ABC Homeswebsite redesign:before & after

ABC Homes is a real estate investment firm based in Downey, California. It buys houses for cash, in any condition, from homeowners who want to sell fast.

Its own site says it works with people facing foreclosure, divorce or an inherited property. It promises an offer within 24 hours, no repairs, no agents, no fees or commissions and a closing date the seller picks. The office is open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 8pm.

A person visiting this homepage is probably stressed and short on time. The page has one job: get that person to call or send their address, in the first few seconds.

This is not an agency rebuild. I gave the concept about 2 hours and spent them on the fixes that do the most for customers: the 20% of the work that gets 80% of the improvement.

To show how much that improves, I score every original homepage and every concept on the same 100-point checklist. Most checks are yes or no, and a script runs the technical ones (speed, mobile, accessibility). When in doubt, the point goes to the original site.

The original does several things right. The headline says what ABC Homes does in plain words, the promises ("no repairs, no agents, no fees") are the right ones for a seller under pressure, and the contact block has a full address, a map and opening hours. The problem is what the visitor can do on the first screen. One note on the capture: the area behind the headline is solid black in my screenshots. The live page plays a looping background video there, a 5.7 MB file that the capture browser could not play. So I do not count the black block as a flaw. I could not see the video itself. What I can say is that, whatever it shows, no button or phone number goes with it.

The first screen and the mobile view, original on the left and concept on the right. The slider at the top of the post compares the first screen up close.

First screen

01Say where, next to what

A "Southern California Cash Buyers" tag and "across Los Angeles and Southern California" sit with the headline. The original only says where in the text below the form.

02One main button, one number

"Get My Free Cash Offer" is the filled button. "Call Us Now" is an outline beside it, and the number is written out in large type above both, so someone who wants to call can just dial.

03A two-field form

Every offer button leads to a short block: property address and phone number. The original asks for four fields and three ticked boxes.

Mobile

01A call bar that stays put

"Call Now" and "Get Offer" stay at the bottom of the screen the whole way down. On the original mobile page there is no action on the first screen at all.

02Buttons a thumb can hit

The two hero buttons are 57 and 59px tall. The phone link in the concept's header is only 17px tall, which I list below.

1. 01Put a phone number and one button on the first screen. A person selling a house in a hurry should not have to scroll to find out how to reach you.
2. 02Say where you buy, right beside what you buy. "Sell your property fast" is clear, but "across Los Angeles and Southern California" tells a visitor in the right place that they are in the right place.
3. 03Keep the form short and put it where the buttons lead. Two fields, address and phone, is enough to start. Ask the rest on the call.
4. 04Show reviews early and say where they came from. Two reviews signed with a first name and an initial are weaker than the same reviews with a Google or Zillow name on them. Link to the source.
5. 05Add one real photo of the owner or team. Selling to a company you cannot picture is a big ask. Stock handshakes do not help; a real face does.

The concept does not score 100. About 2 hours doesn't fix everything, and the checklist applies to my work too:

• The reviews are not real proof yet. The two reviews in the concept keep the original's first names and initials, but I reworded the text and added a town under each name. Neither change comes from the original site. They need to be swapped for real reviews, with a source.
• Some claims are mine, not the business's. The "100% as-is purchases" stat, the "written" offer, "we cover all closing costs", "offers don't fall through", "title to escrow" and the list of twelve cities are not on the original site. ABC Homes needs to confirm each one or drop it.
• The photos are stock. The aerial hero, the group and the skyline are not ABC Homes. Real photos of the team or a house they bought would do more than any layout change.
• The form is not wired up. It posts to a placeholder address. The footer email is info@abchomes.co, while the original site lists letstalk@abchomes.co, so that needs checking too.
• The text-message consent wording is gone. The original form carries it. If ABC Homes sends texts, it has to come back in a compact form.
• Mobile text is 14.4px. It should be 16px or more, and the phone link in the mobile header is only 17px tall.
• Mobile speed is 70 on Lighthouse. The original scored 43, so it is better, but I would get it above 90, and fix the 12 contrast issues the accessibility scan found.

If I were talking to the owners of ABC Homes, I would say this: your promises are already the right ones. No repairs, no agents, no fees, an offer in 24 hours. The old page said them clearly but gave a visitor nothing to press. My concept mostly moves those same promises next to a phone number and a button.

The part I am least sure about is the look. I went with a bright blue and a hillside aerial, which reads as a national home buyer. The original's dark video hero might suit a family business better once it is playing. That is a taste call for ABC Homes to make, not me. I also chose a very short form, and I know the business may need more from a lead than an address and a number.

What the concept does not solve is proof. The reviews are only first names, the photos are stock, and I could not find a year, a deal count or a license on the site. Layout cannot fix that. Two hours got the first screen to do its job, and it did not make ABC Homes look more established than its own page shows. That part needs the business's help.