VeloQuote
An AI-powered platform trained on industry expertise to automate data validation, financial processing, and compliance analysis for multifamily and healthcare real estate loans. Transforming days of manual work into accurate quotes delivered in hours.
ROLE
UX Design,
UX Research
DURATION
05.2025 - 10.2025
TEAMMATES
1 Project Lead
2 UX/UI Designers
CONTEXT
Two founders of an early-stage fintech startup approached our team to help modernize the multifamily loan origination process. In the U.S., multifamily refers to residential properties with five or more units financed through commercial real estate (CRE) loans for acquisitions, refinancing, and renovations. Despite being a multi-trillion-dollar market, loan origination in this space remains largely manual and document-driven, requiring lenders to collect and analyze large volumes of financial documents using fragmented and outdated systems.
THE PROBLEM
Multifamily loan origination today is a highly manual and document-driven process that depends on legacy technology and disconnected systems. Processing a single loan often takes 2 to 6 weeks, requiring lenders to spend significant time on repetitive data entry and document analysis. This results in high operational costs, increased risk of human error, and slower decision-making, ultimately limiting lenders’ ability to scale their pipelines and deliver timely outcomes for borrowers.
UNDERSTANDING PROBLEMS
USER INTERVIEWS
Uncovering pain points with 15+ industry professionals
To fully understand the multifamily loan origination landscape—including how the industry operates, how professionals evaluate deals, manage data, conduct analysis, and experience existing workflows—my team and I conducted in-depth user interviews with over 15 participants. These participants represented a range of roles within the multifamily industry, including underwriters, producers/originators, junior analysts, and borrowers. These interviews enabled us to map end-to-end user journeys, uncovering core pain points, workflow friction, and opportunities to streamline the deal evaluation process.
User Research
User Journeys
FINDINGS
Identifying what’s working, what’s broken, and where users struggle
🔎
Messy and Inconsistent Data Validation
Loan origination data arrives in inconsistent formats and is often incomplete, with missing borrower information or mislabeled documents. As a result, analysts spend significant time validating files and repeatedly following up with borrowers for clarification, creating delays and unnecessary back-and-forth before any meaningful analysis can begin.
🔎
Slow and Error-Prone Manual Data Processing
Once documents are collected, data must be manually entered into loan models through repetitive and time-intensive workflows. This process is not only slow but highly susceptible to transcription errors, leading to inaccurate financial analyses that can delay decisions or ultimately kill deals.
🔎
Complex and Risk-Heavy Compliance Analysis
Multifamily lending (particularly HUD-backed loans) requires specialized compliance knowledge and careful risk evaluation. Today, these checks are largely performed manually, making them slow, inconsistent, and prone to error. Even small mistakes can surface late in the process and waste months of work.
USER PERSONAS
Meet Peter, an originator at a top-three HUD lender
Through synthesis of the user research, a primary persona emerged: Peter. This persona helped establish a clear and shared understanding of our core user, enabling us to design with confidence and intention within a highly complex loan origination workflow. To ensure authenticity, Peter was grounded in real interview quotes from actual users, keeping the persona accurate, realistic, and closely tied to lived experiences.
Peter Potts
Originator
About:
Peter is an originator at a top-three HUD lender. He loses nearly 80% of potential deals because he spends most of his time on manual deal evaluation instead of building and growing his pipeline. Currently, there is no software that is both fast and accurate enough to effectively solve this problem.
“Our team closes between 15-25 deals a year, but we size (quote) about 150-200 deals... Each originator team has to bear its own P&L statement... it’s so competitive in the market.”
BRAINSTORMING & IDEATION
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Understanding the current digital landscape
To understand the existing digital landscape, we conducted a competitive analysis of current products addressing multifamily loan origination and adjacent workflows. This analysis allowed us to evaluate how well existing solutions support our users’ needs by examining core features, visual and interaction design approaches, and overall usability.
