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Case Study | Rental and Flatmate Matching Platform

Building a Scalable Rental and Flatmate Matching Platform

Custom Software Development UI/UX Backend Engineering Platform Integrations Deployment

FiftyFive developed an end-to-end rental and flatmate matching app for the client, covering product strategy, architecture, UI/UX, backend engineering, integrations, security, and deployment. We implemented geospatial search, real-time messaging, unified authentication, adaptive notifications, tenant matching, and scalable media processing to support launch.

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The Client

Overview

The client operates in PropTech, building a rental marketplace and community platform for a growing co-living market. Their product helps renters find apartments, discover compatible flatmates, and access transparent housing options in one place. The client engaged FiftyFive as a full-cycle technology partner to take the concept from product strategy through to a production-ready MVP, retaining full ownership of the product throughout the engagement.

The Need

Challenges

Building a rental and flatmate matching MVP meant unifying two very different systems in one product: location-based property discovery and real-time community interaction. FiftyFive had to deliver both at production quality within MVP delivery constraints, without heavy infrastructure overhead.

  • The platform required geospatial property discovery and real-time peer-to-peer communication to operate inside one coherent architecture, while remaining responsive as listings, communities, and message volume grew.
  • Rental discovery required fast, accurate location resolution without relying on external mapping APIs for every lookup and adding latency or cost exposure.
  • Users needed reliable notifications through WebSocket, push, and email, with predictable fallback logic instead of duplicated or missed messages.
  • Video and image transcoding and thumbnail generation could not block API requests or degrade the user experience.
  • Email and OTP, Google OAuth, and Apple Sign-In had to resolve into one secure account and session system with device-level token revocation.
  • Tenant matching required background orchestration without the cost and complexity of a managed queue service during MVP delivery.
Our Approach

Solution

FiftyFive designed the platform as a modular backend system built for fast geospatial discovery and live community interaction. Authentication, listings, communication, media, and matching were separated into independent modules with clear boundaries, allowing a small team to develop in parallel and giving the client a codebase that can be extended after launch. Every integration was selected to deliver production behaviour without introducing infrastructure the MVP did not need.

Modular backend architecture

FiftyFive built the backend in Node.js and TypeScript using Express, with a Controller-Service-Repository structure and tsyringe for dependency injection.

  • Controller-Service-Repository separation keeps routing, business logic, and data access independently testable.
  • tsyringe dependency injection reduces coupling between modules and simplifies swapping implementations.
  • TypeScript enforces contract consistency across authentication, listings, community, and matching modules.
  • Module boundaries allowed authentication, listings, and community features to be developed in parallel.
Rental platform desktop preview

Geospatial property discovery

FiftyFive implemented location search on MongoDB 2dsphere geospatial indexing, supported by Google Maps API integration and an in-memory coordinate cache.

  • MongoDB 2dsphere indexing supports proximity and radius queries directly at the database layer.
  • Google Maps API integration handles address and place resolution for user-facing search input.
  • In-memory coordinate caching reduces repeated external API calls for previously resolved locations.
  • The combined approach keeps search latency low while limiting third-party request volume.
Rental search tablet preview

Real-time messaging and adaptive notifications

FiftyFive designed notification delivery to adapt to user availability across three channels rather than depending on a single path.

  • Socket.IO powers real-time peer-to-peer messaging and in-app delivery for connected users.
  • Firebase push notifications reach users when the application is not in the foreground.
  • MailerSend provides an email fallback path when other channels are unavailable.
  • Adaptive routing selects the appropriate channel so users receive one reliable notification.

Scalable media pipeline

FiftyFive built media handling as an asynchronous pipeline so uploads and transcoding never block the API layer.

  • AWS S3 with Multer-S3 handles media storage and upload routing.
  • AWS MediaConvert performs asynchronous HLS transcoding for adaptive video streaming.
  • FFmpeg generates thumbnails as part of the background processing flow.
  • Processing runs outside the request cycle, keeping listing and community endpoints responsive.

Unified authentication and data security

FiftyFive consolidated three identity providers into one session and account model, with encryption applied to sensitive data at rest.

  • Email and OTP, Google OAuth, and Apple Sign-In resolve into a single unified account model.
  • JWT access and refresh tokens manage session lifecycle with device-level token revocation.
  • bcrypt password hashing protects stored credentials.
  • AES-256 encryption secures sensitive data at rest.

Lightweight tenant-matching orchestration

FiftyFive implemented background tenant matching without introducing managed queue infrastructure into the MVP.

