Auction Property Leads - Sheriff, Trustee, Online Auctions

TL;DR for fix-and-flip investors, wholesalers, and auction buyers hunting trustee-sale and courthouse-step inventory: Pulls Zillow auction listings (live auction, online auction, trustee sale, sheriff sale) filtered by your buy-box and returns each property pre-scored with flip_score, estimated ARV, regional rehab cost band, and 70% rule MAO. Compared to Auction.com or Hubzu daily blasts, you get the underlying Zillow auction inventory plus auto-computed flip score, ARV estimate, rehab cost band, and MAO calculated against your target margin in one dataset. Free Apify plan covers a few locations on your $5 platform credit, then demo samples plus an upgrade message. Upgrade to Apify Starter ($49/mo) for unlimited volume.

Run it in 30 seconds

# Via the Apify Python SDK
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("seibs.co/property-auction-leads").call(run_input={
    "locations": [
        "Phoenix, AZ"
    ],
    "only_auctions": true,
    "min_flip_score": 60,
    "max_results_per_location": 50
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Or via curl:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/seibs.co~property-auction-leads/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"locations": ["Phoenix, AZ"], "only_auctions": true, "min_flip_score": 60, "max_results_per_location": 50}'

Or click "Try for free" on this page if you prefer the no-code UI.

What you get

Each run produces:

• A clean dataset, filterable in the Apify console and downloadable as CSV or JSON
• An OUTPUT.html dashboard preview of your top records
• A sample-output preview at ./.actor/sample-output.json

Per-archetype custom artifacts shipped with this actor:

• top-flip-candidates.csv (sorted by flip_score, with ARV and MAO columns)
• mao-worksheet.csv (70% rule pre-calculated against estimated ARV minus rehab)
• auction-calendar.csv (chronological by auction_date for bid planning)

---

What does Auction Property Leads do?

Pulls every auction-status listing surfaced through Zillow - sheriff sales, trustee sales, and online foreclosure auctions (Auction.com, Hubzu, ServiceLink, Xome) - for the cities you supply, optionally enriches each detail page (description, full price history, nearby comps, schools, HOA, contact info), and computes a transparent flip score plus 70%-rule deal metrics. Defaults to only_auctions=true so you do not have to remember to toggle it.

Features

• Three auction flavors normalized: sheriff sale (county-conducted, courthouse steps, 24-48 hour cash), trustee sale (lender-conducted, deed-of-trust states), online auction (Auction.com / Hubzu / ServiceLink / Xome).
• Pre-set only_auctions=true default - no manual toggle needed.
• Detail-page enrichment: description, photo count, price history, up to 15 ACTIVE comps, up to 15 SOLD comps (critical because auction buyers cannot inspect interior), schools, HOA, property tax rate, contact info.
• Flip score (0.0 - 1.0) with reasons array and per-signal breakdown: condition keywords, DOM, price-vs-Zestimate, price drops, age, status, photos.
• Deal metrics: ARV (comp + Zestimate blend), rehab cost (older homes get larger assumptions), MAO 70% / 75% / 65%, profit estimate, holding cost, rent-to-price ratio.
• Auction-aware rehab pricing: +$20/sqft sight-unseen premium baked in.
• Owner intel: skip-trace-ready record, absentee inference, estimated equity %, years owned.
• Distress sub-categorization, climate risk, walk/transit/bike scores.

Use cases

• Cash buyers hunting auction inventory in target metros
• Wholesalers building distressed-property pipelines
• Fix-and-flip operators looking for off-market and lender-conducted sales
• Real-estate funds and family offices monitoring auction supply across markets
• Investor lead-list resellers who want a recurring auction feed
• Hard money / private lenders prospecting active auction bidders

FAQ

Q: Is this legal? A: Yes. Auction listings on Zillow are publicly accessible. The actor never logs in, never bypasses a paywall, and never scrapes private data. You are responsible for following Zillow's terms of service and any local rules on contacting trustees, owners, or auction bidders.

