Playbook · Real-estate investors & lenders
The investor playbook
You buy, flip, lend on, or list Arizona property. Permits show what’s being built at an address; the county parcel-and-sales spine shows who owns it and how they bought it. Together they surface deals early — the recently-sold house about to be renovated, the cash buyer moving fast, the absentee owner ready to sell.
Set up in a few minutes; save your buy-box for a daily digest of new inventory.
The daily loop
- 1
Set your buy-box
Define the market you buy: ZIP codes, property type, and value range. Save it and it runs as a daily digest, so new inventory that fits your box lands in your inbox each morning.
- 2
Layer the property signals
Cash buyer and absentee owner are one-click filters in search. Cash buyer = the most recent sale (within 12 months) closed without financing on the deed. Absentee = the owner’s mailing ZIP differs from the property ZIP. Stack them with recently-sold to find owners mid-move.
Tip Absentee + recently-sold is the classic wholesale list — an out-of-area owner who just took title and may not want to hold.
- 3
Read the address in one view
Every address page joins the county parcel (owner, mailing address, assessed and full-cash value, year built, land use), the recorded sales (price, date, grantee, deed type, and whether it was cash), and the building-permit history — so you see who owns it, how they bought it, and what’s being built, together.
- 4
Catch the pre-renovation signal
A property sold in the last year with no permit pulled yet is a renovation waiting to happen — a new owner who hasn’t started work. It’s the earliest pre-rehab signal, and it’s the moment to reach out before the contractor does.
- 5
Export to skip-trace or mail
Build the list in search, then export to CSV with the owner mailing address (Pro), up to the export cap — ready for your skip-trace, cold-call, or direct-mail workflow.
Aim it right
Point your search at the deals you chase
Different strategies key on different signals. Here’s where each one aims — cash-buyer and absentee are search filters you stack on top.
| If you run… | Target… |
|---|---|
| Fix-and-flip | Recently-sold, cash comps, older homes in strong ZIPs“homes sold in the last 6 months in Tempe” |
| Wholesale / off-market | Absentee owners with no recent permit“remodel-ready homes in Mesa” |
| Buy-and-hold | Value bands and owner-occupancy in rental corridors“single family homes under $450k in Glendale” |
| Private / hard-money lending | Active construction as collateral, plus owner and value“new construction over $500k in Scottsdale” |
| Agent / listing | Absentee and recently-sold owners likely to transact“homes sold over 3 years ago in Chandler” |
Searches you can paste straight in
Type the market in plain English, then stack the cash-buyer / absentee / recently-sold filters on the results.
“new construction over $1M in Paradise Valley”
Luxury new builds — comps, the GCs building them, and the high end of the market.
“additions and remodels over $50k in Scottsdale”
Where owners are already investing in their homes — renovation activity, at a glance.
“homes sold in the last year in 85008”
Fresh transactions in one ZIP; add the cash-buyer or absentee filter to narrow to the movers.
What to look for
The signals that separate a call from a waste of a call
- Cash purchase
- The most recent sale closed without financing — a well-capitalized owner, often an investor or someone who can move fast. The single strongest “this is a player” signal.
- Absentee owner
- The owner’s mailing ZIP differs from the property’s — a landlord or out-of-area owner, statistically more willing to sell than an owner-occupant.
- Recently sold, no permit
- A new owner who hasn’t pulled a permit yet is a renovation about to start. Reach them before the contractor and you’re first in line.
- Assessed vs. full-cash value
- The gap is a read on equity — useful for a lender sizing collateral or an investor sizing an offer.
- Permit on the parcel
- What’s been improved, or is being improved right now — the difference between a tired house and one that’s already had work.
Power moves
Once you’re past the basics
Combine cash-buyer, absentee, and recently-sold with your ZIPs and value range. Each filter narrows to higher intent; together they’re your best-odds call list.
Turn each strategy into a saved search with a daily email, so new matching inventory finds you instead of you re-running searches.
CSV your filtered list with the owner’s mailing address and drop it straight into your skip-trace or direct-mail tool (Pro).
Before an offer, the address view is your one-look sheet — owner, how they bought, assessed and cash value, and every permit on the parcel.
Watch new-construction permits to see where the GCs are building — tomorrow’s comps and the neighborhoods on the way up.
What you’ll see on every lead
Owner of record and mailing address from the county parcel spine — plus whether they’re absentee (mailing ZIP ≠ property ZIP).
Recorded sales: price, date, grantee, deed type, and whether the purchase was cash — the how-they-bought-it picture.
Assessed and full-cash value, year built, land use, and living area — the equity and character of the asset.
Every building permit on the parcel, refreshed daily — what’s been built, and what’s being built right now.
Straight about the data
What we won’t oversell
- Parcels and recorded sales are Maricopa County; permit depth is eleven Phoenix-metro cities plus the county, refreshed daily. If you invest in the Valley, your market is covered.
- Cash-buyer and absentee are derived from the recorded deed and mailing address — signals from the public record, refreshed on the county’s recording cadence, with freshness shown so you know how current a record is.
- Property and owner intelligence and CSV export are part of Pro ($199/mo). Every contractor link (where a permit names one) carries a match-confidence badge.
Ready to see your territory?
Start a 14-day trial — full product, no card up front. Your first list lands tomorrow morning.
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