Advertising Compliance: TCPA, CAN-SPAM, and Fair Housing

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the most significant legal risk for investor marketing. Key requirements: Do Not Call compliance—scrub all calling and texting lists against the National DNC Registry ($75/year) and any applicable state DNC lists. Prior express consent is required before using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) or prerecorded voice message. For marketing calls, prior express written consent is required. Manual dialing (one call at a time, human-initiated) to non-DNC numbers does not require prior consent but is still subject to time-of-day restrictions (no calls before 8 AM or after 9 PM local time). Text messages are treated the same as calls under the TCPA. Penalties: $500 per violation (negligent), $1,500 per violation (willful). A 1,000-number texting campaign to unconsented numbers could generate $500,000-$1,500,000 in liability.

The CAN-SPAM Act governs commercial email messages. Requirements include: accurate header information (your real email address and domain), non-deceptive subject lines, identification as an advertisement, inclusion of your physical mailing address, a clear and conspicuous opt-out mechanism, and honoring opt-out requests within 10 business days. Penalties: up to $50,120 per email violation. For real estate investors, CAN-SPAM compliance is relatively straightforward—use a reputable email service provider (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign) that handles unsubscribe mechanisms automatically, maintain a clean list, and never purchase email lists from unverified sources.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discriminatory advertising in housing-related transactions. While most investor marketing targets sellers (not buyers or tenants), fair housing principles still apply. You cannot target or exclude marketing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. In digital advertising, Facebook's Special Ads Category enforces fair housing compliance by restricting targeting options. In direct mail, list building criteria should be based on property characteristics and owner behavior (absentee, equity level, ownership duration), never on demographic characteristics. Compliance best practice: document your targeting rationale for every campaign and ensure it is based on legitimate business criteria, not protected characteristics.