I've spent the last decade finding property owners across San Diego while buying, managing, and selling real estate, so my process is shaped by scale and reality. Owner lookup used to be simple. Pull a county record, send a letter, wait. Today, houses change hands through LLCs, trusts, and layered ownership, so accuracy matters more than speed. I start with public records, tax rolls, and deed history to understand how the property is held. That tells me how hard the trail will be. Free sources work when ownership is clean and recent. They fail fast once an LLC or older trust appears. At that point, paid data makes sense, not for convenience, but to reduce wasted outreach. For LLCs, I trace formation filings, registered agents, and related properties to spot patterns. Trusts require patience and cross-checking addresses tied to beneficiaries. Common names get verified through mailing history, lender records, and property clusters rather than a single match. The biggest mistake investors make is chasing speed. Bad data burns time and credibility. A scalable process is repeatable, documented, and legally careful. When I hit dead ends, I pause, reassess the ownership structure, and move on. Discipline beats persistence in investing.