Find Absentee Owners and Mailing Lists

Are you a real estate investor that is constantly striking out on cold calls? Building a list of absentee owners should be your top priority. This list will help you better target your market by finding those who are most likely to respond to your offers. Find Absentee Owners and Mailing Lists.

These motivated sellers will be the key to your success, but how will you find them?

Learning how to find absentee owners is a great first step in boosting your marketing strategy. In this guide, you will learn what makes absentee owners such attractive targets and how to build a list with a high rate of responses.

Why Absentee Owners Are Great Targets

real estate investor’s list should always have a focus on absentee owners because they are a group with the highest likelihood of wanting to sell. Knowing the reasons why absentee owners are likely to sell will help you target their pain points.

An absentee owner is someone who owns a property but does not live there as a primary residence. They could own property for long-term or short-term rent or could have inherited it from a relative. They also could be holding onto the property as a vacation home.

It is not always obvious what type of owner an absentee owner is, but you can use some basic logic about the area and the building to deduce a good guess. After all, marketing is not an exact science and you will need to experiment a bit.

Types of Absentee Owners

Figuring out what kind of rental owner someone is has a lot to do with location and the number of properties they own. If an absentee owner owns several properties in a vacation destination, it is likely that they own short-term rentals.

If they only own one property in a vacation destination, it is more likely it is a personal vacation home. If they own property in a less desirable location, it’s possible that it is a long-term rental or inherited property.

Of course, many of these observations are subjective and will have exceptions. These guidelines only serve as a way to help you target your marketing with a higher rate of success.

How to Find Absentee Owners

Information on absentee owners isn’t directly public, but there are several tactics you can employ to build a list. You might choose to try more than one tactic, as you will be able to compare lists and verify the information before you contact anyone. Being thorough, however, can be costly.

Driving Around

When you’re just starting out, it might seem like a good idea to drive around the area and take note of which properties seem to be up for rent, sale, or are empty.

If you are looking for vacation homes, it’s a good idea to drive around during the off-season in areas that would be desirable for vacation. Vacation homes will probably also show more signs of hominess than rental properties, which often can’t be altered or personalized much.

If you are looking for rentals, look for property in desirable locations but without signs of personalization. Digital door locks are also a good sign that a property is a short-term rental.

Even if you aren’t very successful in identifying property or meeting absentee owners while driving, it will still be beneficial to get to know the area that you are thinking about investing in.

Look Through Online and Paper Listings

One of the most efficient and affordable ways to find rental properties is to search online or in your local paper. Most absentee owners will have listings of their properties for rent so that people can choose to rent them.

A popular way that people rent property is to use websites like Airbnb or Vrbo. These websites make it easy for you to choose an area, cost range, preferred amenities, and more to see all the available listings that meet your requirement. You’ll also be able to see who owns the property, as it is required for listers to include information about themselves in a profile.

Through these online listings, it’s possible for you to get contact information and directly contact them through the site if you choose. You won’t get the exact address of the property, but you will be able to see the area and pictures of the property.

Contact County Tax Assessor

It is possible to get records of property owners through the county tax assessor. This method, however, can be expensive and troublesome. You will have to request each record individually and pay for each one.

This method is not recommended for someone trying to build a list of hundreds of absentee owners.

Buying Absentee Owner Lists

Thankfully, there are companies that professionally put together absentee owner lists so you don’t have to. You can find and buy a real estate investors list for email as well as any absentee owners mailing list you can find.

Professional email lists and mailing lists, however, range in quality. Some companies continue to sell the same list without updating it for an entire year. The real estate market changes often, so it’s important to find a resource that continually updates and provides reliable information.

Absentee Owner Pain Points

Once you’ve narrowed down the possibilities of what type of absentee owner each person is, you’ll be able to market to them specifically. For example, a short-term rental owner will experience different stressors than someone with a vacation home.

If you are trying to buy property from someone with short term and long term rentals, you may want to point out issues like:

  • Problem tenants
  • Poor rate of return on investment
  • Frustrating new rental laws

If you are trying to buy property from someone who owns a vacation home or inherited property, you might consider pointing out:

  • Affordability
  • Better opportunities in a different location
  • Heir’s disinterest in the property or location

With these pain points in mind, begin building different lists of absentee owners based on their property types. That way, you can better target them when you employ your marketing techniques.

Boost Your Marketing Strategy

Now that you know how to find absentee owners, or buy an absentee owners email list and mailing list to save the hassle, you can start boosting your marketing strategy today. Don’t waste any more time sending untargeted postcards and emails.

ListAbility updates the absentee owners list monthly, as well as other lists that help you target the right sellers. Sign up for more information and pricing on our absentee owners list today!

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