I've been living in London for the past few years, and searching all over the UK before that. London was particularly hard. You move every couple of years, new flatmates each time, later moving in with my partner, Steph. Honestly, it never got better. It went from sending each other links on WhatsApp to, if you're organised, keeping a spreadsheet. It never got easier.
If you're too late to look at the property, it's gone. It isn't available any more.
You book a viewing, if you can get a viewing. And before you even try, if you're too late to look at the property, it's gone. It isn't available any more. If you finally do get a viewing, it's a rat race of who puts in the offer first.
I found myself in a position where I really wanted a new place. There were loads of nice places coming up and I'd just get overwhelmed. I'd lose track of what I'd looked at. I'd send one over and get back, "We've seen that one. It's not good, for this reason." It becomes a mess. I'd burn out and either find somewhere I didn't love, or give up and stay in the place I also didn't love.
Really, I was like: well, I have to do something about this. I'm a software engineer. I can do something better than this. I felt like I could solve the problems I was having. That's where it first started.
The first iteration was basic, but it proved the point: a Telegram bot that messaged me when a new property came up. I could reply to it, get it to look in different areas. I'd say "I'm interested in Hackney now," and it would do that. I shared it with some colleagues and they said, "Wow, this is fantastic. This must be a thing."
As I kept working on it, I realised Telegram wouldn't work for letting other people use it. It was fun for me and it had proved the point, but I wanted to build something everyone would love. So I asked myself the real question: what's actually wrong with Rightmove, Zoopla, all of these? What's wrong with these apps?
For me it was the experience of using them. They didn't treat you as a person looking for a home. They treated it as: this is my directory of houses. Good luck.
We know you're looking for a place to live. This is about you finding a place, rather than us advertising properties.
That's the ethos of Roost. We know that you're looking for a place to live, and actually this is about you finding a place rather than us advertising properties. The model is directed by that. You're the people we care about.
I've been using it for the past few months to help me look, to improve the product, to make it better. It's been a labour of love, and I'm really excited to get it out into the world.
I really hope you'll find your next home on Roost.