Competitor Analysis
LO-FIS
Iterating through early concepts with stakeholder feedback
After completing our research and synthesis, we moved into low-fidelity wireframing to begin translating insights into tangible solutions. This phase was highly iterative. We created multiple versions of the wireframes and regularly returned to stakeholders for feedback to validate our direction. In total, we went through approximately six rounds of iteration before arriving at a wireframe that aligned with stakeholder expectations and user needs.
To stay grounded in our research, we created a supporting diagram that mapped the three core user personas (producers/originators, borrowers, and underwriters) alongside the wireframes. This helped ensure that each design decision was made for the right user at the right stage of the workflow and prevented confusion that could arise from designing for multiple personas simultaneously.
Wireframes in Action
Wireframes
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
STYLE GUIDE
Building trust through brand and visual design
With the core structure of the product established, we shifted focus to defining VeloQuote’s brand identity and visual system. Working closely with stakeholders, we collaboratively explored the product name, logo, and overall style guide to ensure the brand aligned with both user expectations and industry standards.
To arrive at the product name, we identified keywords that reflected the platform’s core value proposition, including speed, smoothness, soft quotes, and accuracy. These qualities directly informed the name VeloQuote—with “Velo” representing velocity and efficiency, and “Quote” emphasizing the platform’s focus on delivering fast, reliable soft quotes within the multifamily loan origination process.
We leveraged AI-powered tools such as Canva, Wix, ChatGPT, Looka, and others to rapidly explore logo concepts. From this exploration, we selected a direction that resonated with stakeholders and refined the final logo in Adobe Illustrator.
Visually, we chose blue as the primary brand color to reinforce trust, security, and professionalism. Critical qualities in financial products where users must feel confident relying on accurate data to make high-stakes decisions.
Typography
Font - WEB
Inter
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
SENTENCE EXAMPLE
Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890
ALPHABET & NUMERICS
Desktop
SIZING
Headline 1
Semibold
Size: 36
Headline 2
Semibold
Size: 24
Headline 3
Semibold
Size: 20
Body Paragraph 1
Semibold
Size: 16
Body Paragraph 2
Medium
Size: 10
Button
Regular
Size: 10
Mobile
SIZING
Headline 1
Semibold
Size: 30
Headline 2
Semibold
Size: 24
Body Paragraph 1
Semibold
Size: 14
Body Paragraph 2
Medium
Size: 12
Color Palette
Landing Page
Blues
Shades
#FFDA00
#06B6FE
#0770C1
#283B51
#0052FF
#48A4FB
#9CA3AF
#D9D9D9
Components
Buttons
OS Specific
Form Fields
Input new entry label
Borrower
Rental Unit
Input new entry label:
Total New Entries: 72
In Progress
Completed
Back
Done
Upload Files
google.com
/veloquote-loan-evaluation-portal
VeloQuote Loan Portal
veloquote.questionnaire.com
Type your message here
Type your message here
MVPs
Bringing core features to life
With the style guide established and the low-fidelity wireframes validated by stakeholders, we moved into building the MVP. This phase combined visual direction with verified workflows to create high-fidelity screens focused on the product’s core functionality. We continued to iterate on the MVP through multiple rounds of refinement before presenting it to stakeholders for investor pitches.
As this MVP was designed specifically for investor presentation, the application may not appear fully complete. We intentionally focused on showcasing the most critical features and value propositions rather than building out the entire end-to-end experience.
google.com
/veloquote-loan-evaluation-portal
VeloQuote Loan Portal
ITEM
More
Refresh
Renamed Files
STATUS
VERSION NUMBER
LAST EDITED
UPLOAD DATE
Financial Statements
March 9, 2025
March 9, 2025
To Be Updated
To Be Updated
To Be Updated
To Be Updated
Property Data
Feb 3, 2025
Feb 3, 2025
Current Rent Roll.xlsx
Feb 2, 2025
version 1
Feb 2, 2025
Willow Oaks Apartments -
Loan Evaluation Documents
Chicago Business Building 78 Vela Shoals Suite
Export
Share
History
1
Search files...
