Why are lists important and why do I keep getting numbers that are disconnected?

Question

I want to know why lists are important and why should I use them? Even though it makes sense and is really rationale, I just want to make sure that wholesalers or pro wholesalers use these "lists" instead of just filtering for "pre-foreclosures". I have made a list following the "Inherited properties" steps below in propwire.com, but I have been getting all "disconnected numbers" , I got 36 calls in right and only 5 were voicemails and 1 chat. 30 numbers were phone numbers that were "disconnected", I think one or two may have been not in service or something. I have been using truepeoplesearch.com (since I only have like less than 80 skip traces left with PrimeTracers and am leaving it for finding buyers) with the addresses found on propwire.com with the list. Is this normal to get so many disconnected numbers?

I was filtering for just pre-foreclosures before but I got a lot more phone numbers even though they were mostly voicemails. So why am I getting so many disconnected numbers? Is it because I am not using skip tracing tool? Because I was using truepeoplesearch.com with the "pre-foreclosure" filter only and got a lot more calls made.

Do these steps sound right on how to find these lists (I did this in propwire) ->

Inherited properties:

Lead Type: Select Probate.

Advanced Filter Tip: Go to Property Tab → Occupancy Status → Select Vacant.

Finding "Tired Tenants" (Absentee Landlords):

Lead Type: Select Absentee Owner.

Advanced Filter (The "Tired" Part):

Ownership Tab: Set Years of Ownership to a minimum of 10 or 15 years.

Property Tab: Select High Equity.

Bonus: Add the Code Violation lead type. A landlord with a code violation and 15 years of ownership is likely "tired" of the upkeep.

Tax Pressure:

Lead Type: Select Tax Delinquent.

Lead Type (Secondary): Select IRS Liens.

Advanced Filter Tip: Go to Financial Tab → Equity %. Set this to 40% – 100%. You want to ensure there is enough meat on the bone to pay off the back taxes and still have room for your wholesale spread.

Relocation (Out-of-State Owners):

Advanced Filter: Go to Ownership Tab → Owner Type → Select Individual (not Corporate).The Relocation Filter: Under the Ownership Tab, look for Owner State. Exclude the state where the property is located (e.g., if you are looking in Ohio, filter for owners whose mailing address is not in Ohio).

Am I doing this correctly? Or am I missing something?

Is it because I need to use the County Recorder to find the Executor or Personal Representative? Is this type of list (Inherited properties) strict when it comes to this on finding the Executor or PR on the County Recorder? Is this why I am getting so many disconnected numbers since I am using the address on the propwire search with the list I made?

Joe Villeneuve · Answer

Making lists are very important.  Seller lists and buyer lists, the ones that are interested in doing multiple deals are the way to go/build.  Don't focus on a needle in a haystack.  Focus on finding stacks of needles.

Arthur Hernandez · Answer

Yes. Probate is the hardest list to come up with, it takes 30+ minutes to get a phone number. Thank you for your time. Your comment helped me out a lot.

Arthur Hernandez · Answer

@Stephen Geluz Okay yes thank you. That is very valuable information to know about. And thank you also for the confirmation on the list and filters, it helped me not overthink.

Stephen Geluz · Answer

That disconnect rate on TruePeopleSearch is normal. The free aggregators pull from old public records and don't refresh against carrier data, so a big chunk of those numbers have been off for years. A paid skip tracing service hits live carrier databases and the disconnect rate drops a lot. Your list and filters look fine. The bottleneck is the contact data itself.

Arthur Hernandez · Answer

@Joe Villeneuve Oh I am sorry, I didn't say I made 1 deal. I said a "chat", he said to stop calling because 30 people were calling for his property already. I made 36 calls and 6 good numbers, no deal.

Also why am I getting so many disconnected numbers? Is this normal for Inherited leads?

And I think I figured out how to get the phone numbers, I used the County Recorder to find the mailing address that was different from the property address. I then used the Probate Court search to find the two filings, I asked Gemini AI and said it was a "Double-Distress Lead". It told me the name of the targets to call. Would you say this is the correct way of finding these leads (inherited lists) rather than getting the address and skip tracing the phone number or using truepeoplesearch.com? Is this the right way of doing this?

Joe Villeneuve · Answer

Numbers found on inherited properties are probably deceased.

This is where you found an example of that bad rational of (in your case) 36-6-1. "It takes 36 calls to get 6 good numbers to make 1 deal".  I hate, I'm using the word "hate" here for good reason.  I hate this rational of "volume" to success.  Waste of time.  Sure you might get a great deal at the end of it, but the time spent getting there is more valuable using a different method.

Foreclosures are just luck now.  Why?  Main reason is people don't answer their phones anymore,...unless the recognize the number and they want to talk to them.  They filter through voicemail and caller ID.  Most people dealing with a foreclosure don't want to talk to anyone.

Why are lists important and why do I keep getting numbers that are disconnected?

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