Collect five things for each property before you pay for a skip trace or contact-data append: the state, county and assessor's parcel number (APN), the site address with its city or ZIP code, the owner name exactly as the county records it, the owner's mailing address, and the ownership type. The parcel number and site address identify the property. The name and mailing address are what you check a returned contact against. The ownership type tells you which rows name an entity, where a lead on who acts for an LLC or trust is worth adding when you can find one.
\n","summary":"Before skip tracing, collect the state, county and APN, the site address with city or ZIP code, the owner name as the county records it, the owner's mailing address and the ownership type for each property. The parcel fields drive the property match, and the name and mailing address are what you check a returned contact against.","publishedAt":"2026-05-27T14:05:00","verifiedAt":"2026-10-09T21:39:38.685","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-10-10T01:32:36.363","nextReviewDueAt":"2027-01-09T21:39:38.685","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["What information should I collect before skip tracing a property owner?","What does a skip tracing service need to find a property owner?","Do you need the owner's name to skip trace a property?","What data do you need before uploading a skip tracing list?","What are the minimum inputs for a property skip trace?"],"confidenceScore":82,"confidenceLabel":"High","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"contributorOrganizationProfile":{"entityId":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","legalName":null,"description":null,"websiteUrl":null,"imageUrl":null,"slogan":null,"subtitle":null,"facts":[],"coiNote":null,"foundingDate":null,"numberOfEmployeesText":null,"contactPoint":null,"address":null,"headquartersText":null,"organizationType":null},"contributorPerson":null,"sections":[{"id":"66b9c1ba-acc3-4521-8829-da20bb212d0e","sectionKey":"why_each_field_earns_its_place","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Why each field earns its place","introMarkdown":"In PropertyRadar's import workflow, your row is matched to a property and then to a person, and each field does a different part of that work. Its [import documentation](https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/6157304-importing-a-new-list) names the inputs the matcher treats as high confidence: county and APN, a street address with a city or ZIP code, an exact phone or email, and a name paired with one of the first three.\n\nCounty and APN come first. An APN is assigned by a county assessor, so it identifies a parcel only together with its county and state. A street address can carry the property match alone when you have no APN, provided it has the number and street plus a city or a ZIP code.\n\nThe owner name works differently. In PropertyRadar's matcher, a name counts toward a high-confidence match only in combination with an APN, an address, or a phone or email, since two people can share one. Its second job comes later. When a trace returns a person, the name and the mailing address in your file are what you compare that person against. The mailing address also gives you somewhere to send mail if no phone comes back.\n\nPropertyRadar's matcher doesn't use ownership type. It separates the rows where the owner is a company or a trust, which need more work before a phone number is useful. A known phone or email is optional and matches on exact values only, so one mistyped digit defeats the match on that field.\n\nTwo more columns are worth keeping for your own records: where each row came from and the date you captured it. The capture date is not the age of the county's data, but it tells you how old your copy is.","introHtml":"In PropertyRadar's import workflow, your row is matched to a property and then to a person, and each field does a different part of that work. Its import documentation names the inputs the matcher treats as high confidence: county and APN, a street address with a city or ZIP code, an exact phone or email, and a name paired with one of the first three.
\nCounty and APN come first. An APN is assigned by a county assessor, so it identifies a parcel only together with its county and state. A street address can carry the property match alone when you have no APN, provided it has the number and street plus a city or a ZIP code.
\nThe owner name works differently. In PropertyRadar's matcher, a name counts toward a high-confidence match only in combination with an APN, an address, or a phone or email, since two people can share one. Its second job comes later. When a trace returns a person, the name and the mailing address in your file are what you compare that person against. The mailing address also gives you somewhere to send mail if no phone comes back.
\nPropertyRadar's matcher doesn't use ownership type. It separates the rows where the owner is a company or a trust, which need more work before a phone number is useful. A known phone or email is optional and matches on exact values only, so one mistyped digit defeats the match on that field.
