How to Find Absentee Property Owner Leads & Turn Them Into Deals

Building strong client relationships and consistently identifying new prospects are essential to sustaining success in real estate. But maintaining a reliable pipeline of leads isn’t always easy — and converting them to successful deals and loyal clients takes work. And some creativity.

One practical but out-of-the box approach is to get in touch with absentee owners. Below, we explore the basics of what an absentee owner is, how to find them, how to build absentee owner lists and how to make contact.

What Is an Absentee Owner?

An absentee owner holds the legal title of ownership to a property, but doesn’t actively occupy or manage it. The absentee owner can be an individual or organization, and applies to both residential and commercial real estate.

The owner may live in the same city, but will often reside in a different city or state altogether, and the unoccupied property will usually be rented out, managed through a third party or left vacant. Pieds-à-terre can also be considered properties with absentee owners, but with specific nuances on ownership and usage intent.

The key characteristics of an absentee owner are:

• Long-term or full physical absence
• Geographical distance
• Low to no involvement in day-to-day operations or upkeep
• Delegating management to real estate & management professionals

Why Absentee Owners Are Valuable to Investors & Real Estate Professionals

Absentee owners present a valuable opportunity for investors and real estate professionals as potential clients. So, what does an absentee owner mean in terms of that goal?

An absentee owner could be a potential seller who hasn’t put their property on the market, but who can be presented with the opportunity of good representation for a profitable deal. But an absentee owner could also be a potential investor who might be interested in adding another property to their portfolio.

Absentee owners often have less emotional attachment to their properties and can be motivated sellers, especially if the property is vacant, underperforming or has become difficult to manage, especially for out-of-state or international owners. This opens the door to the right deal, especially when it comes to underutilized properties.

How to Find Absentee Owners

There are several strategies to find information on absentee property owners, but they generally fall into two categories: Manual research or using specialized tools. Below, we include three examples, from the easiest to the most meticulous.

1. Build Property Lists With PropertyShark

PropertyShark provides dedicated tools that you can use to find the true owner of a property, empowering you to easily identify absentee owners. Among them, Property Lists is the best tool for canvasing an area for absentee owners. Plus, it’s easy to use, with quick results.

Simply select your location of interest and use the dedicated Owner search filters to focus your research on absentee owners. For more targeted results, you can differentiate between in-state or out-of-state owners, as well as individual, corporate or trust owners. You can also specify if you’re looking for newer or longer-term owners.

If your search also needs to fulfill other criteria, the Property Lists tool selection of other filters also includes building class; building age; radius search; last time or price of sale; and more.

Notably, older buildings can be quite the handful if they haven’t been regularly renovated throughout the years. As such, the landlord might be interested in the right collaboration to take them off their hands. Similarly, if the current absentee owner has had the property for a long time, it’s worth exploring whether they might be interested in capitalizing on the value increase since the last time of sale.

Alternatively, you can also use this tool if you are only canvasing one building: simply select the “Build list” option that is available on the individual property report to reach the main Property Lists menu described above.  

2. Research Public Records

The local tax assessor office is good place to start because you can also find a record of owners’ contact information. More precisely, look for instances of title-holders who have a different mailing address than the property in which you are interested.

Ideally, the tax assessor would have an online database you can search. If not, you’ll need to visit their office in person to search to search. Depending on location, there may be a fee for accessing the information you’re researching.

3. On-Site Canvasing

The most hands-on way to finding absentee owners is to personally canvas locations and take stock of properties that appear neglected or unoccupied. In this case, the owners may not have the funds, interest or motivation to keep the property up and, consequently, might be interested in selling if the right real estate representative came along. You can also be on the look-out for leased properties with on-site canvasing, especially if the property has flipping potential. That said, in-person canvasing is perhaps the most time-consuming method of identifying absentee owners.

How to Contact Absentee Owners

You can export the lists you create with PropertyShark and use the contact information included to reach out to them through cold-mailing or cold-calling campaigns, depending on what level of contact information is available.

PropertyShark allows you to export the data as a CSV or Excel file that you can edit and transform according to your needs. Additionally, you can also export to a pre-formatted PDF file that is ready to print as Avery mailing labels.

In essence, it takes only a few minutes on PropertyShark to access absentee owner contact information that would take days of research to compile independently from a variety of other sources, such as public records offices or through in-person prospecting. These processes are significantly more time-consuming, difficult and complex, combining multiple layers and types of manual research as you’d have to collect the data from various sources, not all of which are available online.

Building a network of absentee-owner contacts is a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort and the right tools. But creating lasting business relationships is key and the effort you invest now, whichever way you choose to go about it, can yield substantial returns in the future. Even as the real estate market is constantly evolving, identifying and connecting with absentee owners remains a valuable strategy to generate leads and transform them into deals.