4 min read

PhantomData

Web Application

PhantomData

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Introduction

PhantomData is a web portal that helps users find accurate owner contact details for property lists. It is designed for professionals in industries such as solar, roofing, and real estate who need verified data for lead generation. The platform simplifies skip tracing by allowing users to upload property data and quickly receive enriched results with accurate ownership information. In addition to contact details, PhantomData enables users to search proposals like Propsearch and feed that data directly for skip tracing, making it a comprehensive tool for professionals working with property records. Website: https://app.phantomdata.io/

Problem Statement

Professionals working with property lists face significant challenges in obtaining accurate and verified owner contact information. Manually tracing this data is:

  • Time-consuming
  • Error-prone
  • Often incomplete

Public property records such as tax assessments, mortgage history, and ownership details are scattered across multiple sources, making the process fragmented and inefficient. This slows down business workflows and reduces the effectiveness of lead generation.

PhantomData was built to solve this problem by providing a fast, reliable platform to enrich property lists with verified owner contacts and comprehensive public records in just a few steps.

Objectives

  • Provide accurate and verified contact details for property owners.
  • Allow users to easily upload property lists and get quick results.
  • Ensure the data remains reliable and secure.
  • Build a user-friendly dashboard for both users and administrators.
  • Create a system capable of handling large datasets efficiently.

Process

The development process followed multiple stages: research, ideation, prototyping, testing, and feedback.

  • Research was conducted for essential dashboard components, followed by client collaboration and iterative testing.
  • The project started with an MVP, which was later refined to a production-ready platform.
  • Data was migrated from the MVP database to the production system.
  • The initial API supported only one address at a time for skip tracing. To scale, a queuing mechanism and external service were implemented to handle thousands of requests simultaneously. Later, this API was replaced with another that supported batch data input.

Approach

An incremental approach was followed:

  • Landing Page: Designed and developed first with client feedback.
  • Database: Built to support future improvements without disrupting the system.
  • Dashboards: User and admin dashboards were implemented with authentication.
  • Payments: A credit/balance system was integrated using Stripe, with automatic credit load on registration.
  • Custom Search UI: A ReactJS-based search component was built to make property searches interactive and user-friendly.
  • Balance Deductions: A fraction of user balance was automatically deducted with each property search.

Research

Key research areas focused on selecting the right frameworks and technologies to balance speed, scalability, and usability. This included testing APIs for skip tracing, evaluating database design for performance, and optimizing the search experience for large datasets.

Design

The design strategy combined custom design for public-facing pages with template-driven design for internal dashboards:

  • Landing Page: Fully custom-designed using Tailwind CSS to reflect the brand identity and provide a polished first impression.
  • User/Admin Dashboards: Built on TailAdmin, an open-source Tailwind CSS admin template, to reduce development time while maintaining usability and consistency.

This hybrid approach delivered a modern and consistent design system across the platform while optimizing for efficiency.

Technical Details

  • Frontend: ReactJS for interactive UI components.
  • Styling: Tailwind CSS for a custom design system, TailAdmin for admin dashboards.
  • Backend: Laravel for APIs, authentication, routing, and database operations.
  • Storage & Hosting: AWS for scalability and reliability.
  • Version Control: GitHub for collaboration and code management.
  • Payments: Stripe integration for credits and balances.

Conclusion

PhantomData was successfully developed into a production-ready platform that provides professionals in solar, roofing, and real estate with fast and reliable access to verified property owner details. The application streamlined the skip-tracing process by supporting bulk data uploads, integrating batch-ready APIs, and delivering accurate results through a clean, intuitive dashboard.

With scalable architecture, efficient data handling, and integrated payment systems, PhantomData significantly improved workflow efficiency for its target industries. The platform demonstrates how a combination of robust backend systems, modern UI frameworks, and thoughtful design decisions can deliver a high-performing, business-critical web application.