# Philadelphia Foreclosure & Tax-Sale Auction Monitor (`slate_spool/foreclosure-auction-listings`) Actor

Monitors Philadelphia County sheriff foreclosure and tax-sale auction dockets in real time. Returns structured data including record ID, auction ID, address, book/writ, parcel IDs (including compound multi-parcel bundles), sale type (mortgage foreclosure or tax foreclosure), sale date, current bid,

- **URL**: https://apify.com/slate\_spool/foreclosure-auction-listings.md
- **Developed by:** [Wes Shields](https://apify.com/slate_spool) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate, Automation
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $50.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Philadelphia Foreclosure & Tax-Sale Auction Monitor

Monitors Philadelphia County sheriff foreclosure and tax-sale auction dockets in real time. Returns structured data including record ID, auction ID, address, book/writ, parcel IDs (including compound multi-parcel bundles), sale type (mortgage foreclosure or tax foreclosure), sale date, current bid, status, and canonical detail URLs. Built for real estate investors, wholesalers, and title companies who need early visibility on distressed properties before they hit mainstream channels.

### Features

- Subscription-style monitoring: detects new listings and field-level changes (bid updates, status changes) since the last watch cycle
- Structured JSON output with full listing details and canonical URLs constructed from numeric source record IDs
- Configurable watch filters: region, sale category (mortgage foreclosure, tax foreclosure), keywords, and statuses
- Webhook and email-ready alerts on every detected change
- Polite, robots.txt-compliant scraping with rate limiting and visible failure modes
- Scheduled monitoring every 6 hours (America/New\_York)

### Use Cases

- Distressed property deal sourcing for investors and wholesalers
- Title company pre-auction due diligence and lien tracking
- Automated pipeline feeding for property comp analysis and ARV modeling
- Portfolio monitoring for lenders tracking foreclosure activity on collateral
- Pair with property assessor records and commercial RE listing data for a complete Philadelphia real estate intelligence stack

### FAQ

**Q: What geographic area does this cover?**
A: Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania only. Data is sourced from the official Philadelphia Sheriff auction site (auction.phillysheriff.com). No other counties or jurisdictions are included.

**Q: How fresh is the data?**
A: Each monitoring cycle fetches live data from the sheriff's public listing pages. The default schedule runs every 6 hours. You can trigger manual runs as needed.

**Q: What counts as a "change"?**
A: The monitor fingerprints meaningful listing fields (bid amount, status, sale date). Volatile fields like fetch timestamps do not trigger false alerts. Only substantive updates — new listings, bid changes, status transitions — are emitted.

**Q: Can I integrate this with other real estate data tools?**
A: Yes. This tool is designed to cluster with property assessor records and commercial RE listing aggregators for a complete distressed-to-market pipeline. Combine auction data with assessor parcels for instant equity estimates, or cross-reference with commercial listings for disposition comps.

**Q: Is this legal?**
A: Yes. All data is public auction information from the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office. This is not legal, title, investment, or bidding advice. Confirm every record with the Sheriff's Office before acting.

# Actor input Schema

## `monitorId` (type: `string`):

Stable 3-64 character ID for this saved subscriber watch. Do not change it between scheduled runs.

## `regions` (type: `array`):

Jurisdictions to watch. This source currently supports Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

## `categories` (type: `array`):

Optional normalized categories: MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE or TAX FORECLOSURE.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Case-insensitive words or phrases matched against address, writ, parcel, category, status, and auction ID.

## `keywordMode` (type: `string`):

Match any keyword or require all keywords.

## `statuses` (type: `array`):

Optional exact source statuses, such as Preview, Bidding, Postponed, or Sold.

## `webhookUrl` (type: `string`):

Optional HTTPS endpoint. Each new or changed match is POSTed as JSON; non-2xx responses fail visibly and preserve prior state for retry.

## `notificationEmail` (type: `string`):

Optional destination included in email-ready alert objects. This staged Actor does not require mail credentials or send mail directly.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Named key-value store retained between scheduled runs.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard observation cap; output remains new/changed records only.

## `startPage` (type: `integer`):

Listing result page to start from.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on listing pages fetched.

## `maxRequests` (type: `integer`):

Hard request budget including robots.txt.

## `maxRunSecs` (type: `integer`):

Hard wall-clock budget.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Polite delay; values below 750 ms are rejected.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Abort any source or webhook request that exceeds this duration.

## `maxErrors` (type: `integer`):

The Actor fails visibly once this budget is exceeded.

## `includeRunUsage` (type: `boolean`):

Retains source request/page counters internally; dataset output remains alerts only.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "monitorId": "philadelphia-foreclosure-watch",
  "regions": [
    "Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania"
  ],
  "categories": [],
  "keywords": [],
  "keywordMode": "any",
  "statuses": [],
  "webhookUrl": "",
  "notificationEmail": "",
  "stateStoreName": "foreclosure-auction-monitor-state",
  "maxItems": 100,
  "startPage": 1,
  "maxPages": 5,
  "maxRequests": 10,
  "maxRunSecs": 120,
  "requestDelayMs": 1200,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
  "maxErrors": 0,
  "includeRunUsage": true
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("slate_spool/foreclosure-auction-listings").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("slate_spool/foreclosure-auction-listings").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call slate_spool/foreclosure-auction-listings --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,slate_spool/foreclosure-auction-listings"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/IhbkfoswlpsDbiyR2/builds/sTLCpU9g6AR5LqAxS/openapi.json