Q: Sheriff sale vs trustee sale - what's the difference and when does each matter? A: A sheriff_sale is a judicial foreclosure conducted by the county sheriff on the courthouse steps after a judge orders the sale - common in IL, NJ, NY, FL, PA, OH and most "judicial" states. A trustee_sale is a non-judicial foreclosure conducted by a trustee under a deed-of-trust power-of-sale clause, no court involvement - common in CA, TX, AZ, NV, GA, WA and most "non-judicial" states. Pattern matters because (1) trustee sales move 2-3x faster than sheriff sales, so your lead-time window is shorter, (2) sheriff-sale states usually have a redemption period giving the owner months to reclaim the property post-sale, (3) trustee-sale states often allow online bidding (Auction.com, Hubzu) while sheriff sales are physical courthouse-step events.

Q: Why might a run fail? A: The three most common failure modes are (1) Zillow blocking your IP because you skipped the residential proxy default, (2) a location string that Zillow's geocoder cannot resolve, and (3) hitting Zillow's hard 500-result cap per search URL - split large metros into ZIP-cluster runs.

Q: How fresh is the data? A: Live at run time. Auction date, opening bid, and trustee details are pulled from Zillow's auction detail page when present. Note: Zillow updates auction-day fields inconsistently. Treat the actor as a discovery layer, then verify sale-day details against the trustee / sheriff / Auction.com / Hubzu source of truth before bidding.

Q: Can I schedule this daily or weekly? A: Yes. Daily cron is appropriate for high-velocity auction markets (Phoenix, Atlanta, Tampa, Las Vegas). Weekly works for slower geos. Apify Schedules + zpid dedupe = a clean delta feed into your CRM.

Q: Does it integrate with my CRM or data tooling? A: Yes. Apify webhooks POST every successful run to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Apollo, or any HTTP endpoint. Zapier, Make.com, and n8n templates available. Dataset exports as JSON / CSV / Excel / XML.

Q: How does pricing work? A: PAY_PER_EVENT. You pay per listing record, with a small enrichment fee per detail page and a surcharge on records that clear the auction-quality bar. You only pay for what the actor actually emits.

Q: Can I dedupe across runs? A: Yes. Dedupe on zpid - it's Zillow's stable parcel identifier and persists across runs and status changes.

Related Actors

• foreclosure-property-leads - upstream sibling for pre-foreclosure, REO, and bank-owned inventory.
• house-flipper-leads - same engine targeting the full active distressed-flip inventory.
• court-records-intel - pull the underlying foreclosure judgment, order of sale, and case docket that drove a trustee or sheriff to the courthouse steps.

Integrations

• Zapier - push to HubSpot/Salesforce/Pipedrive/Apollo
• Make.com - workflow automation
• n8n - self-hosted automation
• Apify webhooks - POST to your endpoint
• API + dataset export (JSON/CSV/Excel/XML)
• MCP / AI agents - call from Claude/GPT/LangChain

Input

{
    "locations": ["Atlanta, GA", "Houston, TX"],
    "only_auctions": true,
    "include_foreclosures": true,
    "min_price": 50000,
    "max_price": 350000,
    "min_beds": 2,
    "min_sqft": 800,
    "home_types": ["SingleFamily"],
    "days_on_zillow_min": 14,
    "min_flip_score": 0.6,
    "enrich_details": true,
    "enrich_concurrency": 6,
    "use_apify_proxy": true,
    "apify_proxy_groups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apify_proxy_country": "US",
    "max_results_per_location": 100,
    "max_pages_per_location": 5
}

Output

Sample output: ./.actor/sample-output.json â€" copy-paste-ready preview of real-looking records.

First record inline:

