Making verified homes in Nigeria easy to trust
(Context)
Thorpe Real Estate (TRE) is a Lagos-based property agency. It helps people buy, rent and short-let homes across Nigeria, and checks each home before it lists: title, ownership, a physical inspection and the provider behind it.
It runs three services under one standard: TRE Developments for sales, TRE Lets for tenancies and TRE Stays for short-lets, plus a Diaspora Desk for people buying from outside Nigeria.
We designed the website from scratch. The platform behind it was built by the Thorpe Real Estate team.
(Challenge)
In a market where buyers worry about title and fake listings, a good-looking property page is not enough. Visitors needed to see what "verified" means, what was checked and where the limits are, without legal language getting in the way of finding a home.
The positioning also moved mid-project. The first direction led with the verification standard. On 1 August 2026 the business settled on the opposite order: homes lead, and trust sits under every listing. The design had to make that order clear on every page, for local buyers, diaspora buyers and the landlords, developers and hosts who want to list.
(Solution)
The homepage opens with "Find a home you can actually trust" and puts the buy, rent and short-let search straight under it.
Verification became a symbol: the TRE Verified Gold Standard seal and one family of marks, each dated, monitored and able to be withdrawn. A verified label only appears where a home really has been verified.
The agency is explained in four steps, from first enquiry to keys, with a plain list of what sits behind each mark and a public register where anyone can check one. Diaspora buyers get their own desk, owners and agents get a list-or-sell route, and anyone can send a request when the right home is not listed yet.
The site went live on 9 and 10 August 2026. The evening before, a full audit covered strategy, technical SEO, UX, accessibility, analytics and engineering, and every fixable finding shipped that night. Our part was the design, accessibility and search fixes: visible focus states, larger tap targets, readable contrast, breadcrumbs on every page and clean page titles and descriptions.
- A homepage that pairs a clear trust promise with search for buying, renting and short-letting
- Featured homes for sale, rent and short-let, with a verified label only where a check has been done
- A plain checklist of what verification covers, stating clearly that it is an assessment, not a guarantee
- A Diaspora Desk with prices in GBP, USD and EUR, remote video tours and a named contact
- Separate routes for sellers, developers, estate agents, landlords and short-let hosts
(Highlights)
Homes first, trust underneath
Search leads every page, and the proof sits under each listing rather than in front of it.
Honest by design
No listing shows a verified label unless it has been verified, and the public register launched empty rather than filled with placeholders.
Calm, established look
Deep pine green, warm ivory and amber gold with a serif headline face, so the brand feels steady rather than like a busy listings site.
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