JUDY MOORE
Able to ‘adapt’
Barely four months after new federal rules barring telemarketers from making unsolicited calls to people registered on a do-not-call list took effect, Bay State Realtors are slowly adapting.
In addition to checking the do-not-call list before picking up the telephone to call prospective clients, Realtors are making sure they get permission to call consumers and some real estate companies are using the mail to solicit business more frequently.
And now, with the recent passage of an anti-spam bill that bans unsolicited commercial e-mail, real estate companies could have to contend with a do-not-e-mail registry.
“It makes us all much more aware of how we contact people,” said Judy Moore, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and a broker at Re/Max Premier Properties in Lexington. “It’s a completely different way of doing business in some respects. But when there are business challenges, we adapt to them.”
One way that Realtors are responding to the new rules is by changing the sign-in sheets that are common at open houses, according to Moore. To avoid hefty fines for violating the rules, some real estate companies are including a notice on sign-in sheets which states that, by providing their phone number and e-mail addresses, customers are essentially giving the company’s agents permission to contact them sometime in the future.
Some real estate brokers and companies are going even further by contacting former and current clients and asking them to sign a waiver form that gives the company permission to contact them.
Prior to the new rules, it was not uncommon for Realtors to call homeowners who were trying to sell their dwellings on their own or whose listing contracts with other real estate agents had expired to try to obtain the listing. Under the current rules, Realtors are prohibited from making such calls if the homeowner’s name appears on the do-not-call list.
“At this point, those types of calls could be thought of as violating the federal regulations,” said Stephen Ryan, general counsel for MAR.
However, Realtors may call homeowners if they are working with a client who is interested in purchasing the for-sale-by-owner property, explained Ryan.
Taking No Chances
Ryan, who has spent a great deal of time educating local Realtor boards about the do-not-call rules, said Realtors frequently are confused over which registry or list to consult.
Along with more than 30 other states, Massachusetts had passed its own do-not-call law and compiled its own registry. The state law included what was known as a “face-to-face exemption” which applied to telephone solicitors, including real estate companies, who don’t actually sell services and goods over the phone, but make calls to set up appointments to generate business.
However, in the summer the Federal Communications Commission issued a ruling that trumped the state laws and exemptions.
Since Oct. 1, Massachusetts real estate companies have had to comply with the rules and many started purchasing the do-not-call list compiled and managed by the state’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation. It costs $1,100 annually to receive the list.
But Ryan said that Realtors should be consulting the list maintained by the Federal Trade Commission instead. Companies can access the first five area codes for free. There is a $25 charge annually for every extra area code, and a maximum annual fee of $7,375 to access phone numbers for the entire country, according to the FTC Web site.
The danger of using the state lists, which some companies have already purchased, is that it may not include all the names that appear on the federal registry, said Ryan.
Rule violators can face fines of up to $11,000. In California, the state’s attorney general has sued a mortgage broker and a home improvement company for allegedly making telemarketing calls to people who had registered on the do-not-call list.
On Cape Cod, the local Realtor association has sent e-mail alerts to broker-owners and members to warn them that they could face stiff penalties if they violate the rules.
“They [Cape Cod Realtors] have been very careful, to my knowledge, about following the rules because the penalties are so stringent,” said Keith W. Bradley, president of the Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors.
As part of its orientation for new members, the Cape association includes information about how the do-not-call rules apply to Realtors.
In addition to educating members about the do-not-call rules, Realtor boards in the Bay State and across the country are also watching to see whether the Federal Trade Commission establishes a no-e-mail registry as part of the anti-spam law passed last year.
“At this point, it’s [the law] not something that would affect our members in any significant way,” said Ryan, explaining that unlike other companies, Realtors generally don’t send out mass e-mails and have usually have obtained an e-mail address only after making some type of business contact with a consumer.
Many companies, for example, operate Web sites that require visitors to provide contact information, including an e-mail address, in order to receive data and notices about homes for sale. For some companies, e-mail is the primary way in which real estate agents communicate with prospective clients.
The creation of a no e-mail registry might be troublesome because it would be difficult to monitor and enforce any violations of it, according to some critics, particularly since some people have multiple e-mail addresses and change them frequently.
“The registry could make it difficult for a lot of real estate company owners,” said Moore.
For now, some real estate agents aren’t taking any chances. Bradley, the Cape association president who is an agent at The Real Estate Co. in Brewster, said instead of picking up the phone to dial a prospective client he mails a letter instead.
“I just thought it would be easier to change the practice,” said Bradley.
