What Exactly is Skip Tracing? A Guide For Newbie Real Estate Companies

Have you ever wondered who owns the property you’ve been eyeing in your neighborhood for months? Or perhaps you’ve had trouble locating some people who have outstanding loans from you and you really need the money. Or maybe you’re a real estate investor trying to make it big by purchasing distressed properties in good neighborhoods but can’t for the life of you find out the whereabouts of their owners. Well, don’t worry. In the real estate industry there is such a thing as “skip tracing” which does exactly that.

What is Skip Tracing?

Skip tracing is the process of locating individuals who normally can’t be located in their usual residence, place of work, or neighborhood. Skip tracing actually derives its name from the terms “skipping-town” and “trace”. You’re essentially trying to trace someone who has decided to skip town. Anytime you need to locate someone who has defaulted on their loan payments or someone whose property you’re interested in, you’ll need the help of a skip tracer to do the skip tracing for you.

What is A Skip Tracer?

A skip tracer is someone whose job is to locate people who are missing or have defaulted on their debts. In the real estate industry, skip tracers are experts in the field who are tasked with looking for long lost property owners. A skip tracer will typically start by looking through a number of public resources, such as credit reports, DMV records, public property records, loan applications, background checks, job applications, court records and utility bills. A professional skip tracer may even reach out to current or past acquaintances of the missing individual if they are not able to find the information they are looking for from public sources.

Still confused about the concept of skip tracing? Here are some Frequently Asked Questions about skip tracing you can check out for more information.

Skip Tracing FAQs

Is Skip Tracing Legal?

Yes, skip tracing is legal in the country. Now, although the process itself is considered legal, some methods employed to look for a missing individual may be deemed illegal, so tread carefully. You should not use illegal methods to access private information just for the sake of tracking down an individual. There are legal requirements in place in order to become a skip tracer. In fact, some states also have laws that govern how you can use the information gained from skip tracing.

Why Do Real Estate Investors Use Skip Tracing?

Real estate investors use skip tracing to locate amazing investment opportunities. For instance, an investor comes across a vacant, abandoned, or distressed property in an up-and-coming neighborhood but can’t locate the property owners at all. This is where skip tracing comes in. Skip tracing is just one of the more convenient ways real estate investors can get the contact details of the property owners they’re interested in making a deal with.

Should You Consider Batch Skip Tracing?

The short answer is yes! Batch skip tracing is the most common and most beneficial type of skip tracing used by real estate investors if they need the contact information of a large number of property owners. Also known as bulk skip tracing, batch skip tracing is simply finding the contact information for an extended list of property owners at the same time. The main advantage of batch skip tracing is that it comes with low costs of generating leads, so it generally costs less to track down a large number of people than just one at a time.

Need More Info?

Looking to try out skip tracing services for the first time? Don’t worry, we’ve worked with newbies like you and have been with them every step of the way. For your urgent data needs, look no further than Best Skip Tracer.

Best Skip Tracer is the leading online Skip Tracing service provider in the industry. We are online skip tracers for real estate and we’re here to help. Since our inception in 2020, we have been helping real estate entrepreneurs gain access to the most accurate and affordable data available to help them with their skip tracing needs. Through our extensive knowledge of the data industry, network of resources, and years of expertise, we are able to assist real estate entrepreneurs with a variety of skip tracing requests. We pride ourselves on our reputation for working one-on-one with each client to handle their individual requests and creating an extremely fast and hassle-free transaction.

Interested in our skip tracing services? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us here (619) 324-8998 if you want to learn more. You can also send us your questions anytime here success@bestskiptracer.com.