10 absentee tracked, 60% wasted - how do you filter first?

Question

Hey all — farming Delray Beach 33446 (Valencia Falls / Coral Lakes / Bristol) and I hit a wall I think a lot of new investors hit.

Pulled 10 absentee list - ran PAPA before I skip traced:

Results:

3 were already SOLD (2020, 2022, 2024) - new owner lives there - my list was old

2 were owner-occupied - mailing = property address - not absentee at all

1 is Canadian owner - different process

4 were REAL keepers - trusts, 8-14 year equity, NY / OH absentee

So 60% wasted if I had skip traced first.

What I do now:

Check PAPA last sale date vs my list date

Check if $10 deed = trust transfer (same family, keep) vs real sale (skip)

Check mailing address vs property address

Add Last_Checked_Date so I don't re-check every week

Tag NA vs MAYBE LATER in CRM

Question for the experienced guys:

What else do you check BEFORE you pay for skip trace to save credits? I added Probate_Flag + Lien+Tax combo but not sure what triggers HOT vs NA.

Also for those in FL - how do you handle Canadian absentee? Different skip site?

Sharing my tracker screenshot if helpful - 10 rows, 10 columns now.

Thanks!

Caleb Brown · Answer

Thanks for sharing. Taking notes reading through the post/replies.

Jimmy Samaha · Answer

Yeah that's pretty much how I do it. The only thing I'd add is to recheck the maybe later bucket every few months, because one new problem like a missed tax payment or a probate filing moves them straight to hot. And on the trusts, see if you can find out who the trustee is. A lot of times it's the kids, and they're usually more open to selling than the parents were.

Muyees Ayilara · Answer

Jimmy — this is exactly what I needed, thank you. Especially the tax bill escrow trick + HOT formula.

So if I rebuild my filter like this, does this match what you do?

My new rule:

HOT = Absentee + 8yr+ + ONE problem (tax behind / lien / probate flag / code). Skip trace today.

MAYBE LATER = Absentee + 8yr+ but clean (no problem) — Keep, don't skip yet.

NA = Recent sale / mailing = property / owner-occupied — Do Not Skip.

Adding your 2 checks before I pay:

Tax bill — if paid via lender/escrow = still mortgaged / if behind = moves to HOT top

Street view quick check — overgrown / boarded / dumpster

And for Canadian — will do letter to tax mailing address only, not waste skip credits. Makes sense nobody mails there so response decent.

Question — for Lien+Tax combo you said straight to top — do you skip trace same day or wait for 2nd problem to stack?

Updating tracker now with Tax_Status + Street_View_Note columns. Thanks again for spelling out HOT vs NA.

Richard Neese · Answer

Thanks for sharing and contributing to the community. Looking forward to learn. I do'nt know or understand all the things you guys are using. I use Tax liens in alabama and medicaid to find distressed properties then dial in to owner occupied or out of area owner. It does pretty good for me. my first year tax liens helped me find around 8 properties . I continue to use it as a honey hole.

Richard Neese · Answer

@Jack T. Medicaid liens combined with tax liens mean it’s paid off in most cases and I can negotiate with Medicaid and not really the sellers . Usually there’s no equity left in rural Alabama after a year or 2 worth of nursing home care

Divin Kanyama · Answer

@Muyees Ayilara You are building the right habit: validate the record before paying to enrich it. In addition to what you already check, I would confirm the current owner and vesting in the county records, scan recent deeds and mortgages, verify property type and homestead status, check tax-payment status, and look for active listings, recent permits, code issues, probate filings, or an obvious LLC or registered-agent contact.

For prioritization, I would treat “HOT” as a combination rather than one flag: verified absentee ownership, meaningful ownership length or equity, a possible distress or transition event, and usable contact information. “NA” should be reserved for a confirmed disqualifier—recent arm’s-length sale, government or institutional ownership, duplicate record, wrong property type, or verified owner-occupancy if that is outside your criteria. Everything else can remain “MAYBE LATER” with a reason and review date.