Upload Files
March 9, 2025
T12 Operating Statement.xlsx
Budget.xlsx
version 1
March 9, 2025
Feb 5, 2025
version 1
Feb 5, 2025
Feb 4, 2025
Feb 4, 2025
version 1
Jan 30, 2025
Market & Rent Comp...
version 3
Jan 30, 2025
Completed
Completed
Completed
Jan 30, 2025
Market & Rent C...
Operating Statements...
version 2
Jan 30, 2025
Completed
Jan 30, 2025
Market & Rent C...
version 1
Jan 30, 2025
Completed
Pre-screening Checklist
Financial Statements
T12 Operating Statement
Property Data
Current Rent Roll
Market / Rent Comp Survey
Acquisition Docs
Purchase and Sale Agreement
Contracts & Loan Docs
HAP Section 8 Contract
Promissory Note
Budget
Operating Statements for the
previous 2 years
google.com
/veloquote-loan-evaluation-portal
VeloQuote Loan Portal
Willow Oaks Apartments -
Loan Evaluation Documents
Chicago Business Building 78 Vela Shoals Suite
Export
Share
History
1
Search files...
Upload Files
Update
Pre-screening Checklist
Financial Statements
T12 Operating Statement
Property Data
Current Rent Roll
Market / Rent Comp Survey
Acquisition Docs
Purchase and Sale Agreement
Contracts & Loan Docs
HAP Section 8 Contract
Promissory Note
Budget
Operating Statements for the
previous 2 years
Cancel
Expenses Categorization Mapping:
Willow Oaks Apartments
Lender’s Labels
Borrower’s Labels
Input new entry label:
Total New Entries: 24
Input new entry label:
Total New Entries: 72
Management Fee
Others (Operating & Maintenance)
Professional Fees
Charitable Contributions
Update
Transportation Expenses
General Administrative (Other Admin)
Real Estate Taxes
Decorating & Turnover
Repairs
Ground Expense
Transportation Expenses
Veloquote Expense Mapper
google.com
/veloquote-loan-evaluation-portal
VeloQuote Loan Portal
Willow Oaks Apartments -
Loan Evaluation Documents
Chicago Business Building 78 Vela Shoals Suite
Export
Share
History
1
Search files...
Upload Files
Update
Pre-screening Checklist
Financial Statements
T12 Operating Statement
Property Data
Current Rent Roll
Market / Rent Comp Survey
Acquisition Docs
Purchase and Sale Agreement
Contracts & Loan Docs
HAP Section 8 Contract
Promissory Note
Budget
Operating Statements for the
previous 2 years
FINAL SOLUTION
AI-Powered Data Validation
VeloQuote uses AI to verify required documents, scan file contents, and automatically rename files for clarity. Acting as an intelligent checklist, it flags missing items in real time, reducing back-and-forth and allowing analysts to focus on evaluating deals.
Automated AI Financials Processing
VeloQuote converts validated documents into compliant, model-ready Excel outputs, eliminating manual data entry and transcription. This reduces processing time, minimizes errors, and enables faster, more accurate deal evaluation.
Smart AI Quotation & Compliance Analysis
VeloQuote provides instant loan insights through an AI chatbot and mobile summaries, helping teams identify compliance and risk issues early, especially for complex HUD loans. By surfacing missing requirements and potential rule conflicts upfront, it reduces manual reviews and prevents costly delays.
REFLECTION
Better Questions Lead to Better Insights
While helping draft interview questions, I learned the importance of avoiding closed, biased, leading, or future-focused questions. Poorly framed questions can prompt speculation or reinforce assumptions, ultimately skewing results. Asking open-ended, behavior-focused questions led to more honest responses and more reliable insights.
Clear Communication Enables Collaboration
This project highlighted the need for clear communication with stakeholders. When ideas were unclear on either side, we worked through challenges by breaking down complex concepts, using visuals like sketches and diagrams, and staying patient. This helped create shared understanding and maintain momentum throughout the project.