Locating Owners with Bad Address in County Records

[David Fritch]

I mail postcards to owners of bare land (there is a ton in eastern WA) who are behind on taxes and I am surprised at the number I get returned. Obviously unlike a residence the mailing address and the property address cannot the same. I double check to verify and these are the county's current mail-to addresses for the taxes so the tax bills are also getting returned-a good explanation of why they're unpaid. I've wondered if a person could get a good return on their effort tracking these folks down. I know the county puts little if any effort into it.

My real question is about developing the skill of tracking down these absent folks. This is a skill that could be a lot more leveraged with SFH, tax sale overages, personal property, non performing notes, etc than with bare land.

Does anyone have experience locating current addresses for people in these types of situations? I have a few assumptions. 1-This can, in large part, be efficiently outsourced to services that assist with finding people's current info. 2-Some people are found with little effort while others are never located so you have to evaluate your return on finances and time invested. 3-It can be very profitable to locate these folks. I would love to hear your insights and experiences.