\nTwo more columns are worth keeping for your own records: where each row came from and the date you captured it. The capture date is not the age of the county's data, but it tells you how old your copy is.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":10},{"id":"e9672a9b-efcd-4eb6-b089-c07e2cd6f68a","sectionKey":"a_worksheet_layout_with_one_row_per_parcel","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"A worksheet layout with one row per parcel","introMarkdown":null,"introHtml":null,"outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["county, state","County name and two-letter state, in their own columns","Makes the APN meaningful"]},{"cells":["apn","Text, exactly as the assessor prints it, dashes included","With the county, enough for the property match"]},{"cells":["site_address, site_city, site_zip","Number and street in one column, city and ZIP in their own","Carries the property match when there is no APN"]},{"cells":["owner_name","As the assessor roll or the deed spells it, entities included","Counts only in combination. Also the name you check a returned contact against."]},{"cells":["mail_address, mail_city, mail_state, mail_zip","The owner's tax mailing address, split like the site address","A second point of comparison, and the address for mail"]},{"cells":["ownership_type","Individual, husband and wife, multiple owners, corporate or trust","Not used. Separates entity rows."]},{"cells":["known_phone, known_email","Exactly as you hold them","Optional. Exact values only."]},{"cells":["source, pulled_date","Where the row came from and the date captured","Not used. Your audit trail."]}],"columns":["Column","Format","Role in PropertyRadar's match"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":20},{"id":"b92e26b9-0ae6-4da0-b075-745ba7dcbd6c","sectionKey":"one_sample_row","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"One sample row","introMarkdown":"The column names above are a working layout. PropertyRadar's importer has its own field names, and you map your columns to them during upload. The ownership values are the ones in its [Owned By criterion](https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/2507682-criteria-glossary-2007-2026).\n\nSuppose one parcel in your file is a rental at 218 Birch Ln whose tax bill goes to a PO box in Reno. Its header row and data row would look like this:\n\n```csv\ncounty,state,apn,site_address,site_city,site_zip,owner_name,mail_address,mail_city,mail_state,mail_zip,ownership_type,known_phone,known_email,source,pulled_date\nSan Bernardino,CA,0123-456-78-0000,218 Birch Ln,Redlands,92373,DOE JANE R,PO Box 4410,Reno,NV,89501,Individual,,,County tax-defaulted list,2026-10-02\n```\n\nThe site address and the mailing address sit in separate columns because they answer different questions. One locates the parcel and the other locates the owner, and on a rental those can be different places.","introHtml":"The column names above are a working layout. PropertyRadar's importer has its own field names, and you map your columns to them during upload. The ownership values are the ones in its Owned By criterion.
\nSuppose one parcel in your file is a rental at 218 Birch Ln whose tax bill goes to a PO box in Reno. Its header row and data row would look like this:
\ncounty,state,apn,site_address,site_city,site_zip,owner_name,mail_address,mail_city,mail_state,mail_zip,ownership_type,known_phone,known_email,source,pulled_date\nSan Bernardino,CA,0123-456-78-0000,218 Birch Ln,Redlands,92373,DOE JANE R,PO Box 4410,Reno,NV,89501,Individual,,,County tax-defaulted list,2026-10-02\nThe site address and the mailing address sit in separate columns because they answer different questions. One locates the parcel and the other locates the owner, and on a rental those can be different places.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":30},{"id":"01d8c6e3-a04f-4ba1-b072-479efb3478f7","sectionKey":"cleaning_the_file_before_you_upload_it","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Cleaning the file before you upload it","introMarkdown":"Most of the cleaning is about keeping the APN and the owner name exactly as the county wrote them.\n\nStore the APN as text. A spreadsheet that treats 0123-456-78 as a number can drop the leading zero or the dashes, and the [glossary](https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/2507682-criteria-glossary-2007-2026) says APN formatting, including dashes, has to match the county's. Some counties format an APN as book-page-lot, so don't force one pattern across counties.\n\nRemove duplicates on state, county and APN, because one row per parcel is the unit you're matching. Owner name is the wrong key for this. One owner with six rentals is six parcels, and two different people can share a name.\n\nLeave the owner name as the county wrote it, including the word order, the suffixes and entity endings such as LLC or TRUST. A tidied name is harder to compare with the recorded one when you review matches. Addresses are the exception. Split them into street, city, state and ZIP, since a street with no city or ZIP falls short of the importer's bar for a high-confidence address match.\n\nKeep the state, county and APN on every row through the export. A returned phone number attaches to a person, and those three fields are what tie that person back to the parcel you started from.","introHtml":"Most of the cleaning is about keeping the APN and the owner name exactly as the county wrote them.
