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When you spot a vacant house, you will probably want to add it to your portfolio. However, you will face a problem when you are unable to find the owner. You will probably check the local property records to find the owner but won’t be able to find many details even there. That’s exactly when you have to think about skip tracing.
What Is Skip Tracing?
The term “skip” here means the person being searched and the term “tracing” means finding. So, skip tracing means finding a person. More specifically speaking, skip tracing is the process of finding a defaulter, fugitive, or any other person who can’t be located. In this process, the person’s home address, place of work, or entertainment venues.
Now, let’s see what skip tracing means in real estate.
What Is Skip Tracing In Real Estate?
In real estate, skip tracing in real estate refers to the process of locating the whereabouts of a property owner who probably wants to sell off his/her properties. Often, to spot these motivated property sellers, real estate professionals look for investments, listings, and great wholesale deals.
If you are in the real estate business for quite some time, you are most probably familiar with skip tracing to obtain information about hard-to-find property owners. However, if you are new in this real estate industry, you might not be well aware of skip tracing and might be using direct mails. Skip tracing is a way more effective method than direct mail to reach these potential sellers. With this method, you will be able to find homeowners that other investors are finding hard to locate. Thus, you will have more chances of sealing deals with motivated sellers.
So, if you want to know how you can use this skip tracing process, you should continue reading this article. In the following section, we have discussed the steps to find a genuine motivated seller. Once you know these six steps, you will be able to perform a skip trace on your own.
So, now, let’s look at the steps that you should follow to perform skin tracing and locate a potential property seller.
Steps To Perform A Skip Trace On A Property Owner
- Plan:
You need to plan out things first and then think of executing them. Just like anything else, the skip tracing also needs prior planning. For example, you need to think about your intended outcome with a lead or what you want to do with the property: purchase it, wholesale it, or list it for sale. So, you should make a follow-up strategy so that you can make the move once you locate the property owner.
- Obtain Property Leads:
After you are done with your planning, you need to find the address or name of a property owner who might be interested in selling the property. Owners of foreclosure properties, distressed properties, or probate properties can be the best ones to target. You can easily find property leads if you reach out to websites that offer real-time property leads.
- Research and Organize:
Next, you have to gather information about the property and person being searched on the internet. You can choose social media to find information. Other than that, you can also do a thorough Google search and check public records. Once you are done with your research, organize all the information in a format that you can upload to a skip tracing service or that you can share with your professional skip tracer.
- Upload:
You have to upload your list of leads into a skip tracing service or your hired skip tracer. Now, you will be able to find the full profile of the property and owner.
- Identify and Make Contact.
Now, you have all the information about your leads. You have to identify the best properties and get in touch with the property owners and seal a deal.
The Bottom Line
Hopefully, you have now understood about skip tracing in real estate and how you can do it. So, it is high time that you try using this method to trace the best property leads in your city. Think carefully and give this method a try!
