{
  "id": 15548124,
  "title": "The houses on my list are my side hustle, so Gemma scores them and the list never leaves my phone",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/19/the-houses-on-my-list-are-my-side-hustle-so-gemma-scores-them-and-the",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-19T03:03:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/casmazariegos/the-houses-on-my-list-are-my-side-hustle-so-gemma-scores-them-and-the-list-never-leaves-my-phone-3if9"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Walk the Block is an on-device-friendly mobile app designed for wholesalers and small investors seeking an alternative to cloud-based driving-for-dollars software. The app enables users to photograph a house's front, and an open-weight Gemma model assesses the property's distress score on a scale of 0 to 100. This score is generated based solely on observable factors, such as tarp covers, damaged roofs, overgrown yards, boarded windows, peeling paint, junk, boarded windows, broken fences, and vacant appearances. The app then crafts a respectful postcard in English or Spanish, addressed to the homeowner, offering a buying opportunity without hinting at the issue at hand. The lead list, photos, and notes remain stored locally on the user's device. Walk the Block is built using a static Vite + React + TypeScript framework and is deployed to Cloudflare Workers static assets, ensuring zero reliance on an app server and no per-photo charges. The app supports both private Ollama backends and Google AI Studio/Gemini API options, maintaining control over data privacy and avoiding vendor lock-in.",
  "summary": "This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 2: Side Hustle . What I Built Walk the Block is a phone tool for drive-for-dollars in Hemet, Riverside County. I research houses for wholesale. The job is simple and a little uncomfortable: you drive a neighborhood, look for a roof under a tarp or a yard that has gone to seed, and then you have to write to a person you have…",
  "key_points": [
    "Walk the Block is a mobile app for wholesalers and small investors",
    "App assesses property distress score using Gemma model",
    "Lead list and photos stored locally on user's device"
  ],
  "editors_take": "By processing property assessments and lead lists locally, this tool offers real estate wholesalers a way to automate distress identification while maintaining strict data privacy and avoiding cloud-based costs.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}