review! It’s insane how complex and confusing the process is, even for a real estate expert. Would love to connect to hear more about your experience and how you think we can improve the process.
