I'm building an open source version of "flat and flatmates"
currently there are following options if someone needs to find a flat in a city:
- Websites like NoBroker/99Acres etc.
- Twitter posts/bots
- Flat and flatmates Facebook groups
- Discord/Whatsapp groups
- Contact a broker
From my personal experience of looking for flats, I have concluded that none of these platforms are user friendly and they come with a lot of issues.
So I have decided to build an open-source version, which will be free for everyone to use.
I have few basic features in my mind, what all features would you like to have in this tool.
Also if you have any suggestions regarding how i should architect it, let me know in comments or DM.
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Why not rey integrating chatgpt or gemini into your code or app. Also bugs will be in every application even on yours. Focus on bugs but your bigger focus should be on 'what makes your app different from all those app'
as per my research, such a tool doesn't exist, so let me know if you are aware of any
Check out myroomie.in and flatmate.in, idk about how well these do. Also, I remember seeing on Twitter a while ago, some dude was building a WhatsApp chatbot or something along those lines for this problem.
I have a contrarian approach to suggest, make it like Craigslist
So simple and easy to use that even boomers can navigate. Simple forum for posting text and media. Let the connections happen on their own, filtered/grouped by cities.
Ad banners can pay for operations.
Good reference video on Craigslist model -
I'll look into it
verify profiles to avoid spam
try to include as many details as possible :
brokerage free or not
minimum lock in
security
photos and videos of property
exact location (maps link)
what all amenities are provided
contact details
family/bachelor's
builder floor/ apartment/pg
slot booking for visit etc
would like to emphasize on getting more details and adding filters for the same
and maybe add a layer of AI (maybe AI is not required, vector dbs might do the job) on top which returns closely matching properties
I had similar motivation to build something similar integrated with gpt for recommendation and scraping from different sources + categoriesing them
If you are building for fun and utility, its great. If you are positioning it as a startup idea, you might need to deep dive a bit more. Many players have burned their hands and obviously money in the rental space. Also, you can check out spareroom.co.uk for ideas. I feel its one of the best portals out there.
Include a feedback loop so that a person can be marked as broker.. just like Truecaller has spam option
make rent mandatory
Love it! Recently faced this problem myself. Wanna chat and brainstorm sometime? I can out my thoughts down in a quick note to discuss as well :) @samosa
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