Are you just dialing straight down your lead lists?

Question

I’ve been digging into the outbound side of real estate investing lately—specifically how people are working through lead lists.

One thing I keep noticing is that most skip tracing just returns data… but doesn’t really help answer the bigger question:

Who should you actually call first?

From what I’ve seen, a lot of teams end up dialing straight down a list without much prioritization, even though some leads are clearly better than others (based on things like vacancy, equity, ownership, etc.).

I’ve been working on a way to take a standard property list and layer in:

○ contactability (how reachable someone actually is)

○ motivation signals (equity, absentee, distress, etc.)

○ and a simple “call-first” ranking

The goal is just to turn a raw list into something more actionable for whoever is doing the calling.

Curious how others are handling this right now—

Are you guys prioritizing your lists in any structured way, or mostly just working through them top to bottom?

Bryan Coll · Answer

Here is our priority list when we do list targeting:

Preforeclosure - newest lis pendens contacted first

Vacant - those that have been vacant the longest

Inherited - those that had a probate listing most recently

Everything else is just fill in when we have time.

I think it comes down more to a motivation of the seller. Which deals do you think the seller is more motivated to get into a contract on vs they have time/resources to wait?

Chris Arnold · Answer

@Aalal Falah

That’s a really solid breakdown of the full process—especially calling out how each step plays a role from list pulling all the way to closing.

I agree with you, the main work is still finding the motivated seller and actually having the conversation. Everything before that just sets up how efficient that process is.

What I’ve been noticing though is even when all those steps are done well—good list, accurate skip trace, solid calling—there’s still a lot of time spent on leads that don’t connect or aren’t quite ready yet.

That’s the piece I’ve been digging into—just trying to make that calling step more efficient by helping surface which leads are most likely to both pick up and actually engage, not just fit the filters.

Especially for teams running SMS or high-volume calling, even a small improvement there seems to have a big impact.

Curious—on the calling side, do you guys track connection rate or response rate by list?

Travis Goodwin · Answer

We’ve seen much better results when lists are prioritized instead of just dialing top to bottom. A raw list treats every record the same, but obviously a vacant absentee owner with high equity and long ownership is different than an owner-occupied property with little equity. Even a simple ranking system helps—distress signals first, then ownership profile, then data quality/contactability. That said, speed still matters, so I wouldn’t overcomplicate it. The best setup is usually a quick scoring system that helps callers spend more time on the highest-probability leads first, then work down the rest.

Pal Ram · Answer

The within-bucket prioritization problem is underrated. Most teams I've talked to nail the bucket structure — preforeclosure first, vacant next — but then just work top to bottom inside each one. That's where the efficiency actually leaks. Curious whether anyone's experimented with layering recency of distress event against estimated equity to reorder within buckets automatically rather than manually.

Chris Arnold · Answer

@Bryan Coll

That makes a lot of sense—and I like how you’re prioritizing within preforeclosures based on recency. Timing definitely plays a big role there.

The way you’re structuring the buckets is solid too. That’s where most of the lift comes from.

What you mentioned on the vacant side is interesting though—just running down the list after it’s stacked. That seems to be where a lot of teams still leave some efficiency on the table.

Even within those stacked lists, there’s usually a pretty big spread between who’s actually reachable or responsive vs who just fits the criteria on paper.

That’s the piece I’ve been digging into—prioritizing within those buckets so the top of the list isn’t just “oldest lead,” but the ones most likely to actually connect first.

Curious—have you ever tried reordering within those lists based on response or connection patterns, or mostly kept it simple?

Aalal Falah · Answer

Normally when we get a list, it matters which source we are using to get that. There are many softwares that are generating lists ( e.g PropStream, PropWire, BatchLeads etc.)

We can always Narrow down the filters to get list exactly matching our BuyBox Requirements.

Skiptracer's job is to get you the Contact Information of those Leads Owners. They skiptrace it- based on Budget given; either by Manual Skiptrace or Automatic skiptrace. Each way includes different softwares and databases.

Extracting list itself indicates- what are your priorities e.g; High Equity leads, Absentee Owners, Tax Delinquency, Upside Down, Pre-foreclosure, Probate etc. Skiptracer's job is to just get you the Contact Information- so you can Connect with those leads.

Main Work is to find the Motivated Seller. 2 steps before it plays an Important role before this one begins. Finding Motivated Seller needs spending proper time either Calling them/SMS blasting and then verifying all Information verbally.

Later process involves- vetting the Lead based on the gathered information and matching it exactly to the preference of the Buyer’s Buybox. Once it Qualifies- it gets passed to the Closer's Calendar for Follow-up and Next Processes.

Finding the right deal is a whole process. Each step has it's own benefits and importance:

■ Extracting lists- Brings Leads matching our Regions and needs

■ Skiptracing it accurately- makes sure we are getting pickups and connecting to the Real Owner.

■ Calling is required -  to get real information and booking Appointment

■ Quality Assurance - makes sure the Information is real and it is matching Closer's Buybox.

Then a Deal Appointment goes towards Calendar for Closing Process.

Saying this- based on my experience 😊😌 and Open to Facilitate Investors and Wholesalers in Saving their Time Finding Deals.

Araba Ayomide · Answer

Most teams just work top to bottom because sorting feels like extra work. But you end up burning time on leads that were never ready while the motivated ones sit halfway down the list untouched.

The signals you listed are the right ones to prioritize by. The part that gets overlooked though is what happens after the first dial. A lot of those leads aren't ready on call one — they need a second or third touch at the right time. Without a system tracking that, they just fall off.

The list quality matters. The follow-up structure matters more.

Bryan Coll · Answer

Our priority is based on the way that we structure the buckets.

Preforeclosure first with the newest lis pendens having the highest priority. One the lis pendens it out there for long enough, every other investor knows about it and/or the lead just stops answering their phone/email.

Vacant we prioritize based on the oldest leads & then just run down the list. We don't have a specialized method after that.

But again, the Vacant, Inherited, & every other list we build is a stacked list.

Travis Goodwin · Answer

Raw data is just a phone book until you organize it. The best approach is scoring leads by motivation + contactability, then working hottest first, medium next, cold last. That one shift usually improves conversations, appointments, and morale because callers start reaching people who actually might sell.

Chris Arnold · Answer

That’s a great way to put it—“raw data is just a phone book” is exactly what it turns into without some structure behind it.

And I’ve seen the same thing on the caller side. Once you shift to working hotter leads first, not only do the conversations improve, but the consistency does too.

What I’ve been focused on is just making that scoring a little more consistent on the front end—so instead of each team building it manually, there’s a clearer way to combine both sides (motivation + contactability) into a simple call order right away.

Are you guys assigning those hot/warm/cold buckets manually, or do you have something set up to score them automatically?

Are you just dialing straight down your lead lists?

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