Dos & Don’ts of Skip Tracing
The purpose of using skip tracing is to gather valuable information about a person who is missing, has skipped, or doesn’t want to be found. If used correctly, information collected by using this tool can help you find hard-to-find property owners and close real estate deals quickly.
But, as is the case with every tool nowadays, if something can be used to produce positive results, it also has the potential to leave a negative impact. You need to be careful not to alienate or disturb the private life of a person using skip tracing. Otherwise, it might bounce back and may result in the termination of any business deal done with a property owner who you are trying to find.
This is why you need to know your limitations and be prepared, starting with knowing:
What is skip tracking?
Skip tracing is a tool that is most prominently known for its ability to find individuals whose contact information, current address, and other valuable information that could disclose their whereabouts is missing or outdated. This tool can be used in every field of life but real estate makes the most use of it to find potential property owners.
Skip tracing utilizes different sources to collect information such as:
- Public Records
- Social media
- Public directories
- Google and other search engines
- Reverse search engines
- Court records
- Newspaper announcements
The data collected from skip tracing is highly accurate, up-to-date, and reliable only if you use the services of a person who is highly experienced in skip tracing.
Coming back to the main topic, information gathered by skip tracing, however accurate, can have a negative impact if you don’t know the do’s & don’ts of skip tracing.
Dos of skip tracing
Let’s suppose that you are using skip tracing to find a property owner, the best approach would be to:
- Plan ahead and look for the exact information that you need.
- Know your limitations and leave when it is getting too personal.
- Utilize batch skip tracing service with tier-one data access so you can find more prospects at the same time.
- Communicate the purpose of your call clearly when you find the contact information of the property owner.
- Take a keen interest in what they have to say and respond accordingly.
- Ask if they can meet you in person to talk about the property deal.
This approach is right for you if you are in a real estate business but if you belong to any other field, you can take pointers from this approach and customize one for your own purposes. In some cases like debt collection, the approach would be different.
Don’ts of skip tracing
You need to care while tracking information and calling the person of interest so you don’t:
- Utilize any aggressive means of collecting information.
- Break into any personal or private information and use only the information that is available publicly.
- Hire a private investigator without a license or do the work of a private investigator yourself.
- Break any local, state, or government laws during the process.
During data collection, if the line between right and wrong is very thin, assume that is wrong and avoid crossing it. Also, use a reliable and experienced skip-tracing service provider who knows how to collect valuable information keeping in view all the limits and laws.
