SmartSkip vs SkipForce: Which Skip Tracing Service Finds the Sellers You're Actually Looking For?
Not all skip tracing data is created equal—and the differences matter most when you're trying to reach motivated sellers. This comparison breaks down how SmartSkip and SkipForce differ, particularly when it comes to finding distressed property owners and hard-to-locate individuals.
Quick Comparison: SmartSkip vs SkipForce at a Glance
| Feature | SmartSkip | SkipForce |
|---|---|---|
| Batch Skip Tracing | Yes | Yes |
| Manual Skip Tracing | Yes | No |
| Price Per Search | $0.15 | $0.06 |
| Data Quality | High | Low |
| Distressed / Hard-to-Find Data | Strong | Weak |
| Easy-to-Reach / Good Credit Data | Good | Good |
| Relative Data | Yes | No |
| Associate Data | Yes | No |
| Relative Data Cost | Free | Not Available |
| Associate Data Cost | Free | Not Available |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Dynamic Interface | Yes | No |
| Record Storage | Yes | No |
| Processing Time | Minutes | Hours |
Already decided to move off SkipForce? Read our SkipForce alternative guide for what switching looks like in practice.
The Critical Difference: Who Are You Trying to Reach?
SkipForce: Built for Easy-to-Find People
SkipForce data skews toward people who are easy to reach. Their database performs well for individuals with:
- •Good credit standing
- •Stable financial situations
- •Consistent address history
- •Active, mainstream contact information
This data profile works for certain use cases—but not for finding motivated sellers.
SmartSkip: Built for Hard-to-Reach Owners
SmartSkip's data sources are optimized for real estate investor needs. Strong coverage for:
- Absentee owners who've moved multiple times
- Owners facing financial difficulties
- Heirs who inherited properties unexpectedly
- People who've "fallen off the grid" from mainstream databases
High-quality data that doesn't just skim the easy targets.
The Problem: Motivated Sellers Aren't Easy to Find
The property owners you're targeting are often in distressed situations:
- • Pre-foreclosure or foreclosure
- • Tax delinquency
- • Probate and inherited properties
- • Divorce situations
- • Code violations
- • Vacant and abandoned properties
These individuals often have inconsistent address history, changed or disconnected phone numbers, lower credit profiles, and less mainstream data footprints. SkipForce's data sources don't prioritize these harder-to-find individuals.
If your leads are pre-foreclosures, probates, and tax delinquents, you need skip tracing built for distressed data—not databases designed for people with perfect credit.
Why Data Source Matters for Real Estate Investors
The "Good Credit" Data Problem
Cheaper skip tracing data typically comes from surface-level sources designed to find easy-to-reach people—those with active credit profiles, stable addresses, and mainstream data footprints. This data is inexpensive to acquire because it's readily available and widely distributed. However, it creates a significant bias toward financially stable individuals who aren't distressed. Finding hard-to-reach property owners requires deeper data sources that cross-reference multiple databases, track address changes over time, and capture individuals who've fallen off mainstream records. This high-quality deep data costs more to access and maintain—which is exactly why SmartSkip's cost per search is higher than budget alternatives like SkipForce. At SmartSkip, we value high-quality data over cheap-costing data.
Distressed Sellers Don't Fit That Profile
- Someone facing foreclosure may have stopped paying bills—their credit data goes stale
- An heir who inherited a property may not have any connection to that address in mainstream databases
- Absentee owners who've moved multiple times are harder to track through standard channels
The harder someone is to find, the less likely "easy reach" databases have current info.
SmartSkip's Data Approach
- Aggregates from sources that capture harder-to-find individuals
- Multiple data points cross-referenced for accuracy
- Relative and associate data provides backup contact angles when direct info fails
- Built specifically for real estate investor use cases, not general marketing
SkipForce might find the homeowner with an 800 credit score. SmartSkip finds the one who's three months behind on their mortgage and ready to sell.
