SKIP TRACER: Meaning, Services & Software

According to the US Census Bureau, the average person moves 11.7 times in their lifetime. That may help explain why one of the most common tasks for collection agencies, real estate speculators, bounty hunters, and legal experts is to discover someone who doesn’t want you to find them. This is known as “skip tracing,” and it has traditionally been a tough operation. That’s because you have to use whatever information you have, which is sometimes very little, to figure out where someone is right now. Now, let’s look at what a skip tracer is in real estate, as well as several free skip tracing software services.

What is a Skip Tracer?

A skip tracer is a private investigator whose duty is to find people who have left town for a variety of reasons. Bounty hunters, private investigators, bail bonds agents, and collections agents are just a few of the people who can undertake skip tracer jobs.

A Skip Tracer searches public records and other databases for a missing individual and then attempts to return that person to the jurisdiction. Skip tracers frequently employ a variety of investigative techniques to locate persons, such as calling known associates, digging up credit information, and going to interview them.

How to Become a Skip Tracer

Even though many bounty hunters also serve as skip tracers, a skip tracer does not need to be a licensed professional. Knowledge of local, state, and federal laws about surveillance and personal privacy, experience performing digital research, and persistence in finding someone who does not want to be found are all required qualities and skills for the job. There are also several professional organizations that offer skip tracer training and certification, which may help you gain more business or extend your customer list.

How to Be a Successful Skip Tracer

A good skip tracer must be willing to follow up on every possible lead on a person’s whereabouts when working on cases. A good skip tracer leaves no stone unturned in their search for information about a target or skip. As a skip tracer, you should also maintain professional relationships with others in your area, such as local bail bond firms, jail and court staff, public information officers, bounty hunters, and private investigators.

Real Estate Skip Tracer

Each industry has a different meaning of skip tracing. While skip tracing refers to the process of locating elusive persons in debt collection agencies and witnesses in judicial proceedings, its concept in real estate is different.

Finding the phone numbers of the people you’re looking for is called real estate skip tracing. The procedure is straightforward and is based on the name and address of the contact or contacts you’re looking for.
You can carry out this plan manually or utilize a business like Smarter Contact to automatically pull the data for you.

Employing a skip tracer service is perfect, particularly if you lack the investigative research to discover the sources manually. The latter is true if the property owner knows other motivated sellers besides a real estate agent who can assist them sell the property at a higher price, usually over the previous market value. If you wish to locate out-of-state owners who are rarely present in their houses, Skip tracing is another viable alternative.

Reasons Why you Need Skip Tracer in Real Estate

For many real estate investors who wish to maximize the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns for the sale and purchase of properties, skip tracing is rapidly becoming the preferred technique. The real estate industry benefits from skip tracing for the following reasons:

#1. Get new, quality leads.

In real estate, skip tracing can help you find freshly motivated sellers who will often make a quick transaction. With skip tracing, you may quickly find distressed homes and frequently receive amazing discounts because the property owners have abandoned the premises.

#2. Clear old leads

Outdated leads can be redundant and can harm your entire real estate marketing plan. Consider contacting a dead property owner’s phone number or sending numerous SMS that will almost certainly go unanswered. You can determine whether your lead is available by using skip tracing, and you can then analyze your alternatives.

#3. Remove erroneous data

Poor data is unacceptable in any industry, not just real estate. Even though you will encounter bad data while skip tracing, the technique will assist you in removing it from your database, freeing up room for actual, actionable data.

#4. Follow up on leads

Real estate leads necessitate continual follow-up, particularly if you want to finalize agreements faster. Skip tracing assists you in locating a lead that has gone cold after engaging you for an extended period. After you find them, you can continue with your business.

#5. Save time

The time spent driving around looking for warning signs of distressed property is reduced via Skip tracing. A local real estate agent likely observed it first.

Skip Tracing Software

We’ll look at the top skip-tracing software programs for real estate investors. They are not all the same. Data and services are offered in varying quantities.

While some skip-tracing firms merely offer names, home addresses, and phone numbers, others provide information on mortgages and liens. Here is some software for skip tracing:

#1. PropStream

If you’re a wholesaler or house flipper looking for motivated sellers, you’ve probably heard of PropStream. The “ultimate data system for real estate professionals” is how it’s marketed. It is not only one of the greatest real estate skip tracing services on the market, but it is also one of the best investment software for real estate investors, including a website builder for real estate investors’ marketing campaigns.

One nice feature of PropStream is that you can be quite specific about producing motivated seller leads of the type you require. It’s one of the finest places to find foreclosed properties, absentee owners, divorce leads, and so on. You can also filter by lien type or look for leads with no mortgages.

