Vacant properties: where to get the list
Short answer: A vacant property list identifies homes nobody is living in. The strongest single source is USPS vacancy flagging, which marks addresses where mail has gone undeliverable, available through licensed data resellers rather than directly from the Postal Service.
Typical cash close
30 to 38% under market
Discount to estimated value on vacant properties, capped by owner equity.
Metros with a live list
46
Plus any US ZIP through the scan, listed or not.
Cost to browse
Free
Credits only reveal owner contact, and only when one verifies.
What this list actually is
Vacancy is the most underrated signal in distressed real estate because it is the one that costs the owner money every month while producing nothing. Taxes, insurance and maintenance keep accruing on a house generating no rent and no use, which is why vacant owners are disproportionately willing to take a number well under market simply to stop the bleeding.
It is also the hardest signal to source, because no single office records it. There is no county vacancy register the way there is a tax roll. Vacancy has to be inferred, and the reliable inference comes from mail: when the Postal Service cannot deliver to an address for 90 days, it flags the address as vacant, and that flag is licensed to data resellers.
Municipal vacant property registries are the second source and are genuinely useful where they exist, though coverage is patchy and skewed toward cities with blight problems. Code enforcement records, utility shutoffs and long-term absentee mailing addresses fill the remaining gaps. Driving for dollars still works and still finds houses no database has, it just does not scale.
Every source, and what each one leaves out
Including the free ones. Nothing here is a secret, the work is in what you do with it.
| Source | Cost | What you get | What is missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS vacancy flag | Licensed through resellers, per-record pricing | The most reliable national vacancy signal, updated as mail goes undeliverable | Not available directly from USPS, and it lags real vacancy by up to 90 days |
| Municipal vacant property registry | Usually free, sometimes a records request | Registered vacant and abandoned buildings, often with code violations attached | Only exists in some cities, and registration compliance is voluntary in practice |
| Code enforcement records | Free to request | Open violations for overgrown lots, boarded windows and unsecured structures | Lags badly, and a violation is not proof the house is empty |
| Utility shutoff data | Rarely public | A strong vacancy indicator where a utility will release it | Most utilities will not, on privacy grounds |
| Driving for dollars | Your time | Ground truth, and houses no database has flagged yet | Does not scale past a few neighborhoods, and you still have to find the owner |
| LowBaller | Free to browse, credits only to reveal an owner | Vacancy joined to ownership, equity and other distress signals, ranked with a suggested offer | Inferred like every vacancy source, so treat it as a strong signal rather than a certainty |
How to find vacant properties, step by step
1. Start with mail, not with driving
USPS vacancy flagging covers the whole country and finds houses you would never drive past. Use it as the base layer and reserve driving for verifying the ones you intend to pursue.
2. Stack vacancy with a second signal
Vacant alone is a decent lead. Vacant plus tax delinquent, or vacant plus out-of-state owner, or vacant plus inherited is a much better one, because it means nobody is managing the problem and the carrying cost is real.
3. Find the owner, who is not at the property
This is the whole difficulty with vacant houses. The mailing address on the assessor record is the starting point, and skip tracing does the rest. Sending mail to a vacant house accomplishes nothing.
4. Check how long it has been empty
Six months empty is an owner with a plan that stalled. Three years empty is an owner who has mentally written the property off, and those are the ones who accept the deepest discounts.
5. Lead with the carrying cost
The opening line that works is arithmetic, not sympathy. Taxes plus insurance plus deterioration, multiplied by however many more months they intend to hold it. Most owners have never added it up.
How the lead types compare
Vacant properties by city
Live lists for 46 US metros, each ranked hardest-first with a below-market offer on every row. Not listed? The scan covers every US ZIP.
Alabama
Arizona
Colorado
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington
Vacant properties FAQ
How do I find vacant properties?
The most reliable method is USPS vacancy data, which flags addresses where mail has been undeliverable for around 90 days, licensed through data resellers rather than obtained directly from the Postal Service. Municipal vacant property registries and code enforcement records add local coverage. Then join those addresses to assessor records to find the owner, who by definition does not live there, and skip trace to reach them.
Is there a free list of vacant properties?
Partly. Cities that run a vacant property registry publish it, often free, and code enforcement records are usually available on request. Neither is comprehensive. The national vacancy signal comes from USPS data, which is licensed rather than free, and that is what most paid vacant lists are built on underneath.
How do I find out who owns a vacant house?
Search the county assessor or property appraiser by address. That gives you the owner of record and, critically, their mailing address, which for a vacant property is somewhere else. If the trail ends at an LLC, check state business filings for the registered agent. Skip tracing converts a name and mailing address into a phone number.
How many vacant homes are there in the US?
Census Bureau housing vacancy figures have consistently put total vacant housing units in the range of 15 million, though the great majority of those are seasonal homes, units between tenants, or properties already listed for sale. The subset that matters for investors, long-term vacant and neglected, is a much smaller slice, and it is heavily concentrated in older industrial metros.
Are vacant properties a good investment?
They are among the best distressed leads on a discount basis, because the owner is paying to hold something producing nothing. The tradeoff is condition risk: a house empty for years usually has deferred maintenance, sometimes serious water or structural damage, and occasionally squatters. Always inspect before committing.
What discount do vacant properties sell for?
Cash closes on vacant property typically land 20 to 35% under estimated value. When vacancy stacks with tax delinquency or a foreclosure filing, the band widens toward 30 to 45%, because the owner now has a deadline as well as a carrying cost.