Match the neighbors. Then build the neighborhood.
BOMA is a community-matching platform for real estate. It finds people who are genuinely compatible as neighbors — by lifestyle, values, location, and housing intent — groups them into a Pod, and gives that Pod a shared space to build trust before anyone signs anything or breaks ground.
What BOMA is
Not a dating app, but built on the same instinct: people build stronger communities when they choose their neighbors deliberately, not by accident. BOMA runs that choice through a structured process — onboarding, scoring, matching, and a shared "Commons" — before any land, escrow, or construction enters the picture.
Why BOMA
Most co-housing and intentional-community projects don't fail on construction or financing — they fail because the people were never truly aligned. BOMA moves alignment to step one, so every later step (bonding, financing, building, governing) starts on solid ground.
How it works
The full BOMA vision runs in three stages. This proposal covers the first stage in full, and previews what follows.
Match
Onboarding, readiness scoring, and a rules-based matching engine form aligned Pods.
Bond
The Commons gives each Pod a dashboard, agreement scaffolding, and simple chat to build trust.
Build
Escrow, vendors, land, legal, construction tracking, and HOA management take the Pod from bonded to built.
Our understanding of BOMA
Every round of feedback sharpened the brief. Logging it here as a revision history — both to confirm we're aligned, and as the reference we'll build against.
Registration, private profiles, onboarding, rules-based readiness scoring, rules-based matching, admin-reviewed Pod formation, The Commons, admin panel. No financial data.
Added location (metro, radius, urban/suburban/rural), budget & down-payment readiness tier, financing preference, primary housing intent, and commitment duration — all self-reported preference tiers, not linked financial accounts.
Added a second entry path for existing groups (friends, families, small development groups, tiny-home organizers, workforce housing/nonprofits) to register directly and skip matching, while still using Pod governance and the Commons.
User flow — both entry paths
Register & choose a path
Every user creates an account, then chooses Join the Matching Pool or Register an Existing Pod.
Full onboarding
Lifestyle, values, location, housing intent, budget tier, and commitment duration.
Readiness score & matching
Rules-based scoring, then the matching engine suggests a Pod using admin-adjustable weighting.
Admin review, then join or decline
A user can decline and return to the pool for another match.
Group registration + short onboarding
Each member completes a lighter readiness/intent step — no matching needed.
Admin verifies the group
Confirms membership and readiness before the Pod is activated.
The Commons
Both paths converge here: Pod dashboard, member overview, agreement scaffolding, optional chat.
MVP build specification
One backend and one data model serve Web, App, and Admin, so a Pod formed on web shows up identically in the app, and every admin weighting change applies everywhere at once. The rules engine is built as its own configurable service from day one — matching logic can be tuned by an admin, not a developer, satisfying the "adjustable weighting" requirement without a redeploy.
Web MVP: Features, Timeline & Flow
Everything a user does in a browser during Phase 1 — from account creation through living in a formed Pod's Commons.
Feature list
- ✓Account & access — registration, secure login, password reset/verification.
- ✓Entry path selection — Join the Matching Pool or Register an Existing Pod.
- ✓Onboarding questionnaire — lifestyle & values, community preferences, location (metro, radius, urban/suburban/rural), budget & down-payment readiness tier, financing preference, primary housing intent, commitment duration.
- ✓Profile — view/edit preferences, readiness score display, status tracking.
- ✓Matching — matching status, Pod suggestions, join/decline, return-to-pool on decline or exit.
- ✓Existing Pod registration — group sign-up flow with short per-member onboarding.
- ✓The Commons — Pod dashboard, member overview, agreement scaffolding, optional simple text chat.
Timeline — 7 weeks
Resourcing & investment
| Role | Weeks | Hrs / week | Total hrs | Rate | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontend Developer | 7 | 40 | 280 | $30/hr | $8,400 |
| Backend Developer | 7 | 40 | 280 | $30/hr | $8,400 |
| Project Manager & QA Testing | 7 | 40 | 280 | $30/hr | $8,400 |
| Total — 3 resources | 840 hrs | $25,200 |
Step-by-step user flow — Web
Land on BOMA, register
Email/password or verified sign-up, then choose an entry path.
Complete onboarding
Guided, multi-step questionnaire; progress is saved between steps.
View readiness score on profile
Score and status update as onboarding data is confirmed.
Wait for or check match status
Matching page shows pending, matched, or no-match states.
Review a suggested Pod
See fellow members' shared alignment points, then join or decline.
Enter the Commons
Pod dashboard, member overview, agreement scaffolding, optional chat.
Stay, or exit back to the pool
A poor-fit Pod can be left; the user re-enters matching.
App MVP: Features, Timeline & Flow
Same product, built natively for iOS and Android in Flutter from one codebase, sharing the same backend and data model as Web.
Feature list
- ✓Account & access — registration, secure login, password reset/verification, biometric unlock where supported.
- ✓Entry path selection — Join the Matching Pool or Register an Existing Pod.
- ✓Onboarding questionnaire — same fields as Web, optimized for mobile input (steppers, pickers, sliders for ranges).
- ✓Profile — preferences, readiness score, status tracking.
- ✓Matching — status, Pod suggestions, join/decline, push notification on a new match.
- ✓Existing Pod registration — group sign-up flow, shareable invite for co-members to join the same Pod record.