{
  "zpid": "60123437",
  "address": "3146 Tutwiler Ave",
  "city": "Memphis",
  "state": "TN",
  "zip": "38108",
  "lat": 35.1815,
  "lng": -89.971,
  "price": 58500,
  "zestimate": 128000,
  "rent_zestimate": 497,
  "tax_assessed_value": 99840,
  "beds": 3,
  "baths": 1.0,
  "sqft": 1180,
  "lot_size_sqft": 7080,
  "year_built": 1942,
  "home_type": "SingleFamily",
  "home_status": "AUCTION",
  "listing_status_category": "auction",
  "days_on_zillow": 11,
  "price_reduction": null,
  "detail_url": "https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/60123437_zpid/",
  "img_src": "https://photos.zillowstatic.com/fp/901-house.jpg",
  "broker_name": "Keller Williams Heritage",
  "scraped_at": "2026-05-09T11:14:32Z",
  "source": "auction",
  "description": "Investor special \u2014 auction. 3 bed / 1.0 bath, 1180 sqft. Sold AS-IS. Cash or hard-money only.",
  "price_history": [
    {
      "date": "2026-04-12",
      "event": "Price change",
      "price": 58500,
      "priceChangeRate": -0.06,
      "source": "Zillow"
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-02-28",
      "event": "Listed for sale",
      "price": 73500,
      "priceChangeRate": null,
      "source": "MLS"
    },
    {
      "date": "2019-07-15",
      "event": "Sold",
      "price": 36270,
      "priceChangeRate": null,
      "source": "Public Record"
    }
  ],
  "photo_count": 8,
  "schools": [
    {
      "name": "Memphis Elementary",
      "rating": 6,
      "distance": 0.4
    },
    {
      "name": "Memphis Middle School",
      "rating": 5,
      "distance": 1.2
    },
    {
      "name": "Memphis High School",
      "rating": 7,
      "distance": 2.8
    }
  ],
  "hoa_fee": null,
  "property_tax_rate": 1.85,
  "contact_phone": "(480) 555-1011",
  "contact_agent": "Priya Shah",
  "owner_occupied": false,
  "likely_owner_occupied": false,
  "detail_enriched": true,
  "flipper_keywords": {
    "auction": [
      "auction"
    ],
    "trustee": [
      "trustee sale"
    ],
    "as-is": [
      "as-is"
    ],
    "cash": [
      "cash only"
    ]
  },
  "flip_score": {
    "score": 0.85,
    "components": {
      "keyword_score": 0.35,
      "anti_keyword_penalty": 0.0,
      "dom_score": 0.1,
      "price_drop_score": 0.0,
      "status_score": 0.15,
      "zestimate_gap_score": 0.1,
      "age_score": 0.05,
      "low_photo_score": 0.05
    },
    "matched_keywords": [
      "auction",
      "trustee sale",
      "as-is",
      "cash only"
    ],
    "anti_keywords": []
  },
  "deal_metrics": {
    "arv_estimate": 140800,
    "arv_source": "sold_comps",
    "rehab_cost_estimate": 53100,
    "estimated_rehab_months": 7,
    "exit_strategies": {
      "flip_70_rule": {
        "mao": 45460,
        "rule": "ARV * 0.70 - rehab"
      },
      "brrrr_75_rule": {
        "mao": 52500,
        "rule": "ARV * 0.75 - rehab"
      },
      "wholesale_65_rule": {
        "mao": 38420,
        "rule": "ARV * 0.65 - rehab"
      }
    },
    "gross_profit_estimate": 25936,
    "gross_margin_pct": 18.4,
    "net_profit_estimate": 22045,
    "all_in_cost_estimate": 114864,
    "monthly_holding_cost": 408,
    "total_holding_cost_estimate": 3264,
    "annual_rent_to_price": 0.1019,
    "monthly_rent_estimate": 497,
    "price_per_sqft": 49.58,
    "cash_on_cash_return_pct": 9.2
  },
  "tax_history": [
    {
      "year": 2025,
      "value": 99840,
      "tax_paid": 2368
    },
    {
      "year": 2024,
      "value": 94720,
      "tax_paid": 2329
    }
  ],
  "active_nearby_homes": [],
  "sold_nearby_homes": [
    {
      "address": "1200 Maple St",
      "sold_price": 133760,
      "sqft": 1180,
      "beds": 3,
      "sold_date": "2026-03-15"
    },
    {
      "address": "1242 Pine St",
      "sold_price": 137984,
      "sqft": 1230,
      "beds": 3,
      "sold_date": "2026-03-15"
    },
    {
      "address": "1284 Oak St",
      "sold_price": 142208,
      "sqft": 1280,
      "beds": 3,
      "sold_date": "2026-03-15"
    }
  ],
  "best_school_rating": 7,
  "contact_email": null,
  "parcel_id": "00000901-10",
  "owner_info": {
    "owner_name": "Trustee Sale (per court order)",
    "owner_first_name": "Trustee Sale",
    "owner_last_name": "(per court order)",
    "is_owner_occupied": false,
    "mailing_address": "N/A \u2014 trustee sale",
    "last_sold_price": 36270,
    "last_sold_date": "2019-07-15",
    "years_owned": 7,
    "likely_absentee": true
  },
  "distress_categories": {
    "as_is": [
      "as-is"
    ],
    "fixer": [],
    "motivated_seller": []
  },
  "neighborhood_delta": {
    "vs_neighborhood_active_pct": -18.4,
    "vs_neighborhood_ppsf_pct": -22.1,
    "below_neighborhood_median": true
  },
  "appreciation": {
    "yoy_appreciation_pct": 4.2,
    "five_year_appreciation_pct": 38.6,
    "history_span_years": 8
  },
  "estimated_owner_equity_pct": 63,
  "property_condition_tier": "heavy_rehab",
  "predicted_price_from_comps": {
    "predicted_price": 140800,
    "confidence": "medium",
    "comp_count_used": 6,
    "comp_median_ppsf": 119.32,
    "adjustments_applied": {
      "sqft_adj": 1.02,
      "year_built_adj": 0.98,
      "beds_adj": 1.0
    }
  },
  "skip_trace_record": {
    "first_name": "Trustee Sale",
    "last_name": "(per court order)",
    "full_name": "Trustee Sale (per court order)",
    "mailing_address": "N/A \u2014 trustee sale",
    "mailing_city": "Phoenix",
    "mailing_state": "AZ",
    "mailing_zip": "85001",
    "property_address": "3146 Tutwiler Ave",
    "property_city": "Memphis",
    "property_state": "TN",
    "property_zip": "38108",
    "is_absentee_owner": true,
    "years_owned": 7,
    "last_sold_price": 36270,
    "skip_trace_ready": true
  },
  "climate_risk": {
    "flood": {
      "risk_score": 2,
      "risk_level": "minor"
    },
    "fire": {
      "risk_score": 4,
      "risk_level": "moderate"
    },
    "heat": {
      "risk_score": 7,
      "risk_level": "major"
    },
    "wind": {
      "risk_score": 3,
      "risk_level": "minor"
    },
    "air": {
      "risk_score": 5,
      "risk_level": "moderate"
    }
  },
  "walk_score": 43,
  "transit_score": 29,
  "bike_score": 39,
  "climate_zone": "subtropical",
  "flood_zone": "X",
  "has_septic": false,
  "has_well": false,
  "has_solar": false
}