\nStore the APN as text. A spreadsheet that treats 0123-456-78 as a number can drop the leading zero or the dashes, and the glossary says APN formatting, including dashes, has to match the county's. Some counties format an APN as book-page-lot, so don't force one pattern across counties.
\nRemove duplicates on state, county and APN, because one row per parcel is the unit you're matching. Owner name is the wrong key for this. One owner with six rentals is six parcels, and two different people can share a name.
\nLeave the owner name as the county wrote it, including the word order, the suffixes and entity endings such as LLC or TRUST. A tidied name is harder to compare with the recorded one when you review matches. Addresses are the exception. Split them into street, city, state and ZIP, since a street with no city or ZIP falls short of the importer's bar for a high-confidence address match.
\nKeep the state, county and APN on every row through the export. A returned phone number attaches to a person, and those three fields are what tie that person back to the parcel you started from.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":40},{"id":"ad8b53eb-9d31-4a8c-b0cf-361ad1f008ac","sectionKey":"what_llc_and_trust_rows_need","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What LLC and trust rows need","introMarkdown":"Rows titled to an LLC or a trust are worth one more field when you can find it: a lead on who acts for the entity. It helps to work these rows on their own tab. The importer accepts company names, so the separation is a convenience that keeps the rows needing a named person in one place.\n\nWhere the lead comes from depends on the state where the entity was formed. Texas, for example, requires an LLC's [certificate of formation](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/instructions/205.shtml) to give the name and address of each initial manager, or of each initial member when the LLC has no managers. Add that name and address to the row as a person to ask. The filing lists the governing persons at formation. Their current role and their authority to sell are questions for the first conversation and for the entity's own documents.","introHtml":"Rows titled to an LLC or a trust are worth one more field when you can find it: a lead on who acts for the entity. It helps to work these rows on their own tab. The importer accepts company names, so the separation is a convenience that keeps the rows needing a named person in one place.
\nWhere the lead comes from depends on the state where the entity was formed. Texas, for example, requires an LLC's certificate of formation to give the name and address of each initial manager, or of each initial member when the LLC has no managers. Add that name and address to the row as a person to ask. The filing lists the governing persons at formation. Their current role and their authority to sell are questions for the first conversation and for the entity's own documents.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":50},{"id":"240322b4-3118-4a3b-bdea-384f7cf1d2a5","sectionKey":"importing_the_file_and_reviewing_matches_in_propertyradar","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Importing the file and reviewing matches in PropertyRadar","introMarkdown":"PropertyRadar's [importer](https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/6157304-importing-a-new-list) accepts CSV, XLS or XLSX files, and imports are included with all current subscription plans at no additional cost. You start one from My Lists, under New List and then Import List. The Import window offers a sample file of its import fields to compare with your headers.\n\nTwo settings decide how strict the match is. The Match Threshold sets the line between records imported automatically and records held for manual review. A high threshold admits only close matches. A low one admits loose matches that the documentation says may need a manual accuracy check. For a list you're about to buy contact data on, set it high and review the remainder by hand. The second setting is the list type. Choose Property List for a file built from parcel records. With Customer List, the documentation says the matcher can find a person at a different address and still match them.\n\nAfter you map your columns and submit, open the list and click Review Matches. You can filter by Confidence, by Property Status and by Person Status. The two statuses are separate checks. The first asks whether the row landed on the right parcel. The second asks whether the person attached to it is the owner in your file.\n\nFor a row in review, the magnifying-glass Match Lookup icon lets you look the parcel up by owner name and location or by site address and select the property. Under Choose Person Match, pick the person whose name and mailing address agree with your owner_name and mail columns. A matching name alone isn't enough. If no one agrees, choose \"Do not import contact data\" and keep the parcel without a person. Include these hand-reviewed rows in the sample when you [test a skip-tracing provider's accuracy](https://www.answerstack.io/q/how-to-test-skip-tracing-provider-accuracy).","introHtml":"PropertyRadar's importer accepts CSV, XLS or XLSX files, and imports are included with all current subscription plans at no additional cost. You start one from My Lists, under New List and then Import List. The Import window offers a sample file of its import fields to compare with your headers.
