1. How To Avoid Skip Tracing

Let's imagine you've driven by a vacant house and you want to find the property owner so you can contact them about buying the property. The first thing to do is find the owners name, and you can do this by checking online with your county tax assessors office to see who name is on the tax records. Finding this online is typically pretty easy just 'Google' ' Tax Assessor's Office' and find their website.If you are a ​you can look up pretty much any property in the country and find out who owns it and the property tax billing address. It's also much easier to navigate than your county website so if you're not a member I encourage you to take a minute and check out everything it has to offer.​​Alright, now you have the property address and owners name, so let us move onto tracking down their current location.

I love free stuff, and in today's world there are a lot of great open source resources for skip tracing property owners, and currently, my favorite is. Not only does there information seem to be pretty accurate for a free site they also provide available phone numbers, email address, aliases, and their relative's names.Once you find the property owners name enter it and check out the results. In many cases, you'll get lucky, and their new address will pop right up, and your job is done, but of course, that's not always the case. Also, remember the information differs from one website to the next so find a few favorites and check them all when looking for a property owner.Below is a list skip tracing website's you can check out and remember to bookmark your favorites for later use.

You can also check back here from time to time because I'll update the information on this page as new resources become available or as these become obsolete. My Favorite Free Skip Tracing Website. Ask anyone that's been in the real estate investing business for a while what the best real estate skip tracing site is and they'll probably say TLO, and I'll admit their information is pretty darn good, but there's a small problem. TLO doesn't want real estate investors using their services. (or so I've heard)​Now some investors and wholesalers are successful in getting accounts with them because they've been coached on how to do it. (or so I've heard) But my guess is if you're successful getting an account that you might not have it long because they do frequently audit them to look at your activity (or so I've heard). Problem Solved!

Microbilt has the same great information plus they're a leader in the Alternative Credit Reporting Business (bad credit) Which gives them access to more information and that could help you in finding more real estate owners. In addition to great data Microbilt might offer you some great pricing on skip tracing account because you were referred by The Wholesalers Toolbox (but I'm not allowed to say) So fill out the form by and ask them for yourself (remember you need to have a business to apply for an account) My List of other Skip Tracing Websites. If you're not tech savvy this likely isn't the tool for you.

But if you're a wanna be private detective then this might be right up your alley. Inteltechniques.com is a website designed for individuals who want to be trained in open source intelligence techniques.

I'm not recommending you sign up for their training, (although it would probably very interesting). What I do suggest is you take a look at their Free Tools Page and you'll notice the links on the far left of the page for their custom search tools, giving you access to 100's of online search resources. So for you advanced real estate skip tracers check them out at.

​ Send Them A Letter - There are also a few offline tricks you can try when your online search hasn't turned up any results. First try sending a letter to the owner of the house.

How To Avoid Skip Tracing

Mail it to the vacant property address and write 'do not forward' 'return service requested' on the envelope. If they have forwarded their mail with the USPS the letter will come back to you with their new address written on it.​ Leave Them A Note - Secondly you can try taping your letter on the door with blue or red painters tape (easy to peal off & won't damage the door) and write 'Property Owner, Confidential' on the front of the envelope. If the owner has one of the neighbors keeping there eye on the house the letter will get to them. We've used this method time and time again with much success.​ Visit The Neighbors - Believe it or not just asking the neighbor works well. Go knock on the neighbors door and tell them you're an investor trying to locate the owner and you've exhausted all other resources. Many times you'll find a compassionate person that will tell you were the owner moved to.​.