The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) governs how you may contact people by phone and text. It applies to every agent/broker at Waypoint Noven — residential, commercial, recruiter, or transaction coordinator.
This is not optional compliance. Waypoint Noven's license and your individual license are both exposed by improper outreach. The good news: staying protected is straightforward if you understand the rules and use the consent tools built into the CRM.
WaypointOS tracks consent status for every contact. Here's what each state means and what it allows.
WaypointOS does not do this part for you. It does not query the Federal registry or any state registry, it does not scrub your contacts, and it stores no registry-check result. Nothing in the consent card above is a statement about whether a number is listed. Screening is yours to perform, externally, before you dial — see the Pathfinder compliance checklist.
| Trigger | EBR Window | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Closed transaction — you represented them on a sale or purchase | 18 months from closing date | Most common. CRM calculates automatically from Past Deals. |
| Inquiry they initiated — they called you, emailed you, or filled out a form | 3 months from inquiry date | Short window. Log the inquiry immediately so the date is documented. |
- A new closing (new 18-month window from new closing date)
- A new inquiry initiated by the contact (new 3-month window)
- Written express consent logged — replaces EBR entirely and has no expiration
| Method | Valid? | What to Log |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal on a call — "yes you can text me" | ✓ Yes | Log immediately: date, exact words used, that it was verbal on a call |
| Text reply confirming consent | ✓ Yes | Screenshot the reply, log date and channel |
| Email reply confirming consent | ✓ Yes | Log date, that it came via email reply |
| In-person agreement | ✓ Yes | Log date, location, exact words if possible |
| Signed form or agreement | ✓ Strongest | Upload to their profile, log the date |
| They gave you their business card | Partial | Implied for professional calls only — not for marketing texts |
| You found their number online | ✗ No | No consent implied from public records |
| They signed an open house sheet | Depends | Valid only if the sheet explicitly disclosed outreach would follow |
Use these naturally at the end of any call. One sentence. Log it immediately after the call.
The record is saved permanently to Firestore and cannot be edited or deleted — it is a legal audit trail.
- "Stop texting me" — any channel
- "Don't call me anymore"
- "Remove me from your list"
- "Unsubscribe" — even said verbally
- Replying STOP, QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE to a text
- Any reasonable equivalent of the above
Most agents' highest-value contacts are in their sphere and referral network. This is also where agents are most likely to assume consent they don't actually have.
The practical standard: if you'd explain the call as a business call if asked, get consent. If it's purely personal, TCPA doesn't apply. The line is intent — the moment the call is about real estate, you need consent protection.
| Scenario | Do You Have Consent? |
|---|---|
| Referral source gave you the contact's number without asking them | No — the referral source cannot consent on their behalf |
| Contact gave the referral source their number specifically to pass to you | ✓ Arguably yes — log it as "referral-sourced consent" with the referral source noted |
| Contact reached out to you directly based on a referral | ✓ Yes — they initiated contact, 3-month EBR window applies |
Signing an open house sheet creates implied consent to follow up about that specific property. It does not create blanket consent to add them to a marketing list or text them indefinitely. Get explicit consent on the follow-up call.
Personal calls between friends fall outside TCPA. Real estate business calls require consent protection. If your EBR expired and you haven't logged written consent, you're unprotected on any business call. The fix takes 30 seconds — ask on your next call and log it. "Hey, totally fine if I keep texting you about market stuff?" Done.
If the referral source asked their contact "is it okay for my agent to reach out?" and got a yes, you're arguably covered — log it that way. If the number was just passed along without that conversation, you don't have consent. Either way, get explicit consent on the first call and log it immediately. Don't skip this step.
Importing contacts doesn't import consent. Your highest-risk contacts are anyone you'd call about real estate who you haven't talked to in a while — especially if they're on the DNC registry. The practical approach: sort by relationship. Sphere and past clients you have active relationships with — log consent when you next speak with them. Cold imports you haven't talked to in years — treat as unknown until you make contact and ask. Don't blast the whole list with texts before doing this.
A single personal outreach to a past client about their home anniversary is generally considered low risk — it's a personal gesture, not a marketing campaign. However, you're unprotected if they complain. Best practice: make the call, it's the right thing to do, but when they answer — ask for consent. "I just wanted to say happy home anniversary — is it still okay if I stay in touch by text?" Log it and you're protected going forward.