\nTwo settings decide how strict the match is. The Match Threshold sets the line between records imported automatically and records held for manual review. A high threshold admits only close matches. A low one admits loose matches that the documentation says may need a manual accuracy check. For a list you're about to buy contact data on, set it high and review the remainder by hand. The second setting is the list type. Choose Property List for a file built from parcel records. With Customer List, the documentation says the matcher can find a person at a different address and still match them.
\nAfter you map your columns and submit, open the list and click Review Matches. You can filter by Confidence, by Property Status and by Person Status. The two statuses are separate checks. The first asks whether the row landed on the right parcel. The second asks whether the person attached to it is the owner in your file.
\nFor a row in review, the magnifying-glass Match Lookup icon lets you look the parcel up by owner name and location or by site address and select the property. Under Choose Person Match, pick the person whose name and mailing address agree with your owner_name and mail columns. A matching name alone isn't enough. If no one agrees, choose "Do not import contact data" and keep the parcel without a person. Include these hand-reviewed rows in the sample when you test a skip-tracing provider's accuracy.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":60},{"id":"9641e552-b464-4812-abd9-acae5e289a1d","sectionKey":"what_the_purchase_costs_once_the_file_is_matched","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What the purchase costs once the file is matched","introMarkdown":"Phones and emails come after the match, and the purchase terms are the reason the file matters. PropertyRadar's [contact purchase documentation](https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/5881885-unlocking-email-addresses-and-phone-numbers) lets you buy for every contact on a property or only the Primary Contact, and a purchase returns all the phones or all the emails available for that contact. A contact with nothing on file shows no purchase link or icon. Purchases are final and non-refundable, so a purchase on a row matched to the wrong parcel is charged like any other.\n\nSuppose your file is 400 tax-delinquent parcels and all 400 match. Assume one phone purchase per owner, for the primary contact, counted as one against an allowance that hasn't been used this month. The Solo plan includes 250 phones a month and charges $0.08 for each one beyond that. The 400 purchases cost 150 times $0.08, or $12, on top of the subscription. If 30 of the 400 primary contacts have no phone on file, you buy 370, and the bill is 120 times $0.08, or $9.60. The Team plan includes 500 a month at $0.06 beyond that, and Business includes 2,500 at $0.04. Unused monthly amounts don't roll over. Look at the quantity in the purchase summary before you accept it, because choosing all contacts raises the count.\n\nEach returned number is a candidate for the owner until a conversation confirms it. The [profile](https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/5730803-using-the-property-and-owner-profile) lets you set a phone's status to Wrong Person or Disconnected as you learn more. Before dialing, screen every number. PropertyRadar's [do-not-call criteria](https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/11084369-accessing-do-not-call-dnc-data-in-the-propertyradar-app) apply only to the first phone number on the Primary Contact, so a second number or a co-owner's number needs its own check. [Screening a call list for do-not-call suppression](https://www.answerstack.io/q/screen-property-owner-call-list-do-not-call-suppression) covers the steps.","introHtml":"Phones and emails come after the match, and the purchase terms are the reason the file matters. PropertyRadar's contact purchase documentation lets you buy for every contact on a property or only the Primary Contact, and a purchase returns all the phones or all the emails available for that contact. A contact with nothing on file shows no purchase link or icon. Purchases are final and non-refundable, so a purchase on a row matched to the wrong parcel is charged like any other.
\nSuppose your file is 400 tax-delinquent parcels and all 400 match. Assume one phone purchase per owner, for the primary contact, counted as one against an allowance that hasn't been used this month. The Solo plan includes 250 phones a month and charges $0.08 for each one beyond that. The 400 purchases cost 150 times $0.08, or $12, on top of the subscription. If 30 of the 400 primary contacts have no phone on file, you buy 370, and the bill is 120 times $0.08, or $9.60. The Team plan includes 500 a month at $0.06 beyond that, and Business includes 2,500 at $0.04. Unused monthly amounts don't roll over. Look at the quantity in the purchase summary before you accept it, because choosing all contacts raises the count.
