The atmosphere at the FOSSASIA Summit 2024 was absolutely electric. Hosted at PTIT, it’s a massive gathering with over 5,000 people from 50 countries, 200+ speakers from giants like Google, Huawei, and Oracle,…. Amid all that, there’s this Web3-focused hackathon, sponsored by Chainlink and Devfolio, challenging devs to build real-world blockchain solutions in just 48 hours.
The idea came from what I see at work. Vietnam’s real estate is growing fast, the market’s supposed to double in size soon, with more young people in their 20s and 30s wanting in. But buying property? It’s expensive, and if you team up with friends or family, contracts get messy with arguments and risks. A lot of folks are shopping online now like 70% or something but trust is low. So, we made Housing Connector: a platform where small investors can pool money for properties, connect with agents, and use blockchain to keep everything clear and safe.
Basically, it works like this: Investors check out listings with details on location, costs, potential returns. They chip in what they can, sign smart contracts through Chainlink so no one’s getting screwed. When the property sells, money gets split automatically, minus a small fee, that’s how the app makes money. Agents get leads and data to sell better, and as more join, it pulls in more investors and properties. It’s a loop that could grow quick. We used React for the front end, Solidity for contracts, and stuff like Ethereum and Web3.js. Nothing fancy, just enough for a basic demo.
We submitted right at the deadline: a POC where you could “buy” a apartment in Hanoi with pooled funds. Out of over 1,000 people and 43 teams, they picked us as winners!
Honestly, it taught me a lot about teamwork under pressure. We’re proud of the prototype, even if it’s rough – built in two days, after all. Maybe we’ll keep working on it, add more features like AI for price predictions. Shoutout to FOSSASIA for the event!!!
