How Much Does Skip Tracing Cost?

Skip tracing is the process of finding contact information (phone numbers, email addresses) for property owners. It is one of the most important tools in a wholesaler's arsenal, especially when you need to reach absentee owners, LLC entities, or investors who might buy your deals.

The cost varies widely depending on your provider, volume, and what information you need. Here is a complete breakdown.

Skip tracing pricing by provider

The market for skip tracing has become much more competitive in recent years, driving prices down significantly:

At the low end, you can skip trace for $0.02 per record in bulk. At the high end, standalone services charge $0.15 or more for individual lookups. Most active wholesalers spend $50 to $200 per month on skip tracing.

What skip tracing returns

A standard skip trace result includes:

• Phone numbers: Usually 1-3 numbers per person, with indicators for mobile vs landline
• Email addresses: Personal and sometimes business emails
• Name resolution: Especially important for LLC-owned properties where the owner name is hidden behind an entity
• Current address: The owner's actual mailing address (which may differ from the property address)
• Relatives and associates: Some services include connections to related people

The quality of results varies significantly between providers. Cheaper services often return more disconnected numbers and outdated emails. Premium services have higher hit rates but cost more per record.

Hit rates: what to expect

No skip trace service finds every person every time. Industry-standard hit rates are:

• Phone number found: 70-85% of records
• Working phone number: 50-65% of records
• Email found: 60-75% of records
• Deliverable email: 45-60% of records

This means if you skip trace 100 property owners, expect to actually reach about 50 to 65 of them by phone and about 45 to 60 by email. The rest will have disconnected numbers, full voicemail boxes, or bounced emails.

Monthly cost scenarios

Here is what skip tracing costs at different activity levels:

For most solo wholesalers, skip tracing costs $20 to $100 per month. It is one of the cheapest and highest-ROI expenses in the business. Finding one deal from skip-traced contacts easily pays for a year of skip tracing.

Skip tracing for sellers vs buyers

Wholesalers use skip tracing for two very different purposes:

Finding sellers

You identify distressed properties (vacant, pre-foreclosure, absentee-owned, inherited) and skip trace the owners to make offers. This is acquisition-side skip tracing, and it drives your deal pipeline.

Finding buyers

You identify active investors in your market (landlords, flippers) and skip trace them to add to your buyer list. This is disposition-side skip tracing, and it determines how fast and profitably you can sell your deals.

When searching for investors, skip tracing resolves the actual person behind LLC entities. An LLC like "ABC Properties LLC" tells you nothing, but skip tracing might reveal that it is owned by John Smith, a flipper who has bought 15 properties in the last two years. Now you have a name, phone number, and email to reach out with.

How to reduce skip tracing costs

1. Cache your results

Never pay to skip trace the same person twice. Use a CRM or database that stores results so repeat lookups pull from your cache rather than hitting the API again. This alone can reduce your annual skip trace spend by 30-50%.

2. Pre-filter your lists

Before skip tracing a list of 500 property owners, filter out properties that do not match your criteria. Remove owner-occupied properties, properties outside your price range, and recently sold properties. A tighter list means fewer wasted lookups.

3. Batch your requests

Most providers offer volume discounts. Instead of skip tracing 20 records here and 30 records there, batch them into a single monthly upload. Moving from 50 individual lookups to a 500-record batch can cut your per-record cost in half.

4. Use integrated tools

Standalone skip trace services charge per lookup with no other value. Platforms that include skip tracing alongside deal analysis, outreach tools, and buyer search provide skip tracing as part of a bundled subscription, often at a lower effective cost.

The ROI of skip tracing

Skip tracing has one of the highest returns on investment of any wholesaling expense. Consider this math:

Even if only 5% of the investors you contact respond, and only 10% of those end up buying a deal from you, the economics are overwhelmingly positive. Skip tracing is not the place to cut corners.

DNC and compliance considerations

Skip traced phone numbers come with compliance obligations. The Do Not Call (DNC) registry and TCPA regulations limit how and when you can call or text these numbers:

• Check DNC status: Before calling, verify the number is not on the National DNC Registry. Services like Searchbug offer DNC scrubbing for $0.01-$0.05 per number.
• TCPA litigators: Some individuals are known serial TCPA litigators who file lawsuits against unsolicited callers. Screen these out before making contact.
• Consent for texting: TCPA requires prior express consent before sending marketing text messages. Cold texting carries significant legal risk.

This is general educational information about TCPA and DNC compliance. Consult a TCPA attorney before implementing any outreach campaign to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations.

Bottom line

Skip tracing costs $0.02 to $0.15 per record, with most wholesalers spending $20 to $200 per month depending on volume. The ROI is exceptional because a single deal from skip-traced contacts pays for years of lookups. Use caching, pre-filtering, and batching to minimize costs, and always screen for DNC compliance before making contact.

Related Articles

• Skip Tracing Guide for Real Estate
• Fastest Way to Skip Trace Investors
• How Much Money to Start Wholesaling
• Best Skip Trace Services
• Fastest Way to Find Cash Buyers