The value proposition rests on owners publishing their home to the Lynn user community for feedback on its potential value to the market, but an immature user experience and lack of engagement incentives erodes the value prop.
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Lynn is an off-market property sales solution.
Platforms: iOS, Android
Ideal for: Consumers and agents
Top selling points:
• Direct market feedback
• Interest lists
• Consumer-focus
• In-app communication tools
Top concern(s):
The app comes across as passive in nature, a slow burn with good intent. I like the idea of getting to know what the market thinks of a home, but the app should do more to drive the interaction. I hate the term gamify, but more of it is needed here, as well as an emphasis on UI/UX, especially for a consumer-facing effort.
What you should know
Lynn is a mobile application primarily for consumers, with some agent benefits built in, mainly around lead gen.
The value proposition rests on owners publishing their homes to the Lynn user community for feedback on its potential value to the market. They can solicit feedback from the Lynn community on house color, landscaping, kitchen layout or whether or not the deck needs replacing, all under the auspices of maybe selling it.
The process starts with claiming your home once the app is installed, but I was unclear on the current verification process. For now, plans are in the works post-launch to use license photos and GPS photo verification.
Buyers use Lynn to make lists highlighting liked homes in the area, and sellers can use the list function to keep track of those who expressed interest in their homes.
An Attom data integration helps with an estimated value determination, though the seller can merely adjust that as they see fit, a sort of “make me move” function.
There’s a direct communication path between potential sellers and buyers, which I like a lot. There is zero reason these parties can’t be in direct talks with one another, even during an actual deal. And that is a potential issue in terms of the current way of doing things.
In short, listing agents may not be psyched to pick up a client who has already, in some ways, supplied the market with data about moving, especially “the why.”
There is an entire cottage industry in the space about seizing on life milestones for the benefit of a better deal, like deaths and divorces. Oh, and degrees, meaning a child may be leaving the house after high school or college or whatever. I’ve never liked this lead-gen tactic and find it pretty terrible. Lynn is not encouraging this — I’m just ranting.
An owner who uses the “announce home” feature means they’re more likely than another to sell soon and are actively seeking feedback. A visual icon system on Lynn’s map search indicates such intent and notifies viewers of new content on a home, the number of interested buyers and other such app activity.
In its current state, the icon notification system is a bit clunky. The alerts pile up around a home pin, making it visually cumbersome and requiring the user to remember what color means what. A simple universal notification will suffice because the user will act on it anyway. It’ll be cleaner and more modern.
On that note, the UI does need work. But, I give new apps leeway here, as functionality and sales should trump front-end design at first. Tweaks are needed, though, as the app feels overly social media-inspired. Dated confetti bursts and a somewhat uninspired experience didn’t engage me in our demo. I’d look to fintech apps for influence and aim for a more uniform content delivery.
Agents are pulled into Lynn based on their contact count and, thus, the potential to reach more consumers. It’s a scaling tactic, which I understand, but it means a person who doesn’t manage their CRM well might have an advantage to being recommended when the app asks them about representation. Rest assured that the size of a database does not equate to quality. Most agent databases are, maybe, 10 percent up-to-date.
The Lynn team would be smart to reach out to Revaluate to re-sell database cleansing prior to sign-up.
There’s certainly a Nextdoor vibe to Lynn, but at least this app invites the Karens to comment on the look of your azaleas this season. It could benefit by giving its homeowners access to relevant market data based on their location. A partnership with RealReports, which Lynn could upsell, would be a nice touch for sellers wanting to know more about how their home and for buyers, too.
I don’t at all question Lynn’s intent to put the pre-marketing phase of a sale on the seller, which is where I think this app is going to go if Percy.ai and DropOffer are any indication of what’s possible in this niche. Revive is a close competitor, too, minus the social outreach functionality.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