Pricing Comparison: Cheap Data vs Effective Data
per search (everything included)
per search (limited data)
What You're Actually Getting
SmartSkip at $0.15 includes:
- High-quality data with strong distressed/hard-to-find coverage
- Relative data (free)
- Associate data (free)
- Relationship status for all relatives/associates
- Record storage
- Manual skip tracing option
- Results in minutes
SkipForce at $0.06 includes:
- Low-quality data skewed toward easy-to-reach individuals
- No relative data
- No associate data
- No record storage
- No manual skip tracing
- Processing takes hours
The True Cost of Wrong-Fit Data
If SkipForce's data doesn't cover your target audience, the price doesn't matter. A 30% contact rate on distressed leads vs a 60% contact rate changes everything. Cheap data that misses your motivated sellers costs you deals, not just dollars.
| Scenario | SmartSkip | SkipForce |
|---|---|---|
| 500 searches | $75 | $30 |
| Contact rate on distressed leads | ~60% | ~30% |
| Actual contacts | 300 | 150 |
| Cost per contact | $0.25 | $0.20 |
| Value of 150 extra conversations | Priceless | — |
The $45 you "save" on 500 searches means nothing if you're missing half the motivated sellers on your list.
Relative & Associate Data: Your Backup Plan
Why This Matters for Hard-to-Find Owners
Distressed property owners are harder to reach directly. Phone numbers change, people avoid unknown calls, life is chaotic. Relatives and associates become your secondary contact path:
- • A spouse might answer when the owner won't
- • An adult child may be helping manage the situation
- • A sibling might pass along your message
Without this data, you have one shot—if they don't answer, you're stuck.
SmartSkip: Full Coverage
- Relative data: Yes, included free
- Associate data: Yes, included free
- Relationship status included (spouse, child, parent, sibling, etc.)
- Multiple contact angles for every search
SkipForce: No Backup
- Relative data: Not available
- Associate data: Not available
- Direct contact info only
- If owner doesn't answer, you have no backup
When you're chasing a distressed seller who's avoiding calls, relatives and associates aren't a nice-to-have—they're how you close the deal.
Data Quality: High vs Low
SmartSkip: High-Quality Data
- • Strong match rates across all lead types
- • Accurate phone numbers and emails
- • Comprehensive coverage for distressed and hard-to-find individuals
- • Cross-referenced from multiple sources
SkipForce: Low-Quality Data
- • Lower overall data quality rating
- • Data skews toward easy-to-reach, good-credit individuals
- • Weaker coverage for distressed property owners
- • Less reliable for hard-to-find targets
What "Low Quality" Means in Practice:
- • More disconnected numbers on your distressed lists
- • Higher percentage of "no data found" returns
- • Lower contact rates on the leads that matter most
Features Comparison
Manual Skip Tracing
SmartSkip: Run single searches for hot leads
SkipForce: Batch only
When you get a driving-for-dollars lead, you need data now—not after uploading a full list.
Dynamic Interface
SmartSkip: Modern, intuitive dashboard
SkipForce: No dynamic interface
Record Storage
SmartSkip: All searches saved and accessible
SkipForce: No record storage
Processing Time
SmartSkip: Minutes
SkipForce: Hours
What Both Services Offer
When SkipForce Might Make Sense
SkipForce may work for you if:
- • You're targeting non-distressed property owners (e.g., general absentee owners in good standing)
- • Your lists are not primarily pre-foreclosure, probate, tax delinquent, or distressed
- • Budget is your only priority and you accept lower contact rates
- • You don't need relative or associate data
- • You never need manual/single searches
For investors doing light outreach to stable property owners, SkipForce's pricing can work. But for serious motivated seller campaigns, the data gaps become expensive.
The Verdict: Why Investors Choose SmartSkip Over SkipForce
High-Quality Data
vs Low-Quality
Distressed Coverage
vs Easy-to-Reach Only
Free Relatives
vs Not Available
Minutes
vs Hours
If you're targeting motivated sellers—pre-foreclosures, probates, tax delinquents, vacant properties—you need data built for finding hard-to-reach people. SkipForce's low price comes with low coverage for the leads that matter most.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Find the Sellers Others Miss?
- ✓ Stop wasting money on data that can't find your motivated sellers
- ✓ Get high-quality coverage for distressed and hard-to-find property owners
- ✓ Access relatives and associates when direct contact fails
- ✓ Join investors who close deals because they reach sellers others can't find