Why do realtors keep calling me?
Usually because your home landed on a lead list sold to agents: an expired or withdrawn listing, a for-sale-by-owner ad, a rental ad or a pre-foreclosure filing. Services such as REDX, Vulcan7 and Landvoice attach the owner's cell number by skip tracing and sell the list to agents every morning. Each one takes removal requests.
If a dozen agents called the morning after your listing expired, or the day your for-sale-by-owner ad went up, none of them found you by chance. Your home showed up on a lead list that agents pay for, with your cell number already attached. The calls follow the list, which is also where you can stop them.
The lists agents buy
A handful of companies sell homeowner calling lists to real estate agents as a daily subscription. The lists are built from events that suggest an owner might want an agent:
- Expired, withdrawn and cancelled listings. The MLS shows when a listing ends without a sale. To an agent, that is an owner who wanted to sell and whose agent did not get it done.
- For sale by owner ads. An FSBO listing on Zillow, Craigslist or a yard sign is a seller with no agent yet.
- For rent by owner ads. A landlord renting out a home is treated as a possible future seller.
- Pre-foreclosures. A notice of default is a public court or county filing, and it goes on a list too.
- Neighborhood lists. When a house near yours sells or lists, agents buy the numbers of the homes around it and call the whole street.
REDX, Vulcan7, Landvoice, Mojo and Espresso Agent are among the best-known sellers of these lists. Their own sites describe the product: owner names and phone numbers matched to expired, FSBO, rental and pre-foreclosure properties, delivered to agents who call from them.
How your number gets onto the list
- 1 Listing eventIt expires, or your FSBO ad goes up
- 2 Lead serviceSkip traces your number onto itCut it here
- 3 Daily listSold to every agent who subscribes
- 4 DialerAgents call down the list
The listing never carried your cell number. The lead service adds it by skip tracing: matching the owner's name and address against data-broker and people-search records to find a likely phone number. That is the same method wholesalers use, covered step by step in how a wholesaler got your phone number.
Many agents then load the list into a power dialer that calls several numbers at once and connects whoever answers. That is why some of these calls open with a pause, and why blocking one caller does nothing about the next twenty on the same list.
Does the Do Not Call Registry cover realtors?
For the most part, yes. When the National Association of Realtors asked the FCC to let agents call owners whose listings had lapsed, the FCC declined. Its 2005 order says a telephone solicitation includes "calls by real estate agents to property owners for the purpose of offering their services to the owner," whether the property listing has lapsed or not (Federal Register, April 13, 2005).
The same order carved out one kind of call. An agent who represents only a buyer and calls someone who advertised a property for sale, to discuss selling it to that buyer, is not making a telephone solicitation. So a call about a real buyer for your FSBO home can be allowed, while a call asking for your listing generally falls under the registry rules. This is a summary of what the regulators published, not legal advice. If you are documenting calls for a complaint, a consumer attorney can tell you how it applies.
Two things follow. Register your cell number at donotcall.gov if you have not already; registration is free and does not expire. And when an agent does call, ask to be put on their company's own do-not-call list. The FTC's guidance for telemarketers says a consumer can stop an individual company calling by asking for exactly that.
How to stop the calls
1. Opt out of the lead services directly
This is the step that removes your number from the source, so the next list sold does not include you. Each service has a homeowner removal page:
Do all five. Agents subscribe to different services, and each one skip traces independently, so a number removed from one is still for sale on the others.
2. Opt out of the people-search sites the skip trace reads
A lead service finds your number by looking it up on the same data-broker and people-search sites anyone can search. If those sites stop showing your number, the next skip trace has less to find. The data-broker opt-out list walks through them one at a time.
3. Use a second number on any ad you post
If you are selling or renting by owner, put a free second number (Google Voice is the common choice) on the ad instead of your cell. Real buyers can still reach you, and when the ad comes down you can stop answering that number without changing your own.
4. Turn on your carrier's spam blocking
Each major carrier offers free spam-call tools, and the FCC keeps a list of them. They catch the high-volume dialers best. They will not catch every agent calling from a normal cell phone, which is why the opt-outs above matter more.
If you are selling by owner
FSBO sellers get the agent calls and a second wave on top: fake buyers, overpayment checks and listings copied into rental scams. Those are covered in for sale by owner scams.
Where FendLand fits
REDX, Vulcan7, Landvoice, Mojo and Espresso Agent are all in the broker catalog FendLand files removals with, alongside the people-search sites that feed them. The free exposure check shows which of the big people-search sites list your name and address right now.
The short version
Agents call because your listing event was sold to them with your number attached. Opt out of the five lead services, register with the Do Not Call Registry, ask each caller to add you to their own do-not-call list, and keep your cell off any future ad. The calls drop off as the lists stop carrying your number.
See where your address is exposed
The free exposure check shows where your name and address are published on the data-broker and people-search sites wholesalers pull from. Shield Pro then removes your info from most of the 340 broker sites for you, walks you through the rest, and re-checks every 90 days.
Check my exposureFrequently asked questions
Why am I getting calls from realtors right after my listing expired?
Lead services watch the MLS for listings that expire, are withdrawn or are cancelled, attach the owner's phone number by skip tracing, and deliver the list to subscribing agents the next morning. Every subscriber gets the same names on the same day, which is why the calls start all at once.
Does the Do Not Call Registry apply to real estate agents?
The FCC has said that calls from real estate agents to property owners offering their services are telephone solicitations, whether or not the listing has lapsed, so the registry rules cover them. It treated calls from an agent who represents only a buyer, about a potential sale to that buyer, as not being solicitations. This is a summary, not legal advice.
How do I get my number off REDX, Vulcan7 and Landvoice?
Each one publishes a removal page for homeowners. You enter your phone number, and some ask for your name or address too. Do all of them, because agents subscribe to different services and a number removed from one list is still on the others.
Will the calls stop if I relist my house?
Expired-listing calls usually fade once the listing is no longer expired, but your number stays in the lead services' databases and can be sold again for a future FSBO, rental or pre-foreclosure list. Opting out of the services is what removes it.
Get your details off the sites that sell them
Wholesalers and scammers pull names, numbers and addresses from sites like these. Opting out of each one is free, and each guide below walks you through it.