hokie housing

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Inspiration

After the first year on campus, a lot of our fellow students who aren't guaranteed housing on campus have had to spend lots of time looking for housing near campus, spending hours researching and touring different apartment complexes just to find out things like there aren't in-unit washers and dryers or that utilities aren't included in the rent price.

What it does

Hokie Housing helps Virginia Tech students find the perfect housing for them by asking a series of questions, then showing them apartments that match all of their criteria.

How we built it

We used React to built the front-end and Django to build the back-end.

Challenges we ran into

Communication, expectations, and connecting the backend to the frontend, especially with first-time hackathon team members.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Connecting the frontend with the backend and integrating multiple API's. Realizing our weaknesses and working together to overcome them.

What we learned

Many of us weren't familiar with web development, meaning we had to learn React for the frontend and Django for the backend. We also learned the importance of clearly defining project goals during the planning process, as we suffered from a lot of miscommunication at first.

What's next for hokie housing

We can improve our rating algorithm by letting users weigh what they value more in their housing, include on-campus housing, and eventually expand to more schools. Additionally, using more extensive real estate data and adding more options for user preferences would significantly enhance the experience.