As discussed in my column “Why Mailers Don’t Work” you are much better off making phone calls to neighbors, potential relatives and owners in default, than doing any mailing campaign. To learn more about this effective strategy, please read my column “How to Get the Gossip”.
Okay, so here are my current, top FREE sites for finding phone numbers:
Can’t Find the Owner? Have you Zaba’d Him?
(This is also a great way to find potential relatives of the owner.)Â http://zabasearch.com/
More free ways to find the Owner and Potential Relatives:
http://www.infospace.com/
http://www.searchbug.com/peoplefinder/
http://www.skipease.com/
My free tool to Find Neighbors:
http://www.whitepages.com/10001/reverse_address
Don’t forget to run your owners name (with quotes, like this “Alexis McGee”) on http://www.google.com . If he’s on the web, you’ll quickly find his work and play interests, which can lead you to finding him!
Stay away from the “pay for phone number services”. Oftentimes they offer nothing more than the information you’ve already gathered for free. And if someone promises you an unlisted phone number DO NOT DO IT! If they truly have that information, it was most likely collected illegally (from credit bureau reports run without the owners’ approval). It is not worth the damage to your credibility and results in bad Karma to boot!
Isn’t the web wonderful? Happy 2006! Alexis
