Please help me find these people who are MIA (missing in action)

[Nat C.]

I have invested a ton of time into Driving for Dollars . 

Out of 42 abandoned properties I located, I tracked down 25 owners. I then either called or personally visited those people. I received negative responses on all of these for various reasons (not interested in selling, in probate, property was recently sold etc).

I have another 17 leads but I cannot find these people. I have tried asking neighbors, yellow pages, looking through court documents for an alternative address, google, facebook and intelius.

I really don't want to spend a lot of money looking for each person as the likelihood is I will receive a negative response. I know of findtheseller which charges $25 per search and skiptrace services which are equally as pricey. 

I am so hoping for recommendations from people who have had success with a website or service that are reasonably priced.

Thank you

[Rick H.]

@Nat C. I thought MIA meant "Missing in Alaska." (Or, Alabama!).

You need to decide what your time is worth and if you are going to be a professional or an amateur. I want to see you succeed because are taking action, however I can't make you decide to spend the money. 

If you decide to do the work yourself, subscribe to PI magazine, which is Intended more for amateur sleuths and such but useful to us. 

Use social media, too.

Search Amazon for books on skip tracing and you'll find quite a few. 

Much of the work is grunt work and not online, such as interviewing neighbors, law and code enforcement, schlepping courthouse and other county archives. I'm eager but not that willing to do the work myself anymore as it's not a good use of my time.

Here's what I have done successfully: when I discover a property with the right amount if equity and triggers such as compounded problems (deceased owner, no probate, in foreclosure AND vacant) I decide if there's at least $100K potential profit. 

If it meets the criteria, I hire a licensed private investigator to find my target prospect. Costs me about $1,000 per property! I only close on one (1) out of five (5).

Shocked? Don't be. Do the math. I spend $5,000 to make $100K net. Very, very few people will do this and I'm well aware of that.

Now, once you've connected with your prospect, the real fun begins. How do you contact them? Write, call, knock? 

And the all important question: 'What do you want to see happen with this property?'

And then shut up and patiently listen to their response.