SOHO Realty & Mortgage website and lead funnels
SOHO is a real estate and mortgage company in Atlanta and Houston that works mostly with women buying and selling homes. I designed the new website in six weeks, through developer handoff.
weeks from first meeting to developer handoff
competitors analyzed across Houston, Atlanta and national platforms
conversion funnels: learn, assess, book a call
steps in the homebuying readiness assessment
TL;DR
- Problem
- The business grew through referrals. Its website, on a template CMS, read like a magazine, had no clear path for a visitor to become a lead and didn't show the founder.
- What I did
- Discovery and competitor research, user stories, three funnels (learn, assess, book a call), a sitemap organized around them, high-fidelity pages, a five-step assessment, a design system and handoff files.
- Outcome
- A documented design ready to build on the client's CMS, with reusable components the team can update without a designer.
1. First meeting
The founder, Sharlene Mercier, is a broker and mortgage strategist. Her team handles both the home purchase and the mortgage, from pre-approval to closing. Most clients are women, including single mothers, veterans, entrepreneurs and women going through a divorce or a relocation.
The business had grown through referrals. Now she wanted to build a personal brand and get leads online, and later recruit agents. In the first meeting I wrote down her client profile and goals, the state of the current site, the project requirements, her ideas for content and messaging, and how she would judge success.
The existing site was built on AgentFire, a real estate CMS with limited customization. Its problems:
- It read like a magazine. Nice to browse, with no sales funnel and no message for a specific audience.
- It didn't show the founder. The hero was a stock photo of a house at sunset.
- Every change needed a designer. She wanted reusable components and a design system so she could update the site herself.
2. Six-week plan
I turned the requirements into a roadmap with deliverables for each week, and the client reviewed the work at every milestone.
| Phase | Dates | Deliverables |
|---|---|---|
| Research & discovery | May 27 – 30 | Audience and niches, SEO audit, keywords, project plan |
| User stories & UX flows | June 2 – 6 | User stories, sitemap, user flows, low-fidelity wireframes |
| UI design, part 1 | June 9 – 13 | High-fidelity homepage and funnels, design system started |
| UI design, part 2 | June 16 – 20 | Complete UI and interactive prototype |
| Final UI & content | June 23 – 27 | Polished UI, final design system, content and SEO guidance |
| Support & QA | June 30 – July 4 | Quality assurance and final handoff |
3. Competitors
I analyzed nine competitors in three tiers. Several already sell buying and financing together, so the service model alone wouldn't set SOHO apart. A Houston brokerage is called OneRoof Realty, and Rocket and Redfin are combining the largest online brokerage with the largest mortgage lender.
| Tier | Competitors | Why they matter |
|---|---|---|
| Local · Houston | OneRoof Realty, VNA Realty & Mortgage, Energy Realty | Same "one roof" pitch, bilingual low-down-payment programs, and a women-led brand with a very similar tone |
| Local · Atlanta | Quiana Watson Realty Co., Glennda Baker & Associates, CENTURY 21 Realty 1 Professionals | Women-owned brands with large social audiences that turn education into leads |
| National platforms | Rocket + Redfin, Flyhomes, Better.com | Set the expectation of a fast path from search to closing |
Positioning
The local competitors do well with a recognizable person and useful education, and the national platforms compete on speed. We positioned SOHO around the founder, with guidance for specific situations like a first purchase, a divorce or a relocation.
4. User stories
I wrote six user stories, each based on a reason someone would visit the site.
- As a woman interested in buying a home, I want a quick assessment, so I know if I'm ready and get personal guidance.
- As a woman who prefers to learn before acting, I want a free guide or articles, so I feel confident before reaching out.
- As a single mom, veteran or entrepreneur, I want stories of women like me who became homeowners, so I can trust SOHO can help me too.
- As someone exploring financing, I want to compare mortgage and refinance options, so I know if I qualify.
- As someone ready to act, I want to book a call directly from the site, so I can move forward quickly.
- As a mission-driven agent, I want to learn how to join the team, so my career supports women like me.
Each story became a row in a story map with the activity, its steps and the details of each interaction, from the entry point to the confirmation email.
5. Three funnels
The stories pointed to three ways a visitor becomes a client. Every page has a role in at least one of them.
| Funnel | Where it lives | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Learn & nurture | Resources (blog, guides), homepage lead magnet | Free downloads and email signup grow the lead list and lead to funnel 2 or 3 |
| 2. Assess & qualify | Homepage, Buy and Finance ("Take the Assessment") | A short quiz captures readiness and contact details and sends qualified leads to a call |
| 3. Convert & call | "Book a Call" in the main navigation, Book a Call page | A scheduler and a short pre-call form lead to a sales conversation |
6. Sitemap
I defined every page section by section and wrote down why each section was there and in what order. Three decisions shaped the structure.
No property search on the homepage
A search bar on the homepage invites casual browsing and unqualified traffic, and it competes with the calls to action. The homepage explains what SOHO does and asks for one action: take the assessment, download the guide or book a call. Property search lives on the Buy page.
Book a Call as the main button
A "Contact" link tends to bring generic inquiries. "Book a Call" tells visitors to expect a scheduled conversation, which is what the business needs most. It became the primary button in the navigation.
Resources section
Articles, downloadable guides and calculators sit together under Resources, which helps with SEO and email nurturing. Categories follow the audience's situations, such as first-time buyer, financing basics and veteran homeownership.
7. Wireframes and final design
Low-fidelity wireframes let the client approve structure and content before visuals. The main changes in high fidelity:
- The founder in the hero. Her photo replaced the stock house, with the message "Empower Your Future with Confidence and Clarity."
- Diverse women in the photos. The brief asked for inclusive imagery without making ethnicity the message, and a tone that is strong, clear and relatable.
- Two first steps side by side. "Get Clarity Before You Commit" offers the assessment to people still deciding and prequalification to people ready to see numbers.
8. Readiness assessment
The assessment is the core of funnel 2. It opens in a modal from any page and asks one question at a time: what brings you here, what type of property, budget and timeline, contact details, and finally a 15-minute discovery call booked without leaving the page.
Contact details in step four
Name and email come in step four, after three easy questions about what she needs. Those answers also give the founder context before the call.
9. Buy, Sell and Finance
Buy has the property search (IDX listings), the homebuying process in four steps and the buyer's guide. Sell explains the process (valuation, prep, list, close) and offers a free home valuation. Finance compares loan programs (FHA, VA, conventional, first-time buyer) in plain language and answers common mortgage questions. Each page ends in one of the funnels.
10. Design system
The client wanted to update the site without a designer, so I built a design system in Figma alongside the pages. It has 55 variables, seven text styles, and components such as navigation, buttons, listing cards, information boxes, a lead-magnet block and the newsletter section. I also prepared a page of developer handoff files for the build on her CMS.
The design is live at sohorealtyandmortgage.com. My work ended at handoff, so I don't have post-launch data.