Most crime and disaster reporters know how handy reverse directories can be. A murder occurs just before deadline and you need to talk to the victim's neighbors, fast. Or perhaps the police aren't giving out names yet, just an address.
Arranged by addresses instead of last names, a reverse directory lets you look up the phone numbers for everyone listed on a street, or even in a building.
But many newsrooms can't afford them, and those that do only have the local directories.
Online, though, you can easily search phone directories by address -- nationwide and for free.
Only a few online phone directory sites offer such features. One good site for this was 555-1212.com, but it now charges.
The best free one I've found is WhitePages.com, which unveiled the feature earlier this year.
Two other sites offering similar features are ThinkDM and Infospace. I haven't found them as useful, but they each use different databases, so it's worth trying the others if your first search comes up empty.
Switchboard and Infospace also have handy features that let you find businesses nearby a certain address.
The best tip I can give you, though, is to leave the office and knock on doors. You'll get better quotes every time.
