The Federal Communications Commission recently ruled that members can call For Sale By Owners, who have a sign in their front yard with a telephone number on it, if they have a client interested in purchasing the property.

The FCC’s ruling, on February 18, 2005, states:

“As with any entity making calls that constitute “telephone solicitations,” a real estate agent, insurance agent, or newspaper is precluded from calling consumers registered on the national do-not-call list, unless the calls would fall within one of the specific exemptions provided in the statute and rules. Therefore, we clarify that a telephone solicitation would include 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. We find, however, that calls by real estate agents who represent only the potential buyer to someone who has advertised their property for sale, do not constitute telephone solicitations, so long a the purpose of the call is to discuss the potential sale of the property to the represented buyer. The callers, in such circumstances, are not encouraging the called party to purchase, rent or invest in property, as contemplated by the definition of ‘telephone solicitation.’ They are instead calling in response to an offer to purchase something from the called party. In addition, as explained in the 2003 TCPA Order, calls constituting telephone solicitations to persons based on referrals are nevertheless subject to the do-not-call rules, if not otherwise exempted.”