\nEach returned number is a candidate for the owner until a conversation confirms it. The profile lets you set a phone's status to Wrong Person or Disconnected as you learn more. Before dialing, screen every number. PropertyRadar's do-not-call criteria apply only to the first phone number on the Primary Contact, so a second number or a co-owner's number needs its own check. Screening a call list for do-not-call suppression covers the steps.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":70}],"citations":[],"revisions":[{"revisedAt":"2026-08-10T14:05:00+00:00","versionLabel":"Originally published","note":"","reviewedBy":null}],"relatedAnswers":[{"id":"04514241-76c8-4b12-b243-101e9216cd7f","slug":"skip-tracing-vs-contact-data-match-append","question":"What is the difference between skip tracing and contact-data match append?","publishedAt":"2026-09-22T13:40:00","confidenceScore":80,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"2ca8d285-89d2-418e-86a8-5f0d3639f767","slug":"real-estate-technology","label":"Real Estate Technology","description":"Property intelligence, investment, and proptech"},"topic":{"slug":"skip-tracing-owner-contact","label":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact","description":"Locating and validating property-owner phone numbers and email addresses, testing skip-tracing providers, and handling records with no usable contact data.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"A match append is one automated step: a provider matches your owner or property record against its data and attaches the phones and emails it finds. Skip tracing is the wider effort to locate and reach a hard-to-find person, which can start with an append and continue into address research, returned mail and manual searching. Vendors use both labels for overlapping products, so compare them by input, output and charge.","url":"/q/skip-tracing-vs-contact-data-match-append"},{"id":"00bc94ac-c44b-4508-acb9-c23fc8c90d64","slug":"how-to-test-skip-tracing-provider-accuracy","question":"How can I test a skip-tracing provider's accuracy before buying a large list?","publishedAt":"2026-09-19T13:15:00","confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"2ca8d285-89d2-418e-86a8-5f0d3639f767","slug":"real-estate-technology","label":"Real Estate Technology","description":"Property intelligence, investment, and proptech"},"topic":{"slug":"skip-tracing-owner-contact","label":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact","description":"Locating and validating property-owner phone numbers and email addresses, testing skip-tracing providers, and handling records with no usable contact data.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Send one frozen sample of owner records to each provider in the same week, call the returned numbers under one written protocol, and count each owner as reached once. Compare providers on the share of owners reached and the cost per owner reached, because a high match rate can still be full of numbers that belong to someone else.","url":"/q/how-to-test-skip-tracing-provider-accuracy"},{"id":"8bcaef42-649a-4177-92d1-6e83c79fd818","slug":"why-skip-tracing-returns-wrong-or-disconnected-numbers","question":"Why does skip tracing return multiple, wrong, or disconnected phone numbers for one property owner?","publishedAt":"2026-08-29T16:40:00","confidenceScore":76,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"2ca8d285-89d2-418e-86a8-5f0d3639f767","slug":"real-estate-technology","label":"Real Estate Technology","description":"Property intelligence, investment, and proptech"},"topic":{"slug":"skip-tracing-owner-contact","label":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact","description":"Locating and validating property-owner phone numbers and email addresses, testing skip-tracing providers, and handling records with no usable contact data.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"A skip trace typically matches the owner's name and address against contact data and returns the numbers on file for the match. Several come back because several are on file. A number can be wrong because of the identity match, a second contact on the record or a reassigned line, and a disconnected number means the line is out of service now. The pattern across all the numbers on a record shows which explanation to test first.","url":"/q/why-skip-tracing-returns-wrong-or-disconnected-numbers"}],"contributorStats":{"verifiedAnswers":149,"openDisputes":0},"schemaJson":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Question","name":"What should you collect before skip tracing a property owner?","text":"What should you collect before skip tracing a property owner?","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/what-to-collect-before-skip-tracing-property-owner","answerCount":1,"datePublished":"2026-05-27T14:05:00","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"Real Estate Technology"}],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Collect five things for each property before you pay for a skip trace or contact-data append: the state, county and assessor's parcel number (APN), the site address with its city or ZIP code, the owner name exactly as the county records it, the owner's mailing address, and the ownership type. The parcel number and site address identify the property. The name and mailing address are what you check a returned contact against. The ownership type tells you which rows name an entity, where a lead on who acts for an LLC or trust is worth adding when you can find one.","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/what-to-collect-before-skip-tracing-property-owner","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2026-05-27T14:05:00","dateModified":"2026-10-09T21:39:38.685","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"citation":[]}}}