  • A lightweight in-memory job queue handles tenant-matching notification processing.
  • Matching runs in the background without blocking user-facing requests.
  • The approach reduced operational overhead and infrastructure cost during MVP delivery.
  • The module boundary allows a persistent queue to be introduced later without rewriting matching logic.
Technology

Tech Stack

Backend

Node.jsTypeScriptExpress

Architecture

Controller-Service-RepositorytsyringeDependency Injection

Database & Search

MongoDB2dsphere IndexingCoordinate Caching

Location & Messaging

Google Maps APISocket.IOWebSocket

Notifications

Firebase Cloud MessagingMailerSend

Media & Storage

AWS S3Multer-S3AWS MediaConvertFFmpegHLS
Experts

Team

1

Back-End Developer

1

Front-End Developer

1

UI/UX Designer

1

Quality Analyst

The Impact

Results

Project Duration2025 - 2026

FiftyFive delivered a production-ready rental and community platform with real-time messaging, geospatial location search, adaptive notifications, and scalable media handling. The system gave the client a launch-ready MVP foundation built for future feature expansion.

Modular architecture

FiftyFive's modular backend reduced cross-team coupling and enabled parallel development across authentication, listings, and community modules.

Real-time community

Socket.IO messaging and adaptive multi-channel notifications keep renters and flatmates connected across in-app, push, and email channels.

Scalable media delivery

The asynchronous media pipeline removed upload bottlenecks and supported HLS video delivery without adding unnecessary infrastructure complexity.

Faster market entry

The production-ready MVP created a launch foundation for co-living rental discovery, tenant matching, and transparent housing experiences.

Support

FAQs

A flatmate matching app is a mobile platform that helps renters find compatible people to share housing with, based on stated preferences such as budget, location, lifestyle, and living habits. Most flatmate matching apps combine rental listings, preference-based matching, and in-app messaging so users can search and connect in one place.

A rental and flatmate matching platform lets users search rental listings by location, set housing preferences, join communities, and connect with compatible flatmates. Location search returns nearby properties, a matching engine compares user preferences in the background, and real-time messaging allows matched users to communicate directly inside the app.

A co-living or rental marketplace app should include geospatial property search, verified user profiles, preference-based tenant matching, real-time messaging, media-rich listings with photos and video, multi-channel notifications, and secure authentication. These features together support property discovery, community building, and trust between renters sharing a home.

Location-based property search is built using geospatial indexing at the database layer. FiftyFive implemented MongoDB 2dsphere indexing with Google Maps API integration and in-memory coordinate caching, which supports proximity and radius queries with low latency while reducing repeated third-party API calls for address resolution.

A Node.js and TypeScript backend suits PropTech applications that need real-time interaction alongside search. FiftyFive used Node.js, TypeScript, Express, and MongoDB with a Controller-Service-Repository architecture and tsyringe dependency injection, giving the platform modular boundaries, geospatial query support, and room to scale after launch.

Real-time chat is typically implemented using WebSocket connections. FiftyFive used Socket.IO for peer-to-peer messaging, paired with Firebase push notifications for users outside the app and MailerSend email as a fallback, so messages reach users reliably regardless of whether they are currently online.

Video uploads should be processed asynchronously so they never block API requests. FiftyFive used AWS S3 for storage, AWS MediaConvert for HLS transcoding, and FFmpeg for thumbnail generation, running all processing outside the request cycle to keep listing and community endpoints responsive.

User data is secured through layered controls across authentication, sessions, and storage. FiftyFive implemented JWT access and refresh tokens with device-level revocation, bcrypt password hashing for credentials, and AES-256 encryption for sensitive data at rest, supporting email/OTP, Google OAuth, and Apple Sign-In in one unified account model.

Supporting multiple identity providers requires resolving each into one account model. FiftyFive unified email and OTP, Google OAuth, and Apple Sign-In behind a single JWT-based session system with access and refresh tokens, so users can switch login methods while the platform maintains consistent identity and device-level token revocation.

A rental marketplace MVP scales when its architecture is modular from the start. FiftyFive separated authentication, listings, community, media, and matching into independent modules, so features such as persistent queue infrastructure, additional matching logic, or new community tools can be added later without rewriting core systems.

Cost depends on feature scope, platform coverage, integrations, and team composition. A rental and flatmate matching MVP with geospatial search, real-time messaging, media handling, and multi-provider authentication requires a defined discovery phase before pricing. FiftyFive scopes each PropTech engagement individually and bills monthly on actual man-hours.

Timelines depend on scope, integration count, and the number of user-facing modules. This rental and flatmate matching platform was delivered over an engagement running from September 2025 to July 2026, covering product strategy, architecture, UI/UX, backend engineering, platform integrations, security, and deployment.

FiftyFive provides dedicated Node.js and TypeScript engineering teams for PropTech, marketplace, and community platform builds. Engagements cover product strategy, architecture, backend engineering, integrations, security, and deployment, with flexible engagement models and time-zone-aligned delivery for teams in the US, UK, Europe, and the Middle East.

Custom Software Development Mobile App Development Web App Development UI/UX design Software testing & QA DevOps & Cloud MVP Development Data Engineering Game Development Legacy Modernisation Remote Team Extension Blockchain & Web 3.0
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