TCPA Consent Requirements
Marketing texts require prior express written consent - a clear agreement by the recipient to receive texts at a specific number. Verbal consent is not sufficient. Consent must be documented.
Cold texting to prospects without consent violates TCPA. The penalties are severe - $500 to $1,500 per message for willful violations. Class action attorneys actively recruit plaintiffs from real estate marketing lists, making this a genuine business risk. Unlike some regulations that exist on paper but rarely get enforced, TCPA texting violations result in real lawsuits with real settlements regularly.
A2P 10DLC Registration
Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging from 10-digit long codes requires carrier registration. Your business, use case, and sample messages must be registered. Unregistered messages may be filtered or blocked.
Registration is required even for opt-in texting. The registration process takes time - often two to four weeks for full approval. Plan ahead if you're building a text-based follow-up system. Registration involves vetting your business identity, specifying your use case, and providing sample messages. Carriers assign trust scores that affect throughput limits and filtering rates.
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Book a Real Estate Fit CallOpt-Out Handling
Honor STOP replies immediately. The October 2026 FCC rules allow exclusive opt-out methods, but for texting, standard stop-word replies should always work.
Track opt-outs and suppress those numbers from all future texting. Your suppression system must be bulletproof - a single text to an opted-out number creates liability. Sync opt-outs across all your texting platforms immediately. If you use multiple systems or team members text from personal phones, create a centralized suppression list that updates in real time.
Consent Collection
Collect consent through forms, web opt-ins, or other documented means. The consent record should include the number, timestamp, method, and language of consent.
If you cannot prove consent, assume you do not have it. Store consent records indefinitely - you may need to produce them years later in response to a complaint or lawsuit. The consent language should be clear about what types of messages you'll send and how frequently. Burying consent in terms of service isn't sufficient; it must be conspicuous and affirmative.
Texting After Calls
Consent for calling does not automatically include texting. If you want to text prospects after a call, obtain specific consent for text communication.
Separate consent channels reduce compliance risk. During a phone conversation, you can ask for texting consent verbally and document it in your CRM notes with the timestamp. This creates a defensible consent record. However, getting written confirmation via reply text ("Reply YES to confirm you want to receive property updates") is even more protective. Build this consent collection into your call scripts and workflows.
Sources
The external data in this article draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.