Reimagining how agents access real estate data to power a $1.6M redesign proposal
Project Overview
Validating assumptions, surfacing new opportunities, and securing buy-in
Realist is a nationwide property data platform under Cotality used by over 900,000 real estate agents, yet its navigation and key workflows have not evolved alongside agent needs.
During this project, I worked with a cross-functional team to rethink how agents access and use Realist, without prematurely jumping to UI solutions.
Through multi-method research, we validated and challenged stakeholder assumptions, uncovering opportunities to help agents surface critical insights faster and share them more effectively with their clients.
These insights informed new product concepts that clarified Realist’s value, revealed premium feature potential, and helped align teams around a shared vision, ultimately strengthening a $1.6M redesign proposal.
Duration
6 Months (Mar– Sep 2025)
Responsibilities
User interviews, sketching, design systems, wireframing, prototyping, interaction design, concept testing, product management
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Asana, Zoom
Collaborators
Kylie N., Jamie F., Jenny D., Eurie O.
Context
Cotality’s two main assumptions gave us a starting point, but we needed research to confirm or challenge them.
At the beginning of this project, our team was told to:
Promote premium reports
Reimagine how these features are positioned and presented to make their value clear and compelling
Modernize the experience
Agents struggle with simple tasks on Realist, so Cotality is looking for a overhaul to stay competitive
900k Agents are outgrowing their platform - Realist faces rising threats in an oversaturated market
While Realist has been a leader in property tech for over 20 years, generating $21M annually, the landscape is rapidly shifting. Newer competitors and platforms are entering with more streamlined workflows and modern client communication tools, widening the gap between what agents need and what Realist currently delivers.
The problem
Triangulating research methods to discover current usability challenges
When it was time to talk to our primary user group, we hit an unexpected roadblock: our primary recruitment contact had a sudden departure from Cotality. We pivoted to combine methods such as literature reviews, data analytics, and shorter incentivized interviews (contextual and usability tests) to re-engage agents. Three main insights revealed recurring usability issues and a deeper systemic design challenge.
Balancing Priorities
Business goals versus user goals - but what do they have in common?
A key in-depth workshop with our partner revealed how our user research not just intersects, but also challenges Cotality's business priorities. This provided a deeper foundation for prioritizing design changes and aligning solutions with both user needs and business goals.
proposed solution
A three pronged approach: Blue Sky Thinking to Quick Wins
I contributed to a priority matrix exercise that aligned business and user goals, helping us focus on the highest-impact opportunities. From this, I identified 10 quick wins, 2 major initiatives, and 1 blue-sky concept. While all informed our recommendations, this case study highlights the Visual Report Builder (major initiative) and Red Flag Notifications (blue sky), as they best demonstrate the balance between practical impact and forward-looking vision.
Quick Wins
8 small, but impactful UI changes e.g. replacing misleading icons centralizing dashboard search
Workflow Changes
Visual report builder for customizable exports
Top and side navigation to maximize space for data
Blue Sky Idea
Summarize critical information about a property
Promote premium reports and describe of their value
Concept testing Early ideas
Validating before building revealed how agent feedback reshaped and redirected our design strategy
I led the design of the Property Details page, including a sidebar navigation redesign to improve clarity and scalability across agent workflows. Alongside this, I worked across both the AI-powered Red Flags concept and the Custom Report Builder, helping shape each to better align with real agent needs. To validate these ideas, I conducted six concept-testing interviews with Realist agents, serving as both interviewer and note-taker, and synthesized insights that informed design direction across all three features.
Property Details Navigation
Agents consistently favored Version B, with targeted elements from Version A (icons and Premium report separation) integrated to strengthen the final solution.
Visual Report Builder
The concept of the visual builder generated strong interest, as long as the interface remained intuitive and streamlined, however, testing revealed usability gaps that needed to be addressed before moving forward.
AI Highlights
The concept of the AI summary was a huge win with every participant feeling they would use this, however there were concerns around data transparency and discomfort around generating definitive conclusions for data calculations.
Final iTERATIONS
Property Details Navigation
By introducing a grouped, accordion-style sidebar, the redesigned navigation eliminates horizontal scrolling and transforms an overwhelming list into a scalable, well-organized system. Users can quickly open and close sections, improving discoverability and reducing mental effort when locating reports.
Visual Report Builder
The report builder enables agents to create personalized, client-centric reports by selectively including the most relevant information. Its intuitive design and flexible customization make it easy to integrate seamlessly into daily workflows, with branding and setup features that position it as a go-to tool for presentations.
AI Highlights
As a new feature that we propose, AI Highlights would surface critical property data and red flags upfront, enabling agents to quickly scan for potential issues while naturally suggesting relevant premium reports. Built to fit existing workflows, the feature uses AI as a practical tool to improve speed and accuracy without reinterpreting trusted data.
LIMITATIONS AND OUTCOMES
Despite multiple constraints, their insights still reveal meaningful future opportunities.
Some of the challenges we encountered through this project included:
1) Recruitment Constraints
Agents were difficult to recruit due to their limited availability, resulting in shorter qual tests and fewer test participants than planned.
2) Scrapping Quantitative Testing
Low participation and recruitment challenges led our team to forgo quantitative testing and focus on qualitative methods.
3) Survey Abandonment
Our initial survey, planned to kickstart research, launched later than expected, requiring the team to pivot and begin research at a broader scale using alternative methods
4) Departure of Team Members
Early into the project, a key player in Cotality’s team left the project.
Later on in the project, we also lost another team member on the UCI side.
Overall, our work translated research and design into impact at three levels
At the revenue level, we introduced new opportunities with the Insights Lens feature through a tiered access model. At the adoption level, we demonstrated strong user satisfaction and validation. At the strategic level, we built partnerships with stakeholders and Realist, strengthening the funding proposal and CEO-level presentations.