When someone initiates contact with you, that's a 3-month EBR window and reasonable implied consent to respond to that specific conversation. You can text back about the topic they raised. However, this doesn't give you blanket consent to add them to campaigns or text them about other topics indefinitely. On your first call, get explicit consent and log it.
They revoked consent for texts specifically. Honor that completely — never text them again unless they explicitly re-consent in writing. They can still call you, and you can answer and call them back when they initiate. If on a call they say "yeah you can text me again" — log it immediately as a new consent record with that date. Their earlier revocation stands in the record; the new consent record establishes the new status.
TCPA applies based on the nature of the call — if you're calling as a real estate agent/broker about business, the fact that you used your personal number is irrelevant. You're still making a business call. The only calls that fall outside TCPA are genuinely personal calls with no business purpose. If you wouldn't put the call on your activity log, it might be personal. If you would — it's a business call.
Open house sign-in sheets only create consent if they clearly disclosed that signing up means receiving marketing communications. A generic name-and-phone sheet does not. Best practice: add a line to your sign-in sheet — "By signing in you agree to receive follow-up communications about this property and similar listings from [your name]." Or simply ask on the follow-up call and log it.
Exchanging business cards implies consent for a professional follow-up call about the topic discussed. It does not imply consent for ongoing marketing texts. A single follow-up call is appropriate. On that call, ask if it's okay to stay in touch by text and log their answer.
Purely personal calls are outside TCPA — DNC doesn't apply to calling your actual friends and family. But the moment the call is a real estate business call, DNC applies and you need EBR or written consent to be protected. If you have an active EBR (recent transaction), you're fine. If you don't, get documented written consent before making business calls to DNC-registered numbers.
Sending an initial text to ask for consent is a gray area — you're using the very channel you're asking permission for. The safest approach: call first (calls have a lower TCPA threshold than texts for non-automated outreach), ask for consent on the call, then log it. If you can only reach them by text, keep the first text purely informational and short — "Hi, this is [name] from Waypoint Noven. Would it be okay if I stayed in touch by text?" — not a marketing message.
Do not respond to the complainant without talking to your Qualifying Broker first. Do not delete any records. Your WaypointOS consent logs, activity logs, and call records are your defense — they cannot be altered and they are timestamped. The Qualifying Broker will engage brokerage legal counsel. The strength of your defense depends entirely on what's documented in the system — which is exactly why logging consent at the time it's given matters so much.
per call or text
No cap per plaintiff
3 months from inquiry
Does not reset on contact
Overrides DNC
Log immediately
Log it right now
No grace period
Qualifying Broker
before proceeding
in touch by phone
and text?"
| What You Need to Do | Where in WaypointOS |
|---|---|
| See a contact's current consent status | Contact page → Contact Consent card (right column) |
| Log written consent | Contact Consent card → "+ Log Consent" button |
| Log a revocation | Contact Consent card → "Log Revocation" button |
| See EBR expiration date | Contact Consent card → auto-calculated from Past Deals |
| See consent warning on a contact | Hero bar (under name) → "No Consent" badge |
| See that a contact has opted out | Contact page → hero badge under the name, and the Contact Consent card |
| Screen a number against a Do Not Call registry | Not in WaypointOS. Scrub externally at donotcall.gov and your state registry before calling — the product performs no check and holds no result |
| Ask the compliance AI a question | Contact Consent card → "? Guide" button → ask anything |
| View consent audit history | Contact Consent card → expand Consent History section |
| Report a TCPA complaint | Contact your Qualifying Broker directly — do not proceed on your own |
A like on a post is not consent — it's engagement with content. You may send one tasteful, informational DM referencing the content they engaged with. Example: "Hey, saw you liked my post about 123 Main — happy to answer any questions if you're curious about the market." Don't pitch. Don't add them to campaigns. If they respond and express interest, log the conversation as a contact and get explicit consent before moving to text or calls.
Automated DM tools (auto-welcome messages, mass outreach bots) violate Meta and LinkedIn platform terms of service. Accounts using them are suspended or permanently banned. Beyond the platform risk, mass unsolicited DMs to strangers can constitute unfair or deceptive trade practices under state consumer protection law. Do not use these tools under the Waypoint Noven brand or your individual license.
A social media conversation is consent to communicate on that platform — it's not automatic consent to move the relationship to text. On your next DM exchange, ask: "Would it be easier to stay in touch by text?" If they say yes, log it as written consent in WaypointOS (method: Instagram DM) before you text them for the first time.