StreetEasy Apartment Tracker (SET)

A Python script that monitors StreetEasy apartment listings and sends email notifications when new apartments matching your criteria are found.

Features

• Automated monitoring: Runs every 5 minutes to check for new listings (configurable)
• Email notifications: Beautiful HTML emails with apartment images and details
• Duplicate prevention: Uses SQLite database to track seen listings
• Price filtering: Clean price extraction from StreetEasy listings
• Robust scraping: Handles rate limiting and website changes

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• Internet connection
• Gmail account (or other SMTP email provider)

Setup Instructions

Option 1: Docker Setup (Recommended) 🐳

The easiest way to run the apartment tracker with consistent environment:

# 1. Copy environment template
cp .env.example .env

# 2. Edit with your settings
nano .env

# 3. Build and run with Docker
./run.sh build
./run.sh run

Docker Commands:

./run.sh build    # Build the Docker image
./run.sh run      # Start the apartment tracker
./run.sh logs     # View logs
./run.sh stop     # Stop the tracker
./run.sh restart  # Restart the tracker
./run.sh clean    # Clean up containers

Benefits:

• ✅ No Python environment setup needed
• ✅ Consistent environment across all systems
• ✅ Persistent data storage (./data/ and ./logs/)
• ✅ Easy start/stop management

Option 2: Local Python Setup

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd apartment-tracker
pip install -r requirements.txt

Configure Environment Variables

# Copy the example environment file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env with your actual values
nano .env  # or use your preferred editor

Gmail Setup (Recommended)

For Gmail, you need to set up an App Password:

1. Enable 2-Factor Authentication on your Gmail account
2. Generate App Password:
   • Go to Google Account Security
   • Click "2-Step Verification" → "App passwords"
   • Select "Mail" and generate password
   • Copy the 16-character password (no spaces)
3. Update .env file:

   EMAIL_ADDRESS=your_email@gmail.com
   EMAIL_PASSWORD=your_16_character_app_password
   TO_EMAIL=your_email@gmail.com
   

Customize Your Search

Update the SE_URL in your .env file with your StreetEasy search criteria:

# Example: Studio/1BR under $3000 in Manhattan
SE_URL=https://streeteasy.com/for-rent/nyc/price:-3000|beds%3C=1|area:106

# Example: 2BR under $4000 in Brooklyn
SE_URL=https://streeteasy.com/for-rent/brooklyn/price:-4000|beds:2

Run the Tracker

With Docker (Recommended):

./run.sh run    # Starts in background
./run.sh logs   # View what's happening

With Local Python:

python apartment_tracker.py

The tracker will:

• Check for new listings immediately
• Continue checking every 5 minutes (configurable)
• Send email notifications for new apartments
• Store listings in database to prevent duplicates

Docker: Runs in background, use ./run.sh stop to stop
Local: Press Ctrl+C to stop

Configuration Options

Variable	Description	Required	Default
SE_URL	StreetEasy search URL	Yes	-
EMAIL_ADDRESS	Your email address	Yes	-
EMAIL_PASSWORD	Email app password	Yes	-
TO_EMAIL	Recipient email	No	Same as EMAIL_ADDRESS
DB_PATH	Database file path	No	apartments.db
SMTP_SERVER	SMTP server	No	smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT	SMTP port	No	587

Other Email Providers

Outlook/Hotmail

SMTP_SERVER=smtp-mail.outlook.com
SMTP_PORT=587

Yahoo Mail

SMTP_SERVER=smtp.mail.yahoo.com
SMTP_PORT=587

Database Queries

View stored apartments:

# All apartments
sqlite3 apartments.db "SELECT title, price, address FROM apartments;"

# Recent apartments (last 24 hours)
sqlite3 apartments.db "SELECT title, price, first_seen FROM apartments WHERE first_seen > datetime('now', '-1 day');"

# Count by price range
sqlite3 apartments.db "SELECT COUNT(*) as count, price FROM apartments GROUP BY price ORDER BY count DESC;"

Troubleshooting

Docker Issues

# View what's happening
./run.sh logs

# Restart if something goes wrong
./run.sh restart

# Clean slate (rebuild everything)
./run.sh stop
./run.sh clean
./run.sh build
./run.sh run

Email Issues

• Ensure 2FA is enabled and App Password is generated
• Check email credentials in .env file
• Verify SMTP settings for your email provider

No Listings Found

• Check if StreetEasy URL is accessible
• Website structure may have changed (selectors need updating)
• Rate limiting (script includes retry logic)

Database Issues

Docker:

# Reset database (deletes all stored listings)
rm -rf data/
./run.sh restart

Local Python:

# Reset database (deletes all stored listings)
rm apartments.db

Contributing

Feel free to submit issues and enhancement requests! 🤝

License

This project is for educational and personal use only. Please respect StreetEasy's terms of service and use responsibly.

Disclaimer

Web scraping should be done responsibly. This tool:

• Uses reasonable delays between requests
• Respects rate limiting
• Is intended for personal use only
• Should comply with website terms of service