For Canadian owners, first use the recorded mailing address and entity records rather than assuming a standard U.S. skip trace will work. Some vendors have international coverage, but results vary, so test a small batch and verify consent, calling, texting, and cross-border privacy requirements before outreach. I would also track source date, confidence level, reason code, and next-review date—those fields may save more money than adding another data source.

Muyees Ayilara · Answer

@Divin Kanyama — Thank you, this is exactly the definition I needed to close my HOT vs NA vs MAYBE LATER question.

I implemented your framework on my 10 pulled from Valencia Falls PL 3:

HOT = combination you said: verified absentee ownership + meaningful ownership length/equity (my 4 are 8-14yr $250k-$380k equity) + possible distress/transition event (missed tax payment, probate filing, code) + usable contact. None of my 4 are HOT today — Tax Collector shows Total Payable $0.00 Paid green, 2025 $6,817-$7,198 Paid Nov 2025, discount -$284 to -$312 early payer, $0 homestead exemption = real absentee, no lien. So 0 problems stacking = NOT HOT.

NA = confirmed disqualifier per you: my 3 SOLD — 13492 Barcelona 2022 $767k new mortgage 2022 = recent arm's-length sale, 13516 Barcelona 2024 $775k new mortgage 2024 = recent sale, plus 13601 Morocca — HAS homestead exemption — mailing = property — verified owner-occupancy if outside criteria = DO NOT SKIP. Plus 13650 Morocca LLC registered-agent contact — wrong property type for my filter. All NA = skip would be wasted — 60% of my list.

Everything else = MAYBE LATER with reason + review date: my 4 KEEP GOLD — 13703 Plaza Mayor DR $10 Trust 06/22/2012 $290k 14yr NY, 13708 Plaza Mayor $10 Trust 05/04/2016 $355k 9yr NY, 13643 Morocca 07/31/2018 $380k 8yr OH, 6410 Punta Rosa 12/22/2011 $250k 14yr Canada. Tagged MAYBE LATER Letter Only, reason = 0 problems stacking, review date = Last_Checked_Date 2026-05-13 + 90 days (per Jimmy: recheck maybe later every few months because missed tax or probate filing moves straight to HOT).

Canadian per your advice: 6410 Punta Rosa — 850 Lakeshore RD Dorval QC — using recorded mailing + entity records rather than assuming standard U.S. skip will work. Some vendors have international coverage but results vary — will test small batch and verify consent, calling/texting, cross-border privacy requirements before outreach. Added fields you recommended: source date, confidence level, reason code, next-review date — those fields save more money than adding another data source — exactly.

Also added per your list: scan recent deeds/mortgages (done), verify property type (done), homestead status (Dan's $0 check), tax-payment status (Total_Payable $0), and will add active listings, recent permits, code issues, probate filings, obvious LLC.

Thanks for validating — your HOT as combination vs NA as confirmed disqualifier cleared it up.

Jimmy Samaha · Answer

Good system already. Before I pay for skip tracing I also look at the tax bill. If it's paid through a lender or escrow company there's still a mortgage on it, and if the taxes are behind that one goes straight to the top. I'd also pull it up on Google street view or drive by, an overgrown yard, boarded windows, or a dumpster out front all tell you something.

For HOT vs NA I keep it simple. Absentee plus long ownership plus one problem like back taxes, a lien, a probate filing, or code violations is hot. Absentee with no problems is maybe later. Recent sale or owner occupied is NA.

For the Canadian owners most skip services won't find much, so I'd just mail a letter to the mailing address on the tax record. Response on those is actually decent because nobody else bothers.

Dan Worth · Answer

Your 60% matches what I see whenever a list is more than a year or two old. Two checks I'd add: look for a homestead or owner-occupant exemption on the tax record, which flags owner-occupied houses even when the mailing address hasn't been updated, and look for any recent mortgage or satisfaction recorded against the parcel, which tells you whether something changed. I also rank the keepers by how many problems stack up. An absentee owner who's also behind on taxes and has an open code case is a very different call than an absentee owner with nothing else going on. Logging the last-checked date was a smart move, because it stops you paying to re-verify the same records every month.

10 absentee tracked, 60% wasted - how do you filter first?

10 absentee tracked, 60% wasted - how do you filter first?

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