Skip tracing when you are just starting
The first list is usually bought too big, called too little, and blamed for the result. Here is the version that does not do that.
Buy small and finish it
The minimum order here is a hundred records, and for a first campaign something in the low hundreds is a better decision than a thousand. The constraint is not money, it is whether you will actually call every row.
A list you abandon halfway teaches you nothing, because the half you did not call is where the outcome might have been. You cannot tell a bad list from an unfinished one.
Pick one county — ideally one you could drive to — and one list type, so that when something does not work you can tell which thing it was.
What to expect
Most numbers will not answer. Most people who answer will not be interested. That is the normal shape of cold outreach and it is not evidence the data was bad.
The measurement that will tell you something is cost per conversation — total spend divided by the number of real discussions. Track it from the first list so you have something to compare the second one against.
Expect the second call to a given person to go better than the first. Almost nobody makes it.
The two mistakes
The first is buying a list before deciding what happens when someone says yes. If you have no answer to "what would I pay for this house" you are not ready to call, and you will freeze on the one call that mattered.
The second is treating a traced record as a lead. Nobody on a county list has asked to hear from you; they are property owners with a public record attached. The work of turning that into a conversation is the job.
If neither of those is solved yet, the cheapest possible first purchase is the right one.
Questions people ask
What is the smallest order I can place?
One hundred records, with no subscription required on pay-as-you-go. That is deliberately a real order rather than a free sample we chose for you.
Do I need a subscription?
No. The plans lower the per-record rate for people pulling regularly and the monthly fee arrives as credit you spend on records, so they only make sense once you are pulling regularly.
What if the county has fewer records than I ordered?
You get everything it holds and the difference is credited back to your balance automatically. You are only charged for records you receive.
Other roles
Pick a county and a list type, or send your own addresses. Mobile numbers only, litigator and DNC scrubbed, and anything the county does not hold is credited back.