This article is general information, not legal advice. Telemarketing rules change and vary by state — talk to an attorney about your specific campaign.
Real estate investors sometimes assume that because they’re buying, not selling, telemarketing rules don’t apply. Attorneys disagree about how far the federal rules reach for purchase calls, and several state laws are broader than the federal ones. The practical approach most serious operators take: run every campaign as if the rules apply. It’s cheap insurance.
1. Scrub against the National Do Not Call Registry
The federal registry lists numbers whose owners don’t want telemarketing calls. Telemarketers covered by the rules must check their lists against it regularly (at least every 31 days). Scrub every list before it’s dialed — and again before a list is reused.
2. Keep — and honor — your own do-not-call list
When someone says “don’t call me again”, that request has to be honored and recorded so no one on your team calls them again. Good practice:
- End the call politely and immediately — no rebuttal.
- Mark the number do-not-call in your dialer or CRM the same minute.
- Make sure the list follows the number across campaigns and callers.
3. Respect calling hours
Federal rules restrict telephone solicitations to between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient’s local time. Some states set narrower windows or restrict certain days. When your callers work from another time zone, the dialer should enforce the owner’s local time — not the caller’s.
4. Be careful with autodialers, prerecorded messages and texts
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) restricts calls to cell phones made with an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice without prior express consent, and text messages are generally treated like calls. The Supreme Court narrowed the federal autodialer definition in 2021, but prerecorded-voice rules still apply, and some states have written their own, broader definitions. Live, human-dialed conversations are the lowest-risk way to reach owners.
The stakes are real: the TCPA allows statutory damages of $500 per violation, and up to $1,500 when a violation is willful.
5. Don’t spoof caller ID
Show a real, working number you control. Faking caller ID with intent to defraud or cause harm is illegal under the Truth in Caller ID Act — and callers who hide behind random numbers get blocked and labeled as spam faster.
6. Check your states
Several states have their own telemarketing or “mini-TCPA” laws — Florida and Oklahoma are the best-known examples — and some states keep their own do-not-call lists or require telemarketers to register. Before you open a new market, check that state’s rules.
7. Be honest on every call
- Never claim to be a licensed agent if you aren’t.
- Never promise a price over the phone — say who will run the numbers.
- Slow down with owners in hardship (foreclosure, divorce, a death in the family). Mention they have other options.
How LGO handles it
Every list we dial is scrubbed against do-not-call records before the first call, opt-outs are honored and kept for the campaigns we run, and our callers are trained on the rules above. When a client provides their own list, the client remains responsible for how it was sourced — ask your attorney if you’re unsure.