HouseHunt - Finding Your Perfect Rental Home

HouseHunt is a full-stack MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js) application designed to streamline the process of finding and listing rental properties. It provides a user-friendly platform for both potential tenants and property owners.

Features

• User Authentication: Secure sign-up and login functionality for users.
• Property Listings: Browse a comprehensive list of available rental properties.
• Advanced Search & Filter: Easily search for properties based on location, price, and other criteria.
• Property Management: Authenticated users can create, update, and delete their own property listings.
• Detailed Property Views: View in-depth details for each property, including images, descriptions, and amenities.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React.js
• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your local machine:

• Node.js (v16 or newer is recommended)
• MongoDB (or a cloud-based MongoDB Atlas account)

Getting Started

Follow these instructions to get a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing.

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/househunt-finding-your-perfect-rental-home.git
cd househunt-finding-your-perfect-rental-home

2. Configure and Run the Backend Server

The backend requires a connection to a MongoDB database.

# Navigate to the backend directory
cd backend

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Create a .env file in the /backend directory and add your database connection string
# Replace the placeholder with your actual MongoDB URI
echo "MONGO_DB=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/househunt" > .env

# Start the server (it will run on the port specified in your code, likely 5000 or 8000)
npm start

3. Configure and Run the Frontend Client

Open a new terminal window for this step.

# Navigate to the frontend directory from the project root
cd client

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start the React development server (it will open in your browser at http://localhost:3000)
npm start

Your application is now running! The React frontend at http://localhost:3000 will communicate with the Express backend server.