Philippine Rental Property Scraper

A web scraper for finding affordable rental properties near Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, Philippines using Lamudi.com.ph.

🎯 Project Goal

Find furnished condo/apartment rentals under ₱20,000/month within commuting distance (< 1 hour) of Ortigas Center for solo living.

📋 Target Criteria

• Location: Mandaluyong, Pasig, San Juan, Quezon City, Makati, Taguig
• Property Types: Condos and Apartments
• Budget: Under ₱20,000/month
• Bedrooms: Studio and 1-bedroom
• Furnishing: Furnished units only
• Commute: Within 1 hour to Doña Julia Vargas Ave, Ortigas Center

📂 Files

• Philippine_Rental_Scraper.ipynb - Main scraper notebook (NEW)
• data/ - Output directory for CSV files

🚀 Getting Started

1. Install Dependencies

pip install selenium webdriver-manager beautifulsoup4 pandas numpy

2. First Run - Identify CSS Selectors

IMPORTANT: Before running the full scraper, you MUST identify the correct CSS selectors for Lamudi:

1. Open Philippine_Rental_Scraper.ipynb in Jupyter
2. Run cells 1-3 (imports and configuration)
3. Run the "Test Cell: Inspect Lamudi Page Structure"
4. Review the output to identify:
   • Property listing container classes
   • Property link selectors
   • Pagination structure
5. Update the CSS selectors in the scraping functions based on findings

3. Run the Scraper

The notebook has 4 phases:

Phase 1: Collect Property Links

• Scrapes search result pages
• Detects pagination automatically
• Collects all property URLs

Phase 2: Scrape Property Details

• Visits each property page
• Extracts detailed information
• Saves raw data

Phase 3: Clean and Filter

• Filters by budget (< ₱20,000)
• Filters by furnishing (furnished only)
• Adds commute time estimates
• Exports cleaned CSV

Phase 4: Explore

• View and analyze results

4. Review Results

Check the data/ folder for CSV files:

• property_links_*.csv - All collected property URLs
• property_details_raw_*.csv - Raw scraped data
• ortigas_rentals_under_20k_*.csv - Final filtered results

⚙️ Configuration

Edit these variables in the notebook's configuration cell:

# Target cities
CITIES = ['mandaluyong', 'pasig', 'san-juan', 'quezon-city', 'makati', 'taguig']

# Property types
PROPERTY_TYPES = ['condo', 'apartment']

# Budget limit
MAX_PRICE = 20000  # PHP per month

# Scraping settings
MAX_WORKERS = 3      # Concurrent threads
HEADLESS = True      # Run browser in background
PAGE_LOAD_WAIT = 4   # Seconds to wait for pages

🛠️ Customization

Add More Cities

To expand your search area:

CITIES = [
    'mandaluyong', 'pasig', 'san-juan',
    'quezon-city', 'makati', 'taguig',
    'manila',      # Add Manila
    'marikina',    # Add Marikina
]

Change Budget

MAX_PRICE = 25000  # Increase to ₱25,000

Include Houses

PROPERTY_TYPES = ['condo', 'apartment', 'house']

Adjust Workers

MAX_WORKERS = 5  # Increase for faster scraping (but more resource intensive)

📊 Output Data Fields

The final CSV includes:

Field	Description
title	Property title/name
price_php	Monthly rent in PHP
bedrooms	Number of bedrooms
bathrooms	Number of bathrooms
floor_area_sqm	Floor area in square meters
price_per_sqm	Rent per square meter
furnishing	Furnishing status
city	City location
property_type	Condo or apartment
commute_estimate	Estimated commute time to Ortigas
address	Full address
latitude	GPS latitude (extracted from page scripts)
longitude	GPS longitude (extracted from page scripts)
parking	Parking information
amenities	Building amenities
description	Property description
url	Link to listing

🔧 Troubleshooting

No Data Scraped

Problem: The scraper runs but returns no properties.

Solution:

1. Run the test cell to inspect page structure
2. Update CSS selectors in the code
3. Check if Lamudi changed their HTML structure
4. Try setting HEADLESS = False to see what the browser sees

ChromeDriver Issues

Problem: "ChromeDriver not found" or version mismatch.

Solution:

pip install --upgrade webdriver-manager

The ChromeDriver will auto-download on first run.

Too Slow

Problem: Scraping takes too long.

Solution:

• Reduce number of cities
• Increase MAX_WORKERS (but be respectful)
• Run during off-peak hours

Rate Limiting / Blocked

Problem: Getting blocked by Lamudi.

Solution:

• Decrease MAX_WORKERS to 2
• Increase PAGE_LOAD_WAIT to 5-6 seconds
• Add longer delays between requests
• Use VPN if IP is blocked

⚠️ Important Notes

Legal & Ethical

• Respect Terms of Service: Check Lamudi's ToS before scraping
• Rate Limiting: Don't overload their servers
• Personal Use: Use data responsibly and ethically
• No Redistribution: Don't republish scraped data

Data Accuracy

• Verify Information: Always verify details with the property owner
• Listings Change: Properties may be rented before you contact
• Prices Update: Some listings may be outdated
• Contact Directly: Use the URL to contact through Lamudi

Maintenance

• Selectors Change: Websites update their HTML - selectors need periodic updates
• Run Regularly: Listings change frequently, run weekly for best results
• Backup Data: Save your CSV files for comparison

📈 Next Steps After Scraping

1. Filter Further: Open CSV in Excel/Google Sheets for additional filtering
2. Map Properties: Use latitude/longitude to visualize on Google Maps
3. Compare Prices: Analyze price trends by area
4. Contact Owners: Use URLs to inquire about properties
5. Schedule Viewings: Visit top candidates in person

🗺️ Commute Times Reference

From Ortigas Center to:

City	Estimated Commute	Transport
Mandaluyong	0-5 min	Walking/Jeep
Pasig	0-10 min	Walking/Jeep
San Juan	5-15 min	Jeep/MRT
Quezon City	10-30 min	MRT-3
Makati	20-35 min	MRT-3/Bus
Taguig	20-40 min	Bus/Jeep

Times are estimates during normal hours. Rush hour may be longer.

📞 Support

For issues or questions:

1. Check the notebook comments and documentation
2. Inspect Lamudi's current page structure using browser DevTools

📝 License

This is a personal project for educational and personal use. Use responsibly.

Status: Ready for CSS selector configuration and testing

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Created: November 2025 Purpose: Finding affordable rentals near Ortigas Center, Manila