Sample record (abridged):

{
    "zpid": "47129382",
    "address": "918 Park Ave",
    "city": "Atlanta",
    "state": "GA",
    "zipcode": "30314",
    "price": 92000,
    "zestimate": 187000,
    "beds": 3,
    "baths": 1,
    "sqft": 1100,
    "year_built": 1955,
    "home_status": "FOR_AUCTION",
    "listing_status_category": "auction",
    "days_on_zillow": 21,
    "flipper_keywords": ["cash only", "as-is", "investor special", "no inspection"],
    "flip_score": {
        "score": 0.78,
        "reasons": ["auction status", "list 51% of Zestimate", "older home", "distress keywords"],
        "signals": {"keywords": 0.9, "price_vs_zestimate": 0.95, "status": 0.8, "age": 0.7}
    },
    "deal_metrics": {
        "arv_estimate": 190000,
        "arv_source": "sold_comps",
        "rehab_cost_estimate": 55000,
        "exit_strategies": {
            "flip_70_rule": {"mao": 78000, "fits_rule": false},
            "wholesale_65_rule": {"mao": 68500, "fits_rule": false}
        },
        "gross_profit_estimate": 24000,
        "annual_rent_to_price": 0.182
    },
    "sold_nearby_homes": [
        {"address": "924 Park Ave", "sold_price": 195000, "sqft": 1080, "sold_date": "2026-04-09"}
    ],
    "scraped_at": "2026-05-14T12:00:00Z"
}

The dataset preview ships with four views: Overview (key columns), Detailed (every field with formatting hints), Sold comps (one row per sold comparable per auction subject - exploded via unwind, the most important view for sight-unseen underwriting), and a CSV download.

Pricing

PAY_PER_EVENT.

