What is skip tracing in real estate?

Skip tracing in real estate is the process of locating individuals or property owners who are difficult to find or contact. This can be useful for real estate agents, investors, or lenders who need to reach out to property owners for various reasons, such as potential sales, foreclosure proceedings, or debt collection.

Skip tracing typically involves utilizing various tools and techniques to track down individuals, such as searching public records, social media, or hiring a professional skip tracer. Some common methods used in skip tracing in real estate include searching property records, contacting neighbors or relatives, checking utility bill records, or conducting online searches to find current contact information.

It is important to note that skip tracing must be done in compliance with privacy laws and regulations, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). Real estate professionals should also ensure they have permission to contact individuals before attempting to skip trace them.

Overall, skip tracing can be a valuable tool for real estate professionals to locate hard-to-reach property owners and make important or time-sensitive connections.