Web scraping is the process of extracting information from a source or website which contains valuable information and scraping all of that and saving it in your system in the format you would like to view it in such as CSV file and much more.

Previously, if a company needed to extract information from a website, they would opt for the method of copy-pasting. But the drawback here was when it comes to large data the copy-pasting would consume a lot of time to conduct the action and when you copy-paste big data the website slows down alerting the owner of suspicious activity.

But with web scraping, this isn’t the case. In just a few minutes you can easily extract information without slowing down the website which is why it has grown to be popular. To conduct web scraping activities is convenient, all you need to is:

1 . Select the website/source you want to scrape

2. Choose the data which you needs scraping
3. Run the web scraping code
4. Save it all in your system

So how can web scraping impact your real estate business?

1. HELPS IN BETTER PROPERTY ACTIVITIES

Real estate pricing plays a crucial role. Many real estate agents cannot add a whopping amount to sell to a buyer. The need to understand how different properties work and the amount it holds. When they do this they can offer the right homes for buyers as well as earn in a much better manner. Hence with web scraping, this is possible. 

All you need to do is find out the relevant information related to the houses that are in which houses are more in demand, which pricing is more ideal and what features buyers are looking for in a house. All of this can help you to segregate the information, categorize the information and serve needs much better.

2. KEEPS A TRACK OF YOUR COMPETITORS

Keep a track of your competitors, when you are aware of what your competitors are doing you will be able to sell better. Your competitors will have a particular strategy that is winning them over to tap buyers quickly, having an account that will help you to monitor and understand what strategies they are using and help create a better strategy than theirs. 

In real estate, many new agents have stepped in the market and are looking at ways to sell better to buyers. Having competitor information always keeps you on top of the game and comes out with innovative solutions which will help you to tackle them better.

3. ENGAGE BETTER ONLINE

The online platform is one of the best platforms to engage better with buyers. From creating the best content strategies with relevant blogs and regular social media posting to creating videos and visuals which can tap the attention of prospects, the online platform is the best way to engage with buyers. Web scraping can help make this more efficient. 

Let’s understand this with an example:

There are thousands of blogs, posts and videos shared online, how can your content framework stand out? With web scraping, you can easily scrape through all the information related to which blog topics are trending, what buyers want to read, what makes them click a post, what videos they like to watch, what they want to know from real estate agents and so on.

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When you can grasp all that information, it becomes easier to tap your leads and convert them into a qualified sales lead.

4. ELIMINATE BAD REVIEWS

With the competition getting fierce and the number of competitors tackling other brands, it is a very common thing for brands to experience bad reviews unknowingly. The reason could be numerous, either to disrupt another agency and many more. 

Despite such action, any bad review can cause your buyer to take a step back before indulging with you which can be a bad thing. Hence web scraping helps to eliminate just that. 

With web scraping, you can scrape through all the reviews written about your brand before any damage can take place. Conducting this scraping work regularly can help in maintaining a good image for your brand.

5. IMPROVISE ON THE CURRENT SOLUTION

What makes your brand better is the way you engage with buyers. If you are not keeping up with the real estate market or if you are not aware of what your buyers are looking for, it becomes difficult to engage and grow with your selling strategies. 

Web scraping can help extract all relevant information such as buyers' needs in the current market, market updates and many more. This all contributes to improving your current selling solutions and making it more efficient and effective when you are engaging with prospects. 

The real estate market is constantly on a change with either the market going down or higher, it is important that with web scraping giving you all the data in your system, the way you engage with buyers should be on point and much better.

There are multiple web scraping tools that can help you get started right away, luckily for you we have conducted our research and chosen the top tools that can help you get started.

1. DEXI.IO

Dexi.io also referred to as Cloudscape extracts data from the website without any need of downloading any of the information. With the scraping activities, the data can be easily saved in cloud-based platforms such as Google Drive. Dexi.io also supports the use of proxy servers so that to conduct anonymous access of data.

FEATURES:

1 . Web Scraping

2. Automation Tools
3. High scale knowledge capture
4. Data mining and much more

PRICING:

For business purposes, Standard -$119/m, Professional- $399/m and Corporate- $699/m.

RATINGS:

4.6/5

2. WEBHOSE.IO

Webhose.io conducts web scraping activities in more than 240 languages and also supports saving it in different formats such as JSON, RSS and more. It is a browser-based app where a data crawling technology has been used to crawl multiple channels with a single API.

FEATURES:

1 . Conducts Financial analysis

2. Conducts market research
3. Conducts Media and web monitoring and much more

PRICING:

API calls depend on the plans you choose for instance to receive 1000 API calls it will cost monthly $39, click here for more details

RATINGS:

5/5

3. IMPORT.IO

Using the best technology, import.io conducts efficient web scraping activities. It conducts web scraping activities by allowing you to form your datasets by importing data from a web page being selected and exporting the data you have in any format you like such as CSV file.

The greatest thing about import.io is that you don’t require any coding which makes the process much easier.

FEATURES:

1 . Easy capture of data

2. Deliver high-quality web data
3. Conducts web data integration and much more

PRICING:

Need to enquire with Import.io team

RATINGS: 

3.9/5

While web scraping offers you such benefits, it still isn’t secure. There are high chances of you getting blocked while capturing data online and if this happens it can cause a disturbance in your work. Hence it is wise to perform data scraping for real estate with a secure solution.

Proxy servers are what you require.

Proxy servers stand between a user and the website it wants to access. When a user sends a request to view a restricted website the proxy server will receive the request first and then send it to the website. The reason why a proxy server receives it first is that it changes the IP address.

Many times you get blocked when viewing restricted sources of information because your IP address speaks about the location you are in. What a proxy server does is it helps to eliminate that issue by hiding your actual identity and giving another one.

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When it comes to web scraping for your business activities, proxy servers are beneficial. While you continue to scrape the multiple websites, proxy servers ensure that your identity is hidden and that the scraping activity conducts quicker.