Tracking down evicted Tenants?

[Austin Davis]

Hello BP,

I have a couple tenants that I inherited that ended up not paying rent and/or trashing their unit, which left me with many thousands of dollars out of pocket.  My property manager has gathered the paperwork needed for collections, but we cant figure out where they live to serve them the paperwork.  We found that when we sent the paperwork through regular mail, it must have forwarded to a new address, but the the tenant didn't respond.  We tried sending the paperwork certified, but certified mail won't forward for some reason.

Anyone have a good way of tracking people down?  I assume the private investigators in the movies that serve people paperwork are real, but wanted to check first to see if there was an easier way.

Thanks for your help!

[Austin Davis]

@Tom Keith, @Matthew Kreitzer, @Account Closed

Just wanted to thank you all for your replies.  I definitely looked into all of them and ended up hiring a private investigator that found a tenant for $150 and served her for $75.  The court date is coming up soon, so it will be a great investment if I can get the 5K back that the tenant owes me.

Thanks again guys!