What is skip tracing?
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.
The term comes from the phrase 'to skip town' — meaning a subject has departed without a clear forwarding address. Originally used by bail bondsmen and debt collectors, skip tracing today is a standard tool for anyone who needs to find a current mailing address, phone number, or other contact detail for an individual who is difficult to locate.
The process typically combines multiple data sources: voter registration records, utility filings, motor vehicle records, court filings, property records, and commercial data aggregators. Each source adds a thread; together they narrow down where a person is most likely reachable today.
Accuracy degrades quickly with time. An address from three years ago may be useless; one from last month is far more likely to yield a live contact. This is why the freshness of the underlying data source matters more than the number of sources queried.
In real estate, skip tracing is most commonly used to contact property owners who aren't reachable through a standard mailing address — absentee landlords, out-of-state heirs, or owners whose mail is being returned. County parcel records are typically the starting point: they provide the owner of record and the mailing address the county has on file, which is often more current than other public records because owners must update it to receive tax bills.