Real Estate Skip Tracing

Real Estate Skip Tracing Definition

Real estate skip tracing is the process of identifying and tracking down up-to-date contact information of the legal owner of real property.

Explanation

The origins of the term “skip trace” are historic. Law enforcement and debt collectors coined the term by using the slang expression to “skip town” combined with “tracing” someone’s movements.

This process is mostly used by real estate investors to find owners of properties they want to buy. For example:

• Distressed property owners: homeowners delinquent on mortgage loans, property taxes, or owners with liens for local, state and federal income taxes. Such owners are potential motivated sellers.
• Vacant and abandoned property: this type of property has investment potential when buyers are able to locate the legal owners. Law enforcement also uses skip tracing to cite owners for safety code violations.
• Land parcels: Builders use skip tracing to locate owners of raw land.
  Rental property: Skip tracing assists in locating owners of rental units, including vacation rental homes.
• Bank-owned property: By using skip tracing, investors can identify property that has been taken by lenders as part of foreclosure or bankruptcy proceedings.

Skip tracing can be done by using public records. But this is an outdated method. These days, there exist online tools that are quicker and easier to use.

Basic free skip tracing tools access public local, county, and state records.

More advanced skip tracing software for real estate investors offers a quick way to find owners at a reasonable fee.

The type of search results vary with the software. Some simply list names and addresses from property tax records, while others provide a full report that includes title records and even social media profiles of the owner.

Many of those tools come in bundles with other functionality that assists investors in evaluating the cost of repairs, provides comps, and marketing tools.