Event	Price	When
auction_record	$0.010	One emitted auction record
detail_enrichment	$0.005	When detail page was fetched
high_flip_score	$0.008	Surcharge when flip_score.score >= 0.6

Typical run with enrichment on lands at $0.015 - $0.023 per record.

FAQ

Q: Do I need cash to buy at these auctions? A: Sheriff and trustee sales typically require certified funds within 24-48 hours. Online auctions vary - some offer financing windows, most do not.

Q: Can I inspect properties before bidding? A: Usually no. Estimate rehab generously. The sold_comps unwind view is your best underwriting tool because the actor cannot inspect the interior either.

Q: What about title issues, liens, redemption periods? A: Liens, second mortgages, IRS tax liens, and HOA balances may survive the sale depending on state and lien priority - pull title before bidding. Several states grant the foreclosed owner a statutory redemption window after the sale.

Q: Do online auction platforms charge fees? A: Yes - Auction.com, Hubzu, and similar charge buyer premiums of 5-10% on top of the winning bid. Factor this into MAO before bidding.

Q: How fresh is auction inventory? A: Sheriff and trustee sales often have a defined sale date - re-run weekly per market. Online auctions refresh continuously as bids and rounds advance.

Q: Why a residential proxy? A: Zillow blocks datacenter IPs aggressively. RESIDENTIAL is the minimum viable configuration. The actor defaults to it.

Q: Does this transact properties? A: No. Lead generation only - no bidding, no earnest money, no legal or financial advice.

Save your input as an Apify Task

Apify Tasks let you save a configured input once and re-run it with a single click - no need to re-type search terms, locations, filters, or tier settings every time. Tasks are the foundation for everything that comes next: schedules, monitor mode, and webhook routing all attach to a saved Task, not to the raw actor.

Steps to save your current input as a Task:

1. On this actor's Apify Store page, click Run with your input fully configured.
2. Click the Save as task button at the top of the run page.
3. Name the task something memorable (e.g. Auctions in Cook County, IL - daily).
4. Reload the task page and click Start anytime to re-run with the same inputs.

Tasks unlock the next two features below: scheduling and monitor mode.

Run this weekly with Apify Schedules

Apify Schedules cron-run any saved Task automatically. Pair this with the saved Task above and you get hands-off recurring runs with no manual clicks, no missed weeks, and a steady stream of fresh data into your CRM or warehouse.

Steps to schedule a Task:

1. Save your input as a Task (see above).
2. Go to https://console.apify.com/schedules and click Create new schedule.
3. Pick your Task and set the cron expression. Common patterns:
   • Daily at 9am UTC: 0 9 * * *
   • Weekly on Mondays at 9am: 0 9 * * 1
   • Monthly on the 1st: 0 9 1 * *
4. Save. Apify will run your Task on that schedule automatically, push the dataset to whatever integrations you have wired up, and fire run-completion webhooks for downstream automation.

Run daily to catch new auction notices, scheduled sale dates, and bid windows the morning they post.

Monitor mode (v2, beta)

Monitor mode is the v2 evolution of this actor and is currently in BETA. It turns a recurring schedule into a true change-feed instead of a firehose of duplicate records.

How it works:

• When this actor runs under an Apify Schedule, monitor mode is enabled automatically.
• Instead of emitting ALL records every run, it emits ONLY records that are NEW or CHANGED since the last scheduled run.
• A digest record summarizes the delta (X new, Y changed, Z removed) at the top of every run.
• Optional: provide a Slack or email webhook URL in the monitor_webhook_url input field and the digest fires there too, so your team gets the delta in their inbox or channel without polling the dataset.
• Cost: a single scheduled_delta_run event ($0.05) per scheduled run, plus standard PPE on emitted delta records only. Predictable monthly cost, no surprise bills from re-charging for unchanged records.

Monitor mode is rolling out to the top 3 actors first (this one included if it's hotel-motel-lead-finder, google-maps-reviews-pro, or mcp-accounting-firm-leads). Full portfolio coverage by end of June.

Support

GitHub issues or DM via the Apify Store contact form.

Found this useful?

If this actor saved you time or money, please consider leaving a quick review on the Apify Store. Reviews help other buyers find work that solves their problem and let me prioritize the features paying customers actually use. Leave a review: https://apify.com/seibs.co/property-auction-leads#reviews