#2. BatchSkipTracing

Batch Skip Tracing was created for real estate investors. It’s one of the products offered by BatchService, a lead generation platform for real estate investors. As a result, Batch Skip Tracing combines with other tools from the same firm, such as BatchLeads and BatchDialer.
According to Batch, it has a higher “right party contact” than competitors in the business. That is, the chances of connecting with the correct individual are greater than with competitors.

#3. REISkip

REI Skip, owned by Max Maxwell, a leading wholesaler, and real estate investing coach, uses unique triangulation technology to help investors reduce lead research time. It has the same triangulation powers as professional bail bondsmen, FBI agents, and private investors.

#4. Skip Force

Skip Force is a tool for skip tracing that uses two databases to discover the appropriate people. Carrier and Credit data are provided by this real estate investing software solution. The organization uses both databases to maximize the chances of obtaining the correct person’s contact information.

Carrier data costs 6-9 cents per search and is a wholly unique database that is only available through Skip Force. By monitoring activity levels over the previous 12-24 months, the data delivers the top three numbers linked with a possibility.

#5. REISift

REISift is more of a data sorting tool than a data aggregator. It currently just allows you to upload existing lists. However, REISift is actively creating the capability to access a nationwide real estate database, which will be released shortly. It will allow you to overlay your lists with national data.

Sorting over data is a key component of skip tracing. In other words, inaccurate data can result in lost time and money. REISift was developed to address this issue. Its purpose is to provide investors with a clean or noticeably cleaner list. As a result, one of its skip tracer capabilities is the option to omit entries that have already been discovered.

#6. Skip Genie

For beginners, this is most likely the greatest real estate skip-tracing software. Skip Genie guarantees dependable, unfailing data. According to its creators, the platform was created in response to a demand they had for comprehensive and up-to-date data.
According to their website:

We can’t rely on “the numbers game, hit-and-miss, law of averages” statistics. Our model cannot function until we have the most comprehensive and up-to-date data collection available.

As a result, Skip Genie concentrates solely on assisting investors in quickly locating property owners and home sellers.

#7. Mojo Skip Tracer

Mojo is the only company that provides limitless bulk skip tracing at a modest monthly cost. Yet, compared to other real estate skip tracing software, their average hit rate is only 50%. That means that if you uploaded 100 leads, you might only get results on 50 of them.

One benefit of using this skip tracing tool is the ease with which leads can be followed up using its Mojo Dialer tool, which is one of the most popular phone dialer systems for real estate investors. Mojo’s skip tracing tool is quite powerful while being the cheapest on the market.

#8. Melissa Data

This is not a skip-tracing service, but it is ideal for real estate investors who do not want to spend money or require only basic information. This website has so much information that you can do much of your study.

You may learn who owns a property, what additional properties they possess, and mortgage information. Melissa Data also allows you to buy credits to obtain access to more detailed information.

#9. Data Zapp

Data Zapp gives all of the typical contact information you’ll need to contact property owners. They also have a database for unoccupied homes, out-of-state owners, and people with numerous properties.
They charge per record, and you’ll be charged based on the number of records you’re looking for. If you know you’ll be ordering several times, you can use the prepay option, which provides you with a small discount on each record.

#10. Reonomy

Reonomy is a property data company specializing in commercial real estate and multifamily properties. You’ll have access to all of the properties in their database, including owner names, contact information, renter details, and other information.

#12. PropertyShark

PropertyShark is one of the few skip-tracing services that will reveal the owners of an LLC for residential properties. They also provide extremely extensive information on each property. You’ll obtain access to owner contact information, documented paperwork, building permits, code infractions, and so on.

What is a skip tracer used for?

Is used to find a debtor who has migrated or vanished to escape legal obligations such as debt payments.

How much does it cost to skip trace?

The cost of the fee depends on the type of skip tracing service you require. Costs range from $20.00 to $350.00 depending on the complexity, fees, and time the skip tracer incurs; nevertheless, it is preferable to ask your process server for a quote.

How can I skip trace for free?

People finder sites:

Skipease is a comprehensive directory of additional websites that can help with skip tracing.
The Whole White Pages Search Yahoo, WhoWhere, Switchboard, Four11, Infospace, and Worldpages all from one site.
Yahoo!
Ancestry.Com searches the Social Security Death Index.
US West phone listings.

How does one become a skip tracer?

Professional training for skip-tracing jobs is available through seminars and workshops hosted by professional organizations such as the National Association of Fugitive Recovery Agents and the American Recovery Association Inc.

Can skip tracers find bank accounts?

Yes. Bankskiptracing.com does indeed provide verified bank account information.

Who uses skip tracing?

Skip-tracing strategies are typically employed by collection agencies to trace a debtor, but they are also used by detectives, journalists, and attorneys to locate persons.

Can anyone use skip trace?

Skip tracing is allowed in the United States as long as you are not breaking any laws to obtain the information you need. Information gathering and unauthorized access to private documentation are two examples of illicit approaches to skip trace.

References

Smartercontact
Realestatebees