An absentee owner list is the most common starting point for off-market investing, and the most overused. You can build one for free from county tax records in any state. The work is in testing owner occupancy correctly, since each state marks it differently, and then narrowing thousands of landlords down to the few with a reason to sell this year.
What counts as an absentee owner
The basic test: the owner's mailing address on the tax roll is different from the property address. A few more rules keep false positives out:
- Owner occupancy wins. If the parcel carries the state's owner-occupancy marker, such as a homestead exemption, treat the owner as living there, whatever the mailing address says.
- P.O. boxes are tricky. A box in the property's own zip usually belongs to someone who lives there.
- Address formatting varies. "123 N Main St" and "123 Main Street North" are the same place. Normalize both before comparing, and check unit numbers on condos.
- Out-of-state is a subset. An owner mailing to another state is far from the property, which tends to matter more than an owner across town.
- Entities are a judgment call. LLCs and trusts are often small landlords and family estates. Filter out government agencies, HOAs, nonprofits and large institutional landlords.
Owner occupancy: each state marks it differently
Plenty of owners who live in the house get their mail elsewhere. A state's owner-occupancy marker is the stronger check, and it is a different field in each state:
- Florida: the homestead exemption, which can only be claimed on your permanent residence.
- Texas: the residence homestead exemption on the appraisal district roll, which requires the owner to live in the home.
- Indiana: the homestead deduction, which is only for the owner's principal residence, where the county roll lists deductions.
- Ohio: the owner-occupancy flag on the county auditor's roll. Ohio rolls also carry a homestead exemption, but it is only for seniors and disabled owners, so most owner-occupied homes do not have it.
Not every county publishes its marker. When the roll has none, the address comparison is all you have, and some owners on the list will live in the property.
Drop lender tax-service addresses
Owners who pay property taxes through a mortgage escrow account often have the tax bill sent to their lender's tax-service company. This is common on Ohio auditor rolls. Compare that address with the property and every escrowed home looks absentee. Use the owner's own mailing address when the roll has a separate one, and drop any address that belongs to a lender's tax service.
How to build an absentee owner list from public records
- Get the parcel roll from the county property appraiser, auditor, assessor or appraisal district.
- Filter by property type, such as single-family and small multi-family.
- Drop owner-occupied parcels using the state's marker, where the roll has one.
- Drop lender tax-service addresses.
- Compare mailing and site addresses after normalizing them. A different zip, or a clearly different street address, means absentee.
- Flag out-of-state mailing addresses.
- Add the sale history: how long the owner has held it and, where prices are public, what they paid.
Why a raw list underperforms
Most absentee owners are content: they bought a rental on purpose and it pays. A raw absentee list is also the easiest list for every other investor to build, so the same owners get the same postcards from a dozen buyers. Stack conditions until each name has a specific reason to talk to you.
| List | Relative size | Why the owner might sell | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| All absentee owners | Very large | No specific reason | Low response, heavy competition |
| Absentee + long ownership | Medium | Tired landlord, inherited home, a large gain to take | Better response, long follow-up |
| Out-of-state + not owner-occupied | Medium | Managing from a distance | Mixed; strongest with other signals |
| Absentee + code case or eviction | Small | The rental has become a problem | Good intent, often a repair job |
| Absentee + foreclosure or unpaid taxes | Small | A dated deadline the owner did not choose | Highest intent; act quickly and respectfully |
Distress records that pair with absentee ownership
A landlord in another state who has stopped paying the mortgage or the taxes is telling you, through the public record, that the property has become a burden. The records to stack, and where Propertiz has them today:
- Foreclosure filings in Tampa, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Palm Bay, Clermont, Cincinnati and Dayton, and foreclosure sale notices or sheriff sale lists in Canton, Elyria, Batavia and Houston.
- Unpaid property taxes in Orlando, Indianapolis, South Bend, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Canton, Elyria, Batavia and Houston, and tax-deed sales in Orlando and Jacksonville.
- Code cases in Tampa, Orlando, Lakeland, Indianapolis, South Bend, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton and Dallas, and recorded code liens in Tampa, Orlando, Lakeland, Palm Bay and Clermont.
- Evictions in Tampa, South Bend, Cleveland and Houston: a landlord with a problem tenant.
- Probate in Tampa: heirs who often live elsewhere and want one clean sale.
Mailing absentee owners
Send to the owner's mailing address on the tax roll, never to the property, or your letter reaches a tenant. Keep it specific: you buy in their neighborhood, you can buy with a tenant in place if that is true, and you can close on their schedule. Calls and texts are regulated federally and by each state; each state page lists the rules that apply there. Owner lists contain personal data, so store them securely and delete exports after a campaign.
By state
Florida. Every county property appraiser publishes homestead status, so the owner-occupancy test works in every county. Propertiz covers Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Palm Bay and Clermont. The Florida absentee owner guide walks through a full example in Jacksonville.
Ohio. Rolls come from county auditors. Owner occupancy comes from the auditor's owner-occupancy flag where the roll carries one, and lender tax-service addresses are dropped. Propertiz covers Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Canton, Elyria and Batavia.
Texas. Rolls come from county appraisal districts, and the residence homestead exemption marks owner-occupied homes. Texas does not disclose sale prices, so the roll gives the date of the last deed and no price. Propertiz covers Houston and Dallas, with evictions, a common absentee-landlord signal, in Houston.
Indiana. The homestead deduction marks owner-occupied homes where a county roll lists deductions. The Marion County layer Propertiz reads for Indianapolis does not list them, so there absentee status comes from the address comparison alone. Propertiz covers Indianapolis and South Bend, starting from unpaid taxes on the Marion County Treasurer's tax-sale lists.
How Propertiz handles absentee owners
Propertiz does not sell a raw list of every absentee owner. It starts from distress records, ties each one to a parcel, and checks the parcel roll for the owner's situation. Absentee owner, out-of-state owner, not owner-occupied, long ownership and estimated equity each add points to a lead, with the reasons shown on every one.
The absentee test follows the rules above: parcels with the state's owner-occupancy marker are never absentee, a P.O. box in the property's own zip counts as local, Ohio lender tax-service addresses are ignored, and addresses are compared after normalizing. Each lead is underwritten as a DSCR-financed rental at your purchase price and filtered by your buy box. You get the owner's name and mailing address for direct mail; there is no skip tracing or phone data.
Propertiz covers 17 counties across 4 states: Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Texas. What each county includes is on its page: Tampa (Hillsborough County), Orlando (Orange County), Jacksonville (Duval County), Lakeland (Polk County), Palm Bay (Brevard County), Clermont (Lake County), Indianapolis (Marion County), South Bend (St. Joseph County), Columbus (Franklin County), Cleveland (Cuyahoga County), Cincinnati (Hamilton County), Dayton (Montgomery County), Canton (Stark County), Elyria (Lorain County), Batavia (Clermont County), Houston (Harris County) and Dallas (Dallas County). For how equity is estimated, see the wholesaling leads guide.
See this week's absentee owners with a reason to sell.