Resources · Wholesaling and investing with motivated-seller data
Study: we skip traced a live distressed-property list. Here is what actually came back
Updated July 11, 2026 · by the LowBaller team
In July 2026 we ran a live experiment on our own platform: pull the hard-distress list for a major Sun Belt metro (Phoenix, ZIP 85021), skip trace it through a structured identity lookup, and publish what actually came back. Not vendor marketing numbers, the real ones, including the failures.
Anyone citing this study is welcome to; the methodology and every number are below.
Methodology
- Source list: properties within the metro flagged with hard distress only (pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, auction, tax lien or vacancy), pulled live from county-derived records.
- Ownership classification: 100 properties categorized by owner type from the county record.
- Skip trace: structured lookups (first name, last name, full property address) on the individually owned subset through a commercial identity API.
- Compliance pass: phone results filtered against Do-Not-Call flags, the same filter we apply in production.
Finding 1: two thirds of distressed properties are not owned by people
Of 100 hard-distress properties, 66 were owned by companies, trusts or estates. Only 26 traced to an individual with a full name on the record, and 8 had no usable owner name at the search level. Every outreach plan that assumes a callable human on the other end is wrong two times out of three before the first dial.
| Owner type | Share of hard-distress list |
|---|---|
| Company, trust or estate | 66% |
| Individual, full name on record | 26% |
| No owner name at search level | 8% |
Finding 2: on individuals, skip tracing works
The individually owned subset returned at least one phone or email 88 percent of the time. Email was the stronger channel at roughly 89 percent, averaging 4.3 addresses per matched owner. Raw phone matches were similar, averaging 2.2 numbers per matched owner. Total dead lookups, no phone and no email: about 12 percent.
Finding 3: the Do-Not-Call haircut is huge and nobody quotes it
Do-Not-Call filtering removed roughly half of the raw phone matches. After the compliance pass, about 56 percent of individual owners had a legally callable number. This is the number that matters for a calling operation, and it is barely half of what an unfiltered vendor report would have claimed for the same list.
What this means in practice
Work a 100-property hard-distress list and the realistic outreach map is: about 15 owners you can call today, about 23 you can email, and 66 entities that need mail to the county address or a registered-agent lookup. Plan channels in that order of scarcity and nothing on the list goes to waste.
It is also why LowBaller only charges a credit when a verified contact comes back, and why the platform flags individually owned properties before you spend anything.
Frequently asked questions
What is a realistic skip trace hit rate?
On individually owned distressed properties, 88 percent returned a phone or email in our July 2026 study. The practical number for callers is lower: after Do-Not-Call filtering, about 56 percent had a legally callable phone.
Why do skip trace vendors quote higher numbers?
Two reasons: they quote raw match rates before Do-Not-Call filtering, and they quote across all properties rather than distressed lists, which skew heavily toward entity owners that cannot be traced to a person at all.
Can this study be cited?
Yes, with attribution to LowBaller (lowballer.app). The measurement was run in July 2026 on a live hard-distress list in the Phoenix metro using structured lookups and production Do-Not-Call filtering.
Put this to work in your market.
Scan any US ZIP and see every motivated seller near you, ranked hardest-first.
Find motivated sellers