Direct answer
Before the first letter or call, verify on each record that the owner on your list still matches the county's records, that the mailing address or phone plausibly reaches that owner, and that the property hasn't been listed since you pulled the data. If you're calling or texting, verify too that every number has been screened. Proof that the person can sell, such as trust or company documents, and a title search come later, before an agreement is signed.
A list is a snapshot from the day you pulled it, and a property can change hands between the pull and the mailing. So the first check is the deed record, and it comes first because a record that fails it makes the other checks moot.
On PropertyRadar's property and owner profile, Purchase Date shows when the most recent change of ownership was recorded, and the Transactions tab shows the current owner's recorded transactions. Its Title Search link opens the county recorder's website. Look there for anything recorded on the parcel after your pull date.
If nothing later is indexed and the latest deed's grantee agrees with the owner on your list, the record goes ahead. If a later instrument appears, hold the record and read the instrument's type, parties and legal description before you decide the list is stale. A later document on the parcel doesn't always change who owns it.
An index search can also miss a recent recording. Harris County's real property search, for one, says a document can take 1 to 2 business days after it is processed for recording to appear. A clean result supports a first contact and falls short of proof of title. A separate answer covers the full lookup for finding the current owner in county records.
While you're on the profile, read Owned By, which is individual, husband and wife, multiple owners, corporate or trust. A letter can go to an entity by name at its mailing address. A call needs a person. For a corporate or trust owner, open the Contacts tab, which lists each contact's name, person type and ownership role, and choose someone to approach.
The mailing address on your list is the owner's address per county tax assessor records. PropertyRadar's criteria glossary has two fields that screen it. Mailing Address Complete reports whether the address is complete. Mail Vacant marks owner addresses the Postal Service has identified as vacant, and the glossary says it exists to suppress mailing to undeliverable addresses. A complete address with no vacancy flag is a usable candidate. An incomplete or flagged one is a reason to check the county tax roll for a newer address.
Passing both screens doesn't make the address current. San Bernardino County's assessor takes the address from the ownership-change report or the recorded transfer document and keeps using it until the owner signs a change request. In that county, the address on a long-held property can date from the purchase. You learn more after the campaign. A returned piece identifies a delivery problem, and a reply from the owner confirms the recipient. A delivered piece doesn't prove the owner received it.
Occupancy is a sorting field at this stage. PropertyRadar's Owner Occupied field is true when the owner claims the property as a primary residence or the owner's address matches the site address. That helps you decide whether the piece goes to the property or to a separate owner address, and how to word it. It doesn't identify the current occupant. In the direct mail order, Assessed Owner and the owner mailing (tax) address are the choices for reaching the owner. The property address is the option for reaching whoever occupies the house.
An owner who has listed the property since your pull is no longer an off-market lead. PropertyRadar has Listed for Sale and Listing Status fields, so you can filter listed properties out of the whole list at once. The glossary says its listing data comes from third parties and may be incomplete, which means the filter removes only the listings PropertyRadar has on file.
A same-day search can catch listings the filter missed. On the day you send, open the profile's Listings tab and use its links to search Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin for the address. If an active listing appears, whether through an agent or by the owner, the record leaves the off-market campaign.
This check applies when you call or text, and it works number by number. In PropertyRadar, registry scrubbing starts after you register with the National Do Not Call Registry, receive a Subscription Account Number and enter it under Telemarketing Settings in your own account. Saved lists are then scrubbed automatically. A flagged number shows a yellow icon whose tooltip gives the reason: do not call, disconnected, wrong person or another inactive status.
The automatic scrub has a boundary. The list-building criteria for do not call apply only to the first phone number on the Primary Contact, and exports carry only the first number for each contact. A second number for the same owner, or a co-owner's number, has to be screened separately before anyone dials it.
Timing matters as well. The FTC's do-not-call Q&A for sellers and telemarketers requires call lists covered by its rule to be synchronized with the registry at least every 31 days. A scrub from a campaign two months ago doesn't clear this one.
On the profile, a green checkmark marks a number as active in PropertyRadar's data. That status alone doesn't establish permission to call or text. Screen each number against the registry and your own opt-out list, then confirm the consent and calling-method requirements for that campaign before the number is released for dialing. A number with an Opted Out, Wrong Person, Disconnected or Do Not Call status stays off the list. Mail remains an option for that owner when the address passed its check and the owner hasn't asked you to stop contact. Screening a property owner call list for do-not-call suppression covers the registry and internal-suppression workflow in full.
Suppose you pulled a list of absentee owners on September 18 and the postcards are set to go on October 9. Take two records from that list.
On the first, Purchase Date is in 2011 and the recorder's index shows nothing for the parcel since. The owner is an individual. The mailing address is complete and isn't flagged vacant, and no active listing appears on October 9. It's a mail-only record, so no number is dialed. This one goes out, addressed to the Assessed Owner at the owner mailing (tax) address.
On the second, Purchase Date is in 2015, but the recorder's index shows a deed out of the owner's name recorded September 30. The address passes both screens, and that no longer decides anything. The record is held at the first check, so the listing check isn't run. The next step is to read the September 30 deed. If it conveys the whole property, your list names a previous owner, and the record starts over under the new grantee.
The second record also has one phone number, marked Wrong Person after a call in an earlier campaign. You can edit a number's status yourself, which is how a result like that gets onto the record the day it happens. That number stays off the call list whichever way the deed reads.
What a first contact needs and what waits for an agreement
| Question | Enough for a first letter or call | Needed before an agreement is signed |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | The list owner agrees with the latest indexed deed | A title search by a title company, abstractor or attorney, covering the chain of title and liens |
| Who can sign | For an entity, a named person to approach | The trust or company documents that name the person authorized to sell |
| Where to reach them | A complete tax mailing address that isn't flagged vacant, or a screened phone number | Confirmed directly by the owner once you are in contact |
| Is it for sale | No active listing on the day you send | The owner's own answer, including whether a listing agreement is in force |