FRIP: Fractional Rental Investment Platform

A full-stack web application where users pool money to collectively invest in rental properties and receive proportional returns.

Write-up · Portfolio

Note: The hosted demo is currently down (its API returns a server error). Please run the project locally using the Quick Start below.

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	Python 3.12, Flask 3.0
Database	MongoDB (PyMongo)
Auth	Flask sessions + bcrypt
Frontend	Vanilla HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Charts	Chart.js 4.x (CDN)
Deployment	Vercel

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• A MongoDB instance (local or Atlas)

2. Install dependencies

cd FRIP
pip install -r backend/requirements.txt

3. Configure environment

Edit backend/.env:

MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017       # or your Atlas connection string
SECRET_KEY=some-random-secret-key-here
DB_NAME=frip_db

4. Run

python run.py

Open http://localhost:5000. Three sample properties are seeded automatically on first launch.

Project Structure

FRIP/
├── backend/
│   ├── app.py          # Flask app factory, page routes
│   ├── db.py           # MongoDB connection, indexes, seed data (properties and valuation history)
│   ├── risk.py         # Risk score and time-weighted return (Modified Dietz)
│   ├── routes.py       # All API endpoints (auth, properties, invest, portfolio, distributions, valuation)
│   ├── requirements.txt # Pinned Python dependencies
│   └── .env            # Environment variables (not committed)
├── frontend/
│   ├── template/
│   │   └── index.html  # Single-page shell with all page sections
│   └── static/
│       ├── style.css   # Complete hand-written CSS (dark fintech theme)
│       └── common.js   # Client-side SPA router, API calls, Chart.js rendering
├── run.py              # Development entry point
├── vercel.json         # Vercel deployment config
└── README.md

API Endpoints

Method	Route	Auth	Description
POST	/auth/register	Public	Register new user
POST	/auth/login	Public	Log in
POST	/auth/logout	Public	Log out
GET	/auth/me	Public	Check current session
GET	/properties	Public	List all properties
GET	/properties/<id>	Public	Property detail + investors
POST	/investments	Required	Invest in a property
GET	/users/<id>/portfolio	Required	Dashboard portfolio data
POST	/distributions/<property_id>	Required	Trigger rental income payout
POST	/properties/<id>/valuation	Required	Update a property's market value (body: market_value)

Features

• Auth: Register, login, logout with bcrypt-hashed passwords and Flask sessions
• Property Browsing: Card grid with funding progress, expected returns, monthly income
• Investing: Real-time ownership share recalculation across all investors
• Dashboard: Portfolio allocation doughnut chart, holdings summary, transaction history
• Risk Score: GET /properties/<id> returns a 0-100 score (Low < 30, Medium 30-55, High > 55) from a weighted average of five factors: volatility (25%), ownership concentration (20%), funding gap (20%), cap rate vs a 6% benchmark (20%) and depreciation (15%)
• Time-Weighted Return: the portfolio endpoint returns twr_pct, computed with the Modified Dietz method, alongside roi_pct
• Valuations: Update a property's market value; each update is recorded, and the valuation history and appreciation are returned with the property detail
• Income Distribution: Admin panel to trigger proportional payouts to all shareholders
• Responsive: Mobile-first CSS with dark navy/teal fintech aesthetic
• SPA Routing: Client-side pushState navigation with no full-page reloads

Deployment to Vercel

1. Push to GitHub
2. Import the repo in vercel.com
3. Set environment variables in the Vercel dashboard:
   • MONGO_URI — your MongoDB Atlas connection string
   • SECRET_KEY — a random secret
   • DB_NAME — database name (e.g. frip_db)
4. Deploy

Database Collections

users: _id, name, email, password_hash, created_at

properties: _id, address, description, total_value, total_pooled_capital, expected_annual_return, rental_income, image_url, created_at, current_market_value

investments: _id, user_id, property_id, amount, ownership_share, timestamp

transactions: _id, user_id, property_id, type (invest|distribute), amount, timestamp

valuations: _id, property_id, market_value, date