- ✓The Commons — dashboard, member overview, agreement scaffolding, optional chat with push notifications for new messages.
Timeline — 7 weeks
Resourcing & investment
| Role | Weeks | Hrs / week | Total hrs | Rate | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile App Developer (Flutter) | 7 | 40 | 280 | $30/hr | $8,400 |
| Backend Developer | 7 | 40 | 280 | $30/hr | $8,400 |
| Project Manager & QA Testing | 7 | 40 | 280 | $30/hr | $8,400 |
| Total — 3 resources | 840 hrs | $25,200 |
Step-by-step user flow — App
Download & register
App-store install, account creation, choose entry path.
Complete onboarding
Mobile-native inputs; can pause and resume anytime.
Track readiness & match status
Push notification when a Pod suggestion is ready.
Review & join a Pod
Same decision screen as Web, tuned for a smaller viewport.
Live in the Commons
Dashboard, chat, and agreement scaffolding, with notifications for activity.
Exit if needed
Same return-to-pool logic as Web, in sync in real time.
Admin Panel: Features, Timeline & Flow
The control room behind Web and App — where readiness, matching, and Pod formation get reviewed, tuned, and approved by a human.
Feature list
- ✓Dashboard — user statistics, readiness distribution, active Pods overview.
- ✓User management — view profiles, monitor readiness scoring, edit or flag users.
- ✓Matching engine control — run matching rules, adjust variable weighting without a code change, review suggested Pods, approve or manually adjust.
- ✓Pod management — create/edit Pods, monitor stability, view engagement.
- ✓Existing Pod review queue — verify group submissions from the Register-an-Existing-Pod path before activation.
Timeline — 6 weeks (runs alongside Web/App backend work)
Resourcing & investment
| Role | Weeks | Hrs / week | Total hrs | Rate | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontend Developer | 6 | 40 | 240 | $30/hr | $7,200 |
| Backend Developer | 6 | 40 | 240 | $30/hr | $7,200 |
| Project Manager & QA Testing | 6 | 40 | 240 | $30/hr | $7,200 |
| Total — 3 resources | 720 hrs | $21,600 |
Step-by-step flow — Admin
Monitor the dashboard
Track new users, readiness distribution, and active Pods at a glance.
Review readiness scores
Spot-check or flag users whose profile data looks incomplete or inconsistent.
Run the matching engine
Adjust variable weighting, then run matching for the current pool.
Approve or adjust suggested Pods
Confirm the engine's grouping or manually rebalance before it's shown to users.
Verify Existing-Pod submissions
Confirm membership and readiness for groups skipping matching.
Monitor Pod health post-formation
Track engagement and stability inside the Commons for every active Pod.
Phase 1 total — Web + App + Admin
| Track | Weeks | Resources | Total hrs | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web MVP | 7 | 3 | 840 hrs | $25,200 |
| App MVP | 7 | 3 | 840 hrs | $25,200 |
| Admin MVP | 6 | 3 | 720 hrs | $21,600 |
| Total — Phase 1 (MVP) | 2,400 hrs | $72,000 |
What's Left After the MVP
Phase 1 proves the Pod can form and hold together. Phase 2 is everything from the original vision that turns a bonded Pod into a built, financed, governed community. Sequenced here for planning — priced and scoped separately once Phase 1 ships.
Nothing below is included in the MVP proposal. It's listed so the architecture built in Phase 1 doesn't have to be rebuilt to support it later.
Remaining from the original BOMA vision
- →Escrow & wallet — real fund handling, escrow account linkage, real-time balance visibility on profile.
- →Financial engine — the transaction and accounting layer underneath escrow, vendor billing, and (eventually) HOA dues.
- →Vendor marketplace — paid annual vendor subscriptions, AI-managed credentialing and renewal alerts.
- →AI bonding assistant — a chat-bot layer that guides Pod bonding and decision-making, feeding data to a human Portfolio Manager.
- →Land, legal & broker network — partner integrations for real estate brokers, legal teams, finance brokers, and estate planning.
- →Construction & permitting — project/progress tracking from land purchase to occupancy, plus permitting links to local municipalities.
- →HOA / community management — an ongoing, Yardi-style portal for community governance and accounting once the Pod has built.
Illustrative timeline — 6 stages, ~40 weeks
Shown in 4-week sprints. Ranges will firm up during Phase 2 discovery and team sizing — treat this as a planning skeleton, not a quote.
1 sprint = 4 weeks. Stages overlap where they share backend groundwork (escrow → vendor billing → HOA dues, for example).
Step-by-step flow — Phase 2 (Pod's-eye view)
Pod is bonded (end of Phase 1)
Members have agreed to move forward together in the Commons.
Escrow account is opened
Each member funds their share; balances are visible on their profile in real time.
Pod is matched with vendors
Lending, insurance, brokers, legal, and architects are pulled from the credentialed vendor marketplace.
AI bonding assistant supports ongoing decisions
Surfaces friction points and decisions to the human Portfolio Manager.
Land acquisition & permitting
Legal, broker, and municipal permitting steps run through connected partners.
Construction tracked to occupancy
Pod sees phase-by-phase progress through to keys in hand.
HOA portal takes over
Ongoing governance and accounting once the community is built.