Skip Tracing – 3 Common Mistakes People Make

Skip tracing can be a lucrative and very low cost marketing medium, but if you don’t know what you’re doing it’s inevitable that you’ll make some mistakes. There isn’t necessarily a steep learning curve to skip tracing, but there is a learning curve. Here at Skip Genie, we’ve been skip tracing for a long time. We’ve done a lot of skip tracing and had to go through a lot of trial and error before we found out what really works. This article discusses the 3 most common mistakes people make while Skip Tracing: Mistake #1 – Using cheap data providers I don’t know if “cheap” is really the right word…. but we tried using data providers that offered an unlimited amount of searches for a nominal monthly fee. They didn’t give us good results. We got exactly what we paid for. Actually, using a poor data provider can do more harm than it does good. There are few things as frustrating when your skip tracing as thinking you’ve got a good phone number for a homeowner only to later find out you’ve been persistently trying to call a homeowner who has deceased! Having good data as a starting point is essential, especially when you consider the nature of vacant properties and returned mail. Mistake #2 – Giving up too soon Let’s face it: It isn’t always easy getting ahold of someone. Even if you have a good number for them, they still may not answer the phone. Or, you may get a message that their mailbox is full… or on other occasions the phone rings and rings and no one ever answers so that you’re not sure if you’ve got a good number for them or not. It happens….. A lot of people give up when they actually need to try harder and dig deeper. We highly recommend that if for whatever reason you are unable to get in touch with the homeowner that you run a full relationship report on them so that you can also call the homeowners relatives until somebody gets you in touch with who is in control of that property so you can make an offer. Mistake #3 – Not prioritizing their list One of the best things about being able to do skip tracing in bulk is that you can use your search results to prioritize your list so that your time is spent going after the highest margin deals with the most distressed property indicators. Skip Genie has a data set built by investors for investors, so with our data it is easy for you to prioritize the lists you’re calling based upon: deceased homeowners, out-of-state mailing addresses, the age of your subjects, and financial distress indicators. Prioritizing your list is one of the most important things you need to learn how to do in order to get the most value from it. List prioritization is so important that we take the time to help our clients prioritize their lists and go over the data set to help them filter their list based upon the property distress indicators our software provides. Interested in shortening the learning curve that comes with skip tracing? Sign-up to one of our plans and as a special thanks we’ll give you access to our weekly coaching call with Larry Higgins so that you can ask questions and benefit from our experience.

What Should You Do If You’re Unable To Reach The Homeowner?

If you have skip traced a homeowner and still are unable to reach them, we highly recommend that you pull a relationship report. Here at Skip Genie, relationship reports (the phone numbers of the relatives & likely associates of the homeowner) are WAY underutilized, but they can be so important that they can literally make the difference between getting a deal and not getting a deal. When should you pull relationship reports? Every time you call the homeowner you get a full mailbox You get sent to voicemail every time you call the homeowner The homeowner doesn’t get back to you after you’ve left a voicemail and sent them a text message You couldn’t get a working phone number for the homeowner The homeowner is deceased If you are trying to acquire a property with a lot of equity in it, then you shouldn’t hesitate to pull full reports on the homeowner’s relatives so that you can keep making calls until someone gets you in touch with who is in control of that property so that you can make an offer. Why relationship reports are neglected The reason why relationship reports are neglected in real estate skip tracing so much is because there is an extra cost in pulling them, but because these reports can literally be the difference between success and failure, they’re worth every penny. What usually happens when you call a homeowner’s relatives? When you start calling the relatives of the homeowner and begin telling them why you’re calling and what property you’re interested in, their relatives will usually contact the homeowner for you and give them your contact information so that they can get back to you. The homeowner may send you a text message, or they may call you back on the phone. Even if they tell you that they are not interested in selling the property, at least you can cross that property off your list and focus your energy elsewhere. Use relationship reports to leverage competition It’s also important to keep in mind how much competition there is for each and every property you want. Lots of investors are trying to acquire the same properties, but many of them are not pulling relationship reports when they can’t get in touch with the homeowner. This means if you pull relationship reports, you’re going an extra step beyond most of your competitors – which gives you a HUGE advantage. Relationship reports are easy with Skip Genie Skip Genie makes pulling relationship reports as easy as pushing a button (literally). Our software is by far the easiest and fastest way available to get phone numbers for a homeowners relatives. In fact, we have even developed calling scripts that were created by an REI sales professional for REI professionals. These scripts also specifically tell you what to say when you are talking to the relatives of a homeowner, so we’ve made the process of contacting the relatives of any homeowner as easy and painless as possible. Pull relationship reports consistently You may have a lot of leads you’ve been trying to contact but can’t get ahold of the person you need to speak to so that you can close the deal. Why not make a list of these properties and run relationship reports on the homeowners so that you can increase and multiply the likelihood of getting in touch with the person you need to speak with so that you can collect some more assignment fees? If you’re serious about using skip tracing to close more deals, you should make relationship reports a consistent part of your business. This means that every time you run a list with us and discover the homeowner is deceased, you should take an extra step and get the phone numbers of the deceased homeowners relatives. Skip tracing for real estate If you haven’t subscribed to Skip Genie yet and are interested in making skip tracing a part of your marketing, click here to see our plans and pricing. If you take skip tracing seriously and cover all of the bases, it’s not a matter of if you’ll close more deals, it’s a matter of when.