Guide

How to skip trace a property owner.

Six steps, from a property address to a phone number that reaches the owner. Do it by hand for one house, or in bulk for a whole list.

Get 100 free records →Bulk skip tracing
The steps

From an address to the owner’s phone.

01 · Find the owner

Look up the county record

Search the property on the county property appraiser or assessor website. The record shows the owner's name and their mailing address: where the tax bill goes.

02 · Use the mailing address

Not the property address

If the mailing address is different from the property, the owner lives somewhere else. Trace the mailing address, or you'll end up calling the tenant.

03 · Get past the LLC

Find the person behind it

If the owner is an LLC or a trust, look it up in the state business registry (Florida's is Sunbiz) for the manager. The registered agent is usually a service company, not the owner.

04 · Look up the numbers

One owner or a whole list

For one owner, people-search sites and single lookups work. For a list, upload a CSV to a bulk skip tracer and get every owner back in one batch.

05 · Check whose number it is

Mobile, and in the owner's name

Put mobile numbers first, and compare the name the phone carrier has on the line with the owner. A number registered to someone else is a wrong number waiting to happen.

06 · Scrub, then call

Do Not Call comes first

Check every number against the National Do Not Call Registry and your own do-not-call list, call within allowed hours, and honor every opt-out right away.

By hand or in bulk

The same six steps, two ways.

By hand is fine for a few owners. Past that, the hours add up faster than the cents.

WhatBy hand (free)Bulk with Tracer
SpeedSeveral minutes per ownerA whole list in one batch
CostFree, plus your timeAbout 1¢ a record ($99 for 10,000)
Mailing address firstYou compare it by handAutomatic
LLC-owned propertiesRegistry search by handTraced to the person where possible
Whose number is it?Hard to tellCarrier name checked against the owner
Do Not CallCheck each number yourselfYour do-not-call list checked; federal registry scrub as an add-on
Common mistakes

Three ways a good list goes to waste.

Tracing the property, not the owner

For rentals and inherited homes, the property address finds whoever lives there. You want the person who gets the tax bill.

Trusting the first number

The first number on a people-search page is often a landline or years old. Sort by mobile and by how recent it is.

Calling the registered agent

An LLC's registered agent is a law office or a filing service. They won't pass on a cold call about one house.
Real numbers

One investor’s week: 94% came back with a phone.

A real estate investor customer traced 17,859 records in one week of September 2026, and 16,759 came back with a phone number. The numbers come from the weekly report Tracer emailed them; we don’t publish customer names. Your list will differ, so test it first: get 100 free records, no card.

Questions

How to skip trace: FAQ

Is skip tracing legal?

Yes. Finding contact details for a property owner from public records and commercial data is legal. What's regulated is how you use them: follow the TCPA and Do Not Call rules when you call or text, and never use skip tracing data to decide on credit, insurance, employment or housing. It isn't a consumer report.

Can I skip trace for free?

For a handful of owners, yes: the county record plus free people-search sites. It's slow, and the numbers are often out of date. For a list, a bulk tool is faster and costs about a cent a record. New Tracer accounts get 100 free records, no card. Get 100 free records →

What do I need to skip trace someone?

The owner's name and mailing address give the best results. If you only have the property address, you'll usually find the people living there, which works for owner-occupied homes but not for rentals.

How accurate is skip tracing?

It depends on the list. In one customer's week, 16,759 of 17,859 records came back with a phone number (94%). Fresh lists of owner-occupied homes do best; old lists full of LLCs do worse. Checking the carrier's name against the owner is what separates a number from the right number.

How do I skip trace an LLC?

Find the person behind it first: the state business registry, the LLC's mailing address on the tax roll, or a person's name inside the LLC name. Then trace that person. Find the owner of an LLC →
Skip the busywork

Upload the list. Get the owners back.

Tracer runs steps two to five on every row: mailing address first, LLCs traced to a person, the carrier’s name checked against the owner, and your do-not-call list checked. Your first 100 records are free.

Get 100 free records →Need a list first?