Texting Real Estate Leads: What Agents Can and Can't Do

Most leads answer a text faster than a call. Federal law treats a marketing text like a phone call, though, so the same consent and Do Not Call rules apply, and in some ways texting is stricter. Here's what that means for an agent working leads day to day.

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

What you can do

1. Text anyone who asked to hear from you by text. A lead form on your website or property page with a clear, unchecked consent box that names you is the cleanest proof.
2. Reply to someone who texted or called you first, about the thing they asked about.
3. Text past clients who agreed to get texts from you.
4. Call an owner-lookup or public-record number (after you scrub it against the Do Not Call lists), and ask on the call if you can text them. Once they say yes, note it and text away.

What you can't do

1. Cold text numbers from an owner lookup, a purchased list, a sign, a listing or social media. Those owners never agreed to hear from you, many of the numbers are cell phones on the Do Not Call Registry, and some have been reassigned to a stranger since the data was collected.
2. Send automated marketing texts to someone without their written consent. If a system sends the texts for you, the consent bar is higher than for a text you type by hand.
3. Blast a list you can't show consent for.
4. Keep texting after someone says stop, in any words.

Lawsuits over unwanted texts can carry damages of $500 per message, up to $1,500 if willful, under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. 227). Some states add their own. Texas, for example, brought text messages under its telemarketing law on September 1, 2025 (SB 140).

What to put in the first text

Say who you are and where you work: your name and your brokerage. Tell them how to stop, for example "Reply STOP to opt out." Keep it about the thing they asked for.

Texting from a business number needs a one-time registration; AVEX handles it.

How to handle STOP

Since April 11, 2025, federal rules let people opt out by any reasonable means. Replies like "stop," "quit," "end," "cancel," "unsubscribe," "revoke" or "opt out" count automatically (FCC rules). The legal deadline to honor it is 10 business days. Don't wait that long.

1. Stop marketing texts to that person right away.
2. Send one short confirmation at most, with no sales pitch.
3. Treat "please don't text me" or "remove me" the same as STOP.
4. Mark it everywhere: your CRM, your phone and your team.

In Florida, a person has to reply STOP before suing over texts, and the sender then has 15 days to stop (Fla. Stat. 501.059). Treat that as a rule about lawsuits and stop right away anyway.

What hours you can text

Use the calling window: 8am to 9pm in the lead's local time under federal rules. Some states are tighter. Florida stops at 8pm, and Texas doesn't allow Sunday solicitations before noon. A text at 8:55pm may be legal and still annoy someone, so use judgment even with consent.

Keep proof of consent

If a lead ever disputes it, you'll need to show they agreed. For every number you text, keep:

1. Where the consent came from (which form, page or conversation).
2. When it was given.
3. What they agreed to, such as the consent wording on the form.
4. Any opt-out, with the date.

A CRM that stores this on the contact record saves you from digging through old emails later.