At its core, skip tracing is the process of locating people who have either gone missing or who, for whatever reason, do not wish to be found. Real estate professionals regularly use it to locate debtors and tenants. It’s also commonly used in debt collection, divorce proceedings, and more.

Skip tracing is interesting because it is a far more tech-driven concept than most people give it credit for. Locating elusive individuals is a daily process filled with dedicated professionals using cutting-edge technologies. There are a few key examples of this in particular that are absolutely worth a closer look.

Advanced Data Analytics

In terms of skip tracing in real estate, maybe the number one thing advanced data analytics is used for is to collect vast amounts of information about a particular property, organize it, and help pinpoint exactly who (or what entity) rightfully owns the property.

This data can include information from a wide range of sources, including, but not limited to, someone's past addresses, the people they connect with on social media, and even certain patterns in their behavior. This information would take a great deal of time to compile on your own - to say nothing of how time-consuming it can be to make sense of it all.

Where a human might miss certain trends or patterns, a data analytics tool wouldn't. You'll be left with a record of where someone might be going next, dramatically reducing the time it takes to find them.

Data analytics can also be a powerful way to understand someone's footprint in a general sense. If you're trying to locate someone who doesn't want to be found, understanding what they're doing is only part of the story you need. Equally important is the "why" of it all - the context that may explain certain decisions a person makes as they attempt to avoid unwanted attention.

When you look at things from this perspective, their social media activity may be seen in a new light. The same is true of what they search for on the Internet and who they interact with online and in "real life."

Again, this represents a significant volume of data that would take countless hours for an actual person to wade through and try to make sense of. A data analytics tool can accomplish much the same thing in a fraction of the time, freeing up a skip tracer's attention to focus on what needs it.

Innovative Machine Learning Algorithms

From a larger perspective, artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning algorithms, transforms what we can do with the available data. By ingesting such vast amounts of data from sources like property records or public databases, skip tracers can locate individuals associated with a particular type of transaction.

In debt collection, this skip-tracing tool can identify liens, mortgages, and even sales histories about a property, an owner, or both. This can be hugely beneficial when establishing claims. Many in the legal profession rely on these technologies to help establish a defense for an upcoming case.

Sophisticated Geolocation Tools

Finally, one of the more fascinating technologies that are used in the world of skip tracing has to do with geolocation data.

According to one recent study, there are more than 6.84 billion smartphones on the planet as of 2024. According to the same resource, that number includes over 90% of Millennials in the United States.

Now, consider that those smartphones are connected to cell towers in a particular area at all times - meaning you know roughly where someone is and can also track them as they move. If someone intentionally avoids a person like a lawyer, a debt collector, or a police officer, they may have turned off the cell service on their phone. That geolocation data gets transmitted when they connect to a Wi-Fi network. It may be slightly harder to keep tabs on someone, but it's still possible. However, it’s important to note that cell phone location data provides a general idea of someone's whereabouts, not an exact location. Legal restrictions limit how precise this data can be.

Virtually anything you would need to do on a smartphone requires some type of Internet connection, and with that comes the transmission of geolocation data. If you have the right skip tracing tool, you can add that to the other data sources you're working with. So even if you don't know exactly where someone is because your data is old, you know where they've been. That can become even more information for your machine learning and data analytics tools to ingest, allowing them to predict someone's future behavior more accurately.

It’s Easier than Ever to Find Someone with Skip Tracing

For better or worse, these are just a few advancements that have helped create powerful solutions for skip tracers across various industries.

Technologies like geolocation and machine learning were obviously created with broader applications in mind. However, when incorporated into skip tracing methodologies, they not only help enhance the efficiency of the process but also provide invaluable insights for people like real estate professionals, debt collectors, or law enforcement. It's important to remember that with this power comes a great responsibility to use these technologies ethically and legally.