10 data arbitrage plays you can start this week.
Every one of these uses free, legally public data that most people don’t know exists. The arbitrage: you clean it, enrich it, and present it better than the government does. Then you charge for access. Here are 10 real opportunities across 5 niches.
The Pattern
Every data arbitrage follows the same three steps: find a public dataset that’s ugly or hard to access, transform it into something clean and searchable, and sell access as a subscription. The data is free. The transformation is the product.
County Appraisal Data → Investor Lead Lists
Every county publishes property ownership, values, and addresses. Compare mailing vs. situs address to find absentee owners. Layer in tax delinquency + foreclosure filings. Sell to investors as a subscription dashboard. This is the one I built — Texas Signals has 2.3M+ records across 20+ counties.
Pre-Foreclosure Court Filings → Distress Alerts
Foreclosure notices are filed publicly weeks before auction. Scrape or request these filings, match to property data, and sell real-time alerts to investors, agents, and wholesalers. First-mover advantage is massive.
Restaurant Inspections → Food Safety Dashboard
Health inspection scores, violations, and re-inspection dates are public. Most cities publish raw CSVs. Build a searchable, rated directory. Charge restaurants for “verified clean” badges. Charge consumers for alerts.
Alcohol Sales Data → Beverage Industry Intelligence
States publish every alcohol permit, distributor, and sometimes sales volumes. Clean this into market intelligence: which brands are growing, which bars are opening, where distribution gaps exist. Sell to distributors and brands.
Business Filings → New Business Lead Lists
Every new LLC, Inc, and DBA is filed publicly with owner names, addresses, and registered agents. Scrape weekly, filter by industry/location, sell to B2B sales teams, insurance agents, and accountants as “new business alerts.”
Court Filings → Litigation Intelligence
Lawsuits, judgments, and liens are public. Aggregate by company or individual. Sell to legal teams doing due diligence, investors vetting deals, or insurance underwriters assessing risk.
Building Permits → Contractor Lead Engine
Every renovation, new build, and demolition gets a permit. Match permits to property owners. Sell to contractors (“homeowners near you pulling permits”), material suppliers, and real estate agents.
Code Violations → Distressed Property Signals
Properties with repeated code violations signal neglect or distress. Cross-reference with ownership data. Sell to investors, wholesalers, and property management companies as “motivated seller” leads.
Campaign Finance → Donor Intelligence
Every political donation over $200 is public: name, employer, amount, candidate. Aggregate by industry, ZIP code, or employer. Sell to campaigns, PACs, nonprofits, and journalists as donor prospecting tools.
Voter Rolls → Targeted Outreach Lists
Voter registration files include name, address, party, and voting history. Available in most states for free or nominal cost. Sell cleaned, segmented lists to campaigns, advocacy groups, and local businesses.
The First Move
Pick one dataset from this list. Download it (or email the agency for it). Open the file. Look at it. That mess of columns and cryptic codes? That’s the gap between the government and what someone would actually pay for. Your job is to close that gap.
Clean it. Put a search bar on it. Show it to one person who’d use it. That’s your first arbitrage.
Keep going
- What data arbitrage actually is →
- Is scraping public records legal? →
- How I got an entire county’s data for $4 →
The data’s just sitting there. Most people won’t go get it. You will.