Cold Call Compliance Memo

Real estate investors make a lot of phone calls, and most of them have never read the law that governs those calls. That's fine until a demand letter shows up asking for $500 per text.

These memos are for investors and small acquisition teams who call and text homeowners in California. They're short, they cite the actual rules, and they try to separate what's settled from what's still argued about in court.

The three rules that matter most

The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act controls autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts. The National Do Not Call Registry controls who you can cold call at all. And California adds its own rule on recording calls, which trips up out-of-state investors constantly.

The first memo covers the TCPA in the terms an investor actually needs. The second covers recording calls with California sellers. The third looks at where the risk really sits: in the list you're calling, not the script.

Primary sources

The FCC's consumer guide to unwanted robocalls and texts explains the rules from the other side of the phone, which is useful. The National Do Not Call Registry is where consumers sign up and where sellers of telemarketing access the list.

Lead sources differ a lot in how much of this work they've done for you. A marketplace like CalOffers sells inbound seller leads from its own funnels, which is a different starting point than a purchased list, though you still need to know what each seller agreed to.

None of this is legal advice. If calls are central to your business, a short consult with a TCPA lawyer costs less than one class action.

Martin Okafor wrote call-center compliance policies for nine years before he started advising small real estate acquisition teams. He is not a lawyer and says so often.