Gatekeeper / Owner-Dark Loop

Reach the homeowner through a relative, friend, or neighbor once the owner has gone dark, since this gatekeeper channel accounts for about 40% of Franke's deals.

After exhausting direct homeowner outreach (calls, texts, door knocks with no answer) and a relative, friend, or neighbor's contact becomes available, or when a door knock surfaces a vacant property and a neighbor might know how to reach the owner.

• Confirm you have genuinely exhausted direct-to-owner attempts first; this loop is a fallback channel, not a shortcut.
• Have the last known phone number for the owner ready to read back for confirmation.
• Know the relationship type you're approaching (brother, mother, aunt, neighbor) so you can match a third-party story to that relationship if needed.

Either the relative confirms/corrects the owner's number, agrees to a three-way call, or books a specific follow-up time with you. Every pass attempted and its outcome is logged, and the relationship with the gatekeeper is left intact regardless of outcome.

• Relative shuts down immediately and won't engage at all — do not push past a polite decline; exit with poise and leave the door open for a later touch, since burning this relationship closes the channel permanently.
• Vacant property with no relative or neighbor lead yet — escalate to the full detective stack: obituary search, cemetery/funeral home call, county probate/tax assessor records for a "golden address," then social media before giving up on the lead.
• Relative says they already tried to reach the owner and got nothing — do not treat this as a dead end; ask when they think they'll next speak to the owner and book a callback from that answer rather than dropping the lead.
• Family is dealing with a recent death and emotions are raw — do not lead with logistics. Lead with condolences and let them set the pace; the pass-it-forward asks (funeral home, obituary comment) are designed to be low-pressure for exactly this reason.