Hinder

Inspiration

Tired of endlessly scrolling through housing listings without finding the perfect match? We were too! So, we decided to bring the excitement of swiping right on your dream home. Introducing Hinder - where finding a home is as fun as finding a date!

What it does

Hinder is like Tinder, but for housing. Swipe right on homes you love, left on those you don't, and get instant matches with properties that fit your criteria. Say goodbye to the doom-scrolling and hello to your dream home!

How we built it

We built Hinder using a modern tech stack to ensure a seamless and enjoyable user experience. Our application is powered by React for the frontend, providing a dynamic and responsive interface. The backend is built with Node.js and TypeScript, offering robust and type-safe server-side operations. We chose MongoDB as our database to handle the diverse housing data efficiently and provide quick access to listings. To gather real-time housing data, we integrated various APIs using RapidAPI, which allowed us to connect to multiple data sources easily. This tech stack enabled us to create a fast, reliable, and fun platform for house hunting.

Challenges we ran into

One of the challenges we encountered was our initial approach to gathering housing data. We started by using a web scraper to collect information from Zillow. However, we quickly realized that the images we scraped were too blurry, which would not provide a satisfactory user experience. Additionally, we found that web scraping was a time-consuming process, taking much longer than anticipated to gather the necessary data. This setback prompted us to rethink our strategy and ultimately led us to use API calls to access higher-quality data and images for our listings.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the progress we've made, particularly in branding and wireframing our application. These initial steps have been crucial in shaping the overall look and feel of Hinder, and we're excited to continue piecing together the rest of the app to bring our vision to life.

What we learned

We all learned the process of building a full-stack web application. Although we didn't manage to complete the project within our initial timeframe, the experience has been invaluable. We've learned a great deal about the development process, and we're eager to apply these lessons as we move forward to fully implement our project.

What's next for Hinder

We plan to expand our database, add more personalized filters, and introduce features that allow users to connect directly with real estate agents. One of our key goals is to fully implement our chat option, which is currently in its initial phase. This feature will enable users to communicate directly with homeowners and real estate agents within the app, making the process of inquiring about and securing a home even more seamless. Our goal is to make Hinder the go-to app for anyone looking for a new home, whether you're in the market for love or just a place to live.