New app to help young homeowners
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Home ownership is not easy, when something always needs to be replaced or repaired.
As a home owner, Jim Brown knows that.
As a businessman, Brown thinks he knows how to make home ownership easier. He is the co-founder and president of a company that created a mobile app called Haven.
“When you look at how you manage your home right now, the way we do that, it’s just broken,” Brown told 24-Hour News 8. “A lot of times, we don’t know what to do to our home, when to do it, why to do it (and) how to do it.”
Brown said people often start their home repairs by talking to their neighbors about who they can hire. Then, they conduct time consuming research, find quotes and still have to keep their fingers crossed.
“We’re definitely making life easier, more manageable, if you will,” said Brown. Haven prepares a file on the homes of each customer includingthe number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the paint colors and the home’s maintenance needs. “The more and more you use Haven,” Brown said, “the more we learn about you.”
Haven has companies ready to provide services to customers. They are vetted by Haven’s staff and then the home owner pays Haven for the service. If the customer is not satisfied, Haven will fix the problem or refund them customer’s money up to $1,000 on any home service.
Haven is a product of the Launch Fishers entrepreneur center. Brown and his co-founder collected $1 million in seed money for the project. Elevate Ventures and the Innovate Indiana Fund joined with other investors to provide the foundation for Haven. Just developing the app required six months.
Haven has been available for two weeks and serves the Indianapolis area.
After the company knows it has good arrangements with service providers and a solid marketing plan, they plan to start expanding. The team will look for cities similar to Indianapolis including Nashville, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri.
Brown said they want to be in places where young buyers can still afford homes. That’s not possible in some of the bigger cities around the country.