Real Estate Cold Calling: What Agents Can and Can't Do

Cold calling is legal for real estate agents. The trouble starts with the wrong number at the wrong hour, or a call to someone who already said no. Under federal law, people can sue for $500 to $1,500 per unwanted call (47 U.S.C. 227), so one bad list can get expensive.

Not legal advice. Check your state rules and your broker.

Calling hours

Federal rules allow sales calls from 8am to 9pm in the homeowner's local time (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)). If you call into another time zone, their clock counts.

Some states are tighter. Florida stops at 8pm (Fla. Stat. 501.616). Texas allows 9am to 9pm Monday through Saturday and noon to 9pm on Sunday (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 301.051). Follow whichever rule is stricter for the state you're calling into.

What you can do

1. Call numbers you've scrubbed against the National Do Not Call Registry in the last 31 days, plus your state's list if it has one and your brokerage's internal list. Many brokerages and dialers run the scrub for you, so ask your broker how your office does it.
2. Call expired, withdrawn and FSBO owners whose numbers pass the scrub.
3. Ask an expired owner if you can text them. Once they agree, note it on the contact.
4. Call within the hours above, in the homeowner's time zone.

What you can't do

1. Call a number on the Do Not Call Registry because you think an exception covers you. Exceptions for past clients and people who recently asked you about a property exist, but they're narrow, they expire, and they end the moment the person asks you to stop. The safe habit is to scrub everyone anyway.
2. Keep calling after someone says "don't call me again." Put the number on your own do-not-call list and never dial it again. Federal rules give you 10 business days at most; do it the moment you hang up. If your office keeps a shared list, everyone else should stop calling that person too.
3. Drop prerecorded voicemails or ringless voicemails as marketing without the person's prior written consent. The FCC treats ringless voicemail as a call (2022).
4. Text cold numbers. Texts count as calls, and texting needs consent. See texting real estate leads.
5. Ignore state call limits. Florida, for example, allows no more than three calls in 24 hours to the same person on the same subject.

Recording your calls

Some states require everyone on the call to agree before you record. Ask at the start of the call or don't record.

Calling homes that are listed

Don't pitch an owner who has an active exclusive listing with another agent. The NAR Code of Ethics (Article 16) bars it for Realtors. If the listing broker won't tell you when the listing expires or what type it is, you may ask the owner (Standard of Practice 16-4), and you may talk about listing the home once the current listing has expired. Check the MLS before you call: a "cancelled" or "withdrawn" status doesn't always mean the listing contract is over.

A quick checklist before each session

1. List scrubbed within the last 31 days (national, state and office lists).
2. Hours checked for the homeowner's state and time zone.
3. Call counts checked if the state has a daily limit.
4. Listing status confirmed for expired and withdrawn homes.
5. Recording consent asked for, or recording off.
6. Every stop request logged right away.