Skip Tracing
Skip tracing is the process of locating a property owner's current contact details — phone number, email, and mailing address — by cross-referencing public records and proprietary data.
What skip tracing means in real estate
In real estate, skip tracing turns a name on a deed into a way to reach the actual decision-maker. Investors, wholesalers, and developers use it to contact owners of off-market properties — parcels that are not listed for sale. The challenge is that title is often held by an LLC, trust, or corporate entity rather than a person, so a basic name lookup returns a registered agent instead of the human who can sell.
How skip tracing works
A skip-tracing engine matches a property's ownership record against secretary-of-state business filings, voter and utility data, and other public sources to resolve the managing member or beneficial owner, then appends current phone numbers and email addresses. Quality varies widely: hit rates, recency, and whether the tool can pierce LLCs and trusts are the differences that matter.
Skip tracing in Paxiv
Paxiv includes LLC-aware skip tracing on every parcel nationwide: one click returns the decision-maker's phone, email, loan details, and related properties — not just a registered agent. Because it is built into the same platform as parcel search and validated zoning, finding a parcel and reaching its owner is one workflow instead of two subscriptions. The core platform is free.
Paxiv by the numbers
| Parcel records | 150M+ Parcel records in the nationwide serving table, covering residential, commercial, agricultural, and vacant land. |
|---|---|
| State coverage | All 50 states Every U.S. state is queryable on every tier, including the free one — coverage is not a paid upgrade. |
| City infrastructure coverage | Water, sewer, and storm — mapped per parcel Sourced from municipal GIS, city by city rather than one national feed — the city-level layer most nationwide parcel tools do not carry at all. |
| Free tier | $0, no card, no time limit Includes 15 parcel lookups, 3 zoning reports, 5 AI search credits, 3 skip traces, and 1 deal room. |
| Transaction fees | Zero Paxiv is subscription software, not a brokerage. It takes no commission and never participates in a deal. |
Where this data comes from
Paxiv's parcel, ownership, and zoning records link back to the originating county assessor, county recorder, or municipal zoning code, with flood data from FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer and geographic reference data from the U.S. Census Bureau — so every figure can be checked against its authoritative source rather than taken on faith.
- County assessor and recorder offices — Parcel boundaries, ownership of record, assessed values, and transaction history. Every record in Paxiv links back to the originating county office for one-click verification.
- City and county zoning ordinances — Zoning classification per parcel, linked to the municipality's own published zoning code so the underlying ordinance can be read directly.
- FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer — Flood zone, Special Flood Hazard Area status, and base flood elevation, resolved by point-in-polygon lookup against FEMA's own published layer.
- U.S. Census Bureau — Census tract containment via the Bureau's official geocoder, plus TIGER/Line geographic reference files.
Frequently asked questions
What is skip tracing in real estate?
Skip tracing is the process of finding a property owner's current contact information — phone number, email, and mailing address — by cross-referencing public records and proprietary data. Real estate investors and developers use it to reach owners of off-market properties directly.
How do I skip trace a property owner?
Start from the property's ownership record and use a skip-tracing tool that resolves the person behind any LLC or trust, then appends current phone and email. In Paxiv, skip tracing is built into every parcel — one click returns the decision-maker's contact details, included on the free core platform.
Is skip tracing legal?
Yes. Skip tracing uses public records and lawfully sourced data to locate contact information. How you then use that information is governed by rules such as the TCPA and Do-Not-Call regulations, so outreach should follow those laws.