How skip trace works
Skip trace is one of the most-used features in The Invest Nest. Here's a quick overview of how it works and why results can vary from property to property.
How it works
When you click Skip Trace on a property, we pull likely contact information for the owner from a third-party data source. Coverage is strong across the US, and the data is refreshed regularly.
The data we surface includes:
Phone numbers (mobile and landline, when available)
Email addresses (personal and sometimes business)
Owner mailing address (often different from property address for absentee owners)
Demographics (age, gender)
Linked properties (other properties tied to the same owner)
Why results vary
A few factors affect what comes back on any given trace:
Owner type. Properties owned by individuals tend to return more personal contact info than those owned by an LLC, trust, or business.
Length of ownership. Long-term owners with stable records generally have richer data than recent movers.
Geography. Coverage is typically strongest in major metros.
Privacy opt-outs. Some owners have scrubbed their info from public data sources.
This is normal for any skip trace product and is why two similar-looking properties can return different levels of detail.
What to do with the data once you have it
A few important rules on how this data can be used:
Cold calling and direct mail to property owners for real estate offers: yes, this is the intended use. You're responsible for following TCPA rules (no auto-dialed calls without consent, respect Do Not Call lists, etc.).
Tenant screening, credit decisions, employment screening, insurance underwriting: NO. This data is not FCRA-compliant and cannot legally be used for any of those purposes. If you need a true background check, use an FCRA-certified service like TransUnion SmartMove.
Sharing or reselling the data: not allowed under our Terms of Service.
Skip trace limits
Trial users: 25 skip traces total during the 7-day trial.
Premium users: 500 skip traces per month (resets monthly).
Need more? Premium users can purchase additional skip traces in the app at any time.
You can see your remaining skip traces in Settings → Billing.
If a trace returns limited info
On occasion, a trace will return less data than expected. When that happens, the data source simply didn't have a strong match for that particular owner. Each trace still counts against your monthly allowance, because the lookup runs the same way regardless of match strength.
Tip: skip tracing individual-owned properties tends to yield richer results than LLC- or trust-owned properties.
Need more help?
If a trace is failing to load or you have questions about a specific result, email us at info@theinvestnest.com with a few example properties and we'll take a look.