Property & parcel data glossary.
Plain-language definitions for the terms that matter in real estate data — from assessor records and parcel identifiers to distress signals and valuation concepts.
Skip tracing is the process of locating a person who has moved or 'skipped' without leaving forwarding contact information, using public records, data aggregators, and other investigative sources.
In real estate, skip tracing means locating the current mailing address or contact information for a property owner who is not reachable through the address on record — most commonly absentee owners, out-of-state heirs, or owners whose mail is being returned.
Parcel data is the structured information county assessors and recorders maintain about every individual unit of land — including ownership, legal description, assessed value, tax status, and physical attributes — assigned to a unique parcel identifier.
An APN — Assessor's Parcel Number — is a unique numeric or alphanumeric code that a county assessor assigns to each parcel of land in their jurisdiction, used as the primary key across property tax records, deed filings, and GIS maps.
Real estate comps — short for 'comparable sales' — are recently sold properties similar in location, size, age, and condition to a subject property, used to estimate its current market value.
An absentee owner is a property owner whose primary residence is at a different address than the property they own — they own it but don't live there.
A motivated seller is a property owner with a pressing reason to sell quickly — such as financial distress, relocation, estate settlement, or deferred maintenance — who may accept a price or terms that a seller under no pressure would not.
A pre-foreclosure is the period after a lender has filed a public notice of default or lis pendens — indicating the borrower has missed payments — but before the foreclosure sale or auction has occurred.
Probate real estate is property that is part of a deceased person's estate and must pass through the probate court process before it can be legally transferred to heirs or sold.
Assessed value is the dollar value a county assessor assigns to a property for the purpose of calculating property taxes — it may differ significantly from market value, depending on local assessment ratios and state law.
Owner-occupied means the property owner lives at the property as their primary residence; absentee means the owner's mailing address on file with the county differs from the property's physical address.
A tax-delinquent property is one where the owner has failed to pay property taxes by the due date, resulting in a lien on the property that accrues interest and penalties and can ultimately lead to a tax sale.
GIS parcel data combines the tabular attributes from a county assessor's records with the precise geographic boundary of each parcel — the polygon that defines where the property physically sits on the earth — enabling spatial analysis and map-based visualization.
ARV — After Repair Value — is an estimate of what a property will be worth after all planned renovations are completed, used by investors to underwrite deals and determine the maximum purchase price they can afford to pay.