For 48 hours, developers and data scientists were glued to their computers. The first-ever REALTOR.ca Hackathon attracted 77 participants who worked diligently on creating fully functional demos with the goal of improving Canada’s No. 1 real estate website.
Presented with a challenge at Ottawa’s Bayview Yards venue, this diverse group of techies—including university students, Canadian and international developers, established companies, real estate startups and REALTORS®—looked at ways to enhance the consumer and REALTOR® experience on REALTOR.ca.
Once they completed their demos, the teams then had an opportunity to present to a panel of judges comprised of industry leaders and REALTOR®members of our Technology Committee.
The winning proposal was developed by team propGram, consisting of Bahar Eghtesadi, Maryam Moafi and Reza Farahani. This was the first-ever hackathon for the group of friends from Toronto and they said they were grateful for the opportunity to dive into REALTOR.ca’s data sets.
“The real estate industry in Canada is evolving rapidly and technology provides even more opportunities to improve the consumer experience,” said James Mabey, Chair of CREA’s Technology Committee. “We’re excited to work with the hackathon teams to help foster innovation that can benefit our members and enhance the consumer journey on REALTOR.ca.”
Some teams even enlisted REALTORS® to help develop their ideas. Ayn McDonald and Derek Hooper, two REALTORS® from Ottawa, took part in the event and brought some real-world experiences to their respective teams.
With this hackathon, we demonstrated our commitment to maintaining REALTOR.ca as consumers’ first choice when looking for a new home by constantly adding the features they demand and expect.
This is the first of several hackathon challenges that we plan to host.
The REALTOR.ca Hackathon at a glance:
- 77 registered participants
- 34 from Ottawa
- 23 students
- 14 women
- 6 REALTORS®
- 2 international (one from Brazil, one from the U.S.)
