Automated Property Market Reports with Bright Data and n8n

This n8n workflow automates the process of generating property market reports by scraping data from a website using Bright Data, extracting relevant information, and then storing it in a Google Sheet. It simplifies the collection and organization of real estate data for analysis or reporting.

What it does

This workflow performs the following key steps:

1. Triggers on a schedule: The workflow is set to run at predefined intervals, ensuring that market reports are generated regularly without manual intervention.
2. Scrapes property data: It uses an HTTP Request node to send a request to a Bright Data proxy, which then scrapes property market data from a specified website.
3. Extracts key information: The HTML content received from the Bright Data scrape is processed by an HTML node to extract specific data points (e.g., property listings, prices, locations, descriptions).
4. Stores data in Google Sheets: The extracted property data is then appended as new rows to a designated Google Sheet, creating a structured database of market information.

Prerequisites/Requirements

To use this workflow, you will need:

• n8n Instance: A running n8n instance (cloud or self-hosted).
• Bright Data Account: An active Bright Data account with a configured proxy for web scraping. You will need your proxy credentials (host, port, username, password).
• Google Account: A Google account with access to Google Sheets. You will need to create a new spreadsheet or identify an existing one where the data will be stored.
• Google Sheets Credentials: An n8n credential for Google Sheets (OAuth2 recommended) with access to create/update spreadsheets.

Setup/Usage

1. Import the workflow:

   • Download the provided JSON file.
   • In your n8n instance, click on "Workflows" in the left sidebar.
   • Click "New" and then "Import from JSON".
   • Paste the JSON content or upload the file.

2. Configure Credentials:

   • Bright Data:
     • Locate the "HTTP Request" node.
     • In the "Authentication" section, select "Predefined Credential".
     • Choose or create a new "HTTP Request" credential.
     • Enter your Bright Data proxy host, port, username, and password.
   • Google Sheets:
     • Locate the "Google Sheets" node.
     • In the "Credential" field, select or create a new "Google Sheets API" credential (OAuth2 is recommended for easier setup).
     • Follow the prompts to connect your Google account and grant n8n the necessary permissions to access Google Sheets.

3. Customize the workflow:

   • Schedule Trigger: Adjust the "Schedule Trigger" node to define how often you want the report to run (e.g., daily, weekly).
   • HTTP Request (Bright Data):
     • Update the URL in the "HTTP Request" node to the specific property market website you wish to scrape.
     • Ensure the Bright Data proxy settings are correctly configured for your target website.
   • HTML Node:
     • The "HTML" node will need to be configured with the correct CSS selectors to extract the specific data points (e.g., property title, price, address) from the scraped HTML. This will require inspecting the target website's HTML structure.
   • Google Sheets Node:
     • Specify the "Spreadsheet ID" of your target Google Sheet.
     • Enter the "Sheet Name" where the data should be appended.
     • Map the data extracted by the HTML node to the corresponding columns in your Google Sheet.

4. Activate the workflow: Once configured, activate the workflow by toggling the "Active" switch in the top right corner of the workflow editor.