Absentee owner skip tracing
An absentee owner is a property owner whose mailing address, where the county sends the tax bill, is different from the property's own address. To skip trace one, upload the owner's name with that mailing address and add the property address as a second block, because the mailing address is usually where the owner lives.
Key facts
- Price
- a flat $0.03 a record at any list size from 50 to 100,000 records.
- Unit
- Priced per matched record.
- Minimum order
- 50 records
- Minimum charge
- Minimum charge $0.50 when any record matches.
- Single search
- Single search: $0.10, charged only on a match, paid from prepaid credit ($10 minimum top-up).
- Prepaid credit
- Prepaid credit expires 12 months after your last credit purchase, single search or credit-paid list, and unused credit is refundable on request within 90 days of purchase.
- Free tool
- Check your list free at /tools/skip-trace-csv-checker. Check columns, split addresses and download a fixed CSV in your browser before tracing at $0.03 a record. No account needed.
- Subscription
- None. A list order is paid for on its own by card or prepaid credit.
- Max per order
- 100,000 rows or 50 MB per file
- Output
- Up to 10 phones per owner, each with its line type (mobile, landline or VoIP), plus emails where found
- Sources
- 3 core providers: idiCORE, Enformion and Delvepoint
- Not for
- FCRA uses: credit, insurance, employment or tenant screening
- Prices last changed
- Last updated
The short answer
Put the owner's first name, last name, mailing address and property address in a CSV, one owner per row, and run the whole list at once. Each row comes back with up to 10 phone numbers labelled mobile, landline or VoIP, emails where they exist, and every column you uploaded unchanged. Skipmatch prices per matched record: a 10,000-record absentee list is at most $300.00.
A trace finds what the sources hold for each owner. Some rows come back with no phone and no email, and no one can tell you in advance which ones, so Skipmatch does not quote a match rate for absentee lists or any other list.
What an absentee owner is
Every parcel on a county record carries two addresses: the property's own address, sometimes called the situs address, and the owner's mailing address, where the tax bill goes. When they match, the owner most likely lives there. When they differ, the owner is absent: a landlord, an heir who kept the house, a second-home owner or the owner of a vacant lot.
- Out-of-state owners: the mailing address is in another state. Many list tools offer them as a separate filter.
- In-state absentee owners: the mailing address is elsewhere in the same state, often a nearby town.
- False positives: an owner who lives in the house but takes mail at a PO box, or whose tax bill goes to a property manager, attorney or tax service, looks absentee on paper. The trace still searches the name you give it, but the address it works from is not the owner's home.
Mailing address or property address
Map both when you have them. The upload takes a mailing block and a property block, and needs at least one of them complete: street, city, state and ZIP.
| Address | What it is | In an absentee trace |
|---|---|---|
| Mailing address | Where the county sends the owner's tax bill | The lead address: it follows the owner |
| Property address | The parcel's own street address (the situs) | A second block; alone, it points at a tenant, a vacant house or a lot with no house number |
| Both | Two complete address blocks on one row | The row to aim for on every absentee list |
Where absentee lists come from
- County assessor or tax roll export
- Many counties publish or sell the parcel roll: owner name, owner mailing address and property (situs) address for every parcel. Keep the rows where the two addresses differ. Tidy the spelling first, so that 12 Oak St and 12 OAK STREET do not count as different addresses.
- A list-building tool's absentee filter
- List tools flag absentee owners for you, often split into in-state and out-of-state. Export both address blocks and the owner's first and last name as separate columns when the tool offers them.
- Lists you build yourself
- Driving-for-dollars sheets, returned mail and old campaign lists. Look each parcel up on the county record to add the owner's name and mailing address; the address you drove past is the property address.
Before you upload, check the name column. County rolls often write one owner name, last name first. We read that order when the file shows it (SMITH JOHN A, or a ; between owners), but plain two-word names are read first name first, so the safest move is to put first and last names in their own columns. The skip trace CSV checker reads the file in your browser and shows how your columns will map before you pay for anything.
What comes back
The same file, with these columns added to every row:
- Phone1 to Phone10: up to 10 phone numbers for the owner, each with its line type (mobile, landline or VoIP) in Phone1Type to Phone10Type.
- Email1 to Email3: email addresses where they exist. None are guessed.
- HitFlag: HIT when the row came back with at least one phone or email, MISS when it did not.
- Record status: New, Updated or Previously purchased, from your own order history.
Your absentee flag, equity, list-source and other columns come back unchanged and in their original order, so you can sort the results the way you sorted the list. See the layout on the sample file page.
Why some absentee rows come back empty
- The mailing address is not the owner's: a PO box, a property manager or a tax service.
- The owner is an LLC or a trust: there is no person's name to search. Skip tracing LLC-owned property.
- The owner has died: the people to reach are the heirs or the personal representative. Probate list skip tracing.
- The sources hold nothing current for that person.
The numbers are not consent to call or text anyone, and calls and texts to them fall under the TCPA, state rules and the do-not-call registries. Read the permissible-use terms before you dial. This is general information, not legal advice.
Price at 1,000, 10,000 and 25,000 records
Every record in the order is priced at the same rate, so the figure is the row count times that rate. It is the most the list can cost; checkout shows its quote before you pay.
| Records | Per record | At most |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $0.03 | $30.00 |
| 10,000 | $0.03 | $300.00 |
| 25,000 | $0.03 | $750.00 |
Questions
What is an absentee owner?
How do I find phone numbers for absentee owners?
Should I skip trace the mailing address or the property address?
How do I get an absentee owner list?
Why do absentee owner skip traces fail?
Price your list before you pay for it.
Create an account, upload the file, and see your total before you pay. Records with no phone and no email are never charged.