# Zillow Price & Zestimate Watch (`titan_coder/zillow-price-watch`) Actor

Zillow scrapers snapshot a listing and forget it, so you rebuild the history yourself. This one remembers the last confirmed price, Zestimate and status per listing and bills only when something actually moved. No third-party browser account needed; blocked and failed checks are never billed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/titan\_coder/zillow-price-watch.md
- **Developed by:** [Radu Furtuna](https://apify.com/titan_coder) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate, Automation
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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

## Zillow Price & Zestimate Watch 🏠

**Watch specific Zillow listings and get paid-for alerts only when price, Zestimate, or status genuinely
change — not a one-shot data dump, and not a bill for every check.**

Zillow blocks plain scrapers with a "Press & Hold" challenge. This Actor connects through a real remote
browser (your own Bright Data Scraping Browser) to get past it, then remembers what it last saw for each
listing so you only pay when something actually moved.

### Why this exists

Every existing Zillow Actor on the Store is a one-shot pull: run it, get today's numbers, done. None of
them offer a durable monitor that tracks a specific listing over time and only charges for a genuine, new
change.

### What you need

**Nothing but a monitorId and some listing URLs.** Zillow's bot defense blocks plain HTTP requests, so a
real anti-detect browser is required — this Actor uses a built-in stealth browser by default, with no
third-party account or key on your side.

You can still point it at your own remote browser (`brightDataCdpUrl`, e.g. a Bright Data Scraping
Browser) if you prefer. The backend is never switched automatically: whichever you set is what runs, and
it is reported in the run's `coverage.fetchBackend`.

### How it works

1. Give it a `monitorId` and a list of Zillow listing URLs.
2. Each run opens every listing in the stealth browser and compares price/Zestimate/status against what it
   saw last time for that listing.
3. **You pay for a confirmed check** (`listing-check-confirmed`) only when the page genuinely loaded and
   data was extracted — a failed/blocked/timed-out attempt is never billed to you, even though the browser
   run it attempted is real and is not refundable.
4. **You pay for a change** (`listing-change-detected`) once per field that actually moved since the last
   confirmed check (price, Zestimate, or status) — checking a listing that stayed the same costs only the
   check fee, nothing more.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `monitorId` | Names this monitor's durable history — required. |
| `listings` | 1–15 Zillow listing URLs (must contain `.../<zpid>_zpid/`). New listings can be added later under the same `monitorId`. |
| `brightDataCdpUrl` | Optional. Leave empty to use the built-in stealth browser. If set, never logged or stored in plain form. |
| `notifyOn` | `new_alerts` (default) fires the webhook only when paid changes were delivered. |
| `webhookUrl` | HTTPS only; delivers a digest of paid changes as JSON. |

### Output

- **Dataset** — one row per delivered change: zpid, which field changed, old/new value, listing URL,
  timestamp. Unchanged checks don't appear in the Dataset — see run coverage for how many were checked.
- **Run status** — clear reasons on bad input, a Bright Data connection failure, or a run that ran out of
  time.

### What this does NOT promise

Real-time monitoring (each run is a snapshot at the moment it executes), a guarantee against Zillow
changing its page structure or blocking method, or coverage of listings that come off-market entirely
(a delisted page may simply stop returning data).

### A note on the source

Zillow shows a "Press & Hold" challenge to plain automated requests. This Actor gets past it by connecting
to a real remote browser session (your Bright Data Scraping Browser) rather than sending a raw HTTP
request — the same reason a real person's browser isn't challenged. Not an official API; Zillow's page
structure could change at any time.

#### What a check actually costs you, in full

Reading Zillow requires driving a real anti-detect browser, and that browser run appears on **your** Apify
bill. Measured on a live run:

| line item | per check |
|---|---|
| this Actor's `listing-check-confirmed` | see the pricing box above |
| built-in stealth browser (its own two events) | $0.004 |
| platform compute for that browser run | ~$0.036 |

If you supply your own `brightDataCdpUrl` instead, you pay that provider directly for the same browser
work — the cost does not disappear, it moves off your Apify bill onto theirs. We would rather state this
up front than let you find it on an invoice.

# Actor input Schema

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

Name of this monitor's durable history (a-z, 0-9, dash; up to 40 chars).

## `listings` (type: `array`):

1-15 Zillow property URLs (e.g. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/.../12345678\_zpid/). New listings can be added later under the same monitorId.

## `brightDataCdpUrl` (type: `string`):

Optional. Leave EMPTY to use the built-in stealth anti-detect browser — no third-party account or key needed. Provide your own Bright Data Scraping Browser endpoint only if you prefer to route through your own browser. The backend is never switched automatically and is reported in the run's coverage.

## `notifyOn` (type: `string`):

new\_alerts — post the webhook only when new paid changes were delivered; always — post it every run; never — do not call webhookUrl at all.

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

Optional. Receives a digest of delivered (paid) changes as JSON (POST). HTTPS only.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "monitorId": "my-watchlist",
  "listings": [
    "https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1208-Kinney-Ave-Austin-TX-78704/29324051_zpid/"
  ],
  "notifyOn": "new_alerts"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Every row this run produced. Key fields: zpid, field, oldValue, newValue, url, discoveredAt.

## `coverage` (type: `string`):

What this run actually covered and what it charged for: per-target status and reason, rows delivered and rows billed. Enough to reconcile every charge against every row.

## `digest` (type: `string`):

A short human-readable summary of what this run found, written every run.

# 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 = {
    "monitorId": "my-watchlist",
    "listings": [
        "https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1208-Kinney-Ave-Austin-TX-78704/29324051_zpid/"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("titan_coder/zillow-price-watch").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 = {
    "monitorId": "my-watchlist",
    "listings": ["https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1208-Kinney-Ave-Austin-TX-78704/29324051_zpid/"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("titan_coder/zillow-price-watch").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 '{
  "monitorId": "my-watchlist",
  "listings": [
    "https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1208-Kinney-Ave-Austin-TX-78704/29324051_zpid/"
  ]
}' |
apify call titan_coder/zillow-price-watch --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,titan_coder/zillow-price-watch"
        }
    }
}
```

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/ZGmaZ4DlCHxX8GTVf/builds/vWCAszoxbWMUSwsMX/openapi.json