When your smart tech hack pays off, it PAYS OFF. Morgan State students just changed the game for home buyers AND mortgage lenders…and the traditional credit system that disproportionately holds back people of color. Get into their winning app that just disrupted the credit industry.
The winners of Zillow’s HBCU Housing Hackathon just disrupted the credit game that often is not in our favor when embarking on the home buying process. The traditional credit system has its issues, but unfortunately, it’s one of very few ways a lender can determine your ability to pay back a debt like a mortgage. Due to the inherent racism built into the traditional credit system, many people of color and certain socioeconomic statuses are iced out from buying a home.
Thankfully, four students at Morgan State University – Nanfwang Dawurang, Oluwadara Dina, Saad Nadeem and Godsheritage Adeoye – entered the chat. And they came with a bomb solution.
The Morgan State ZillowBears won first place and $20,000 for its “Z-Save” application, which estimates monthly mortgage costs and lets users deposit that amount into a virtual wallet that tracks their payment trends. The app also shows lenders data points to help determine whether potential homeowners qualify for a mortgage, and offer them a way to prove creditworthiness outside the traditional credit scoring system.
Their winning “Z-Save” application was designed to address disproportionate mortgage denial rates for Black and Latinx borrowers due to low credit scores by providing an alternative way for lenders to assess financial credibility. Users can build a positive payment history and receive a “Z-score,” which can be used as an indicator of creditworthiness. Now THAT is a solution.
By the way, the racks they won didn’t end there. Zillow® also will donate $25,000 to Morgan State’s computer science program as part of the first-place prize. Nice!
“I wanted to participate in the hackathon to learn more about the real estate industry and explore on a deeper level how technology can help solve the most prominent issues people face every day when trying to secure a home,” said Nanfwang Dawurang, a member of ZillowBears and a senior computer science student at Morgan State University. “Seeing how different people look at the same issue in completely different ways and the various innovative and exciting ideas presented in tackling housing issues showed me that progress can always be made when people come together and are intentional about solving a problem.”
Congrats to Morgan State!
The competition was stiff this year with more entrants than ever for Zillow’s Hackathon – 65 teams! Six teams advanced to the final round and had five minutes to present their ideas virtually, using live demonstrations and presentation decks, to a panel of judges made up of Zillow and tech industry leaders.
Congrats are also in order for the other Zillow Hackathon prize winners – teams Straw Hat Crew of Fisk University and First Move of Howard University.
Team Straw Hat Crew won second place and $12,000 for its “Hey Roomie” concept, a Zillow rental hub integration that uses machine learning to pair renters with potential compatible roommates or cosigners based on housing and lifestyle preferences. Straw Hat Crew included Collins Ikpeyi, Sopuruchi Ndubuisi and Elijah Okoroh.
Team First Move won third place and a $6,000 prize for “VibeZ”, an application geared toward millennial and Gen Z home shoppers that lets users search for homes based on community preferences, such as access to nightlife, greenspaces, the presence of an art scene and more. First Move team members included Bryce Gordon-Pinkston, Ife Martin, Ayotunde Ogunroku and Joshua Veasy.
The judges panel was stacked too: Eric Bailey, vice president of Experience Design at Zillow; Aldona Clottey, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility at Zillow; April Daley, software engineer at Etsy; Jonathan Rabb, founder and CEO of Watch The Yard; and Chad Womack, Ph.D., vice president of National STEM Programs and Tech Initiatives at UNCF.
Congrats to all the winners on their game changing tech concepts!
Photos: Courtesy of Zillow
