Real Estate Cold Calling in Illinois

Illinois market

Dial Illinois sellers before your competition

Illinois is two markets in one state. The Chicago suburbs list well above the state median, while Peoria, Springfield and the Metro East across the river from St. Louis list well below it. Long foreclosure and tax redemption windows also mean owners in trouble often have time to sell, if someone reaches them.

A dedicated caller works your Illinois lists, with every call recorded and the sellers who want an offer passed to you the same day with notes. Month to month, with no long contract.

Before you dial Illinois

What makes Illinois different to call

Wholesaling needs a broker’s license

Since August 9, 2019 (Public Act 101-0357), the Illinois Real Estate License Act treats as a broker anyone who, for themselves or others, engages in a pattern of buying, selling, offering to buy or sell, or marketing contracts for real estate, including assignable contracts, on two or more occasions in any 12-month period. The state regulator says the rule covers what is commonly called wholesaling. Unlicensed practice can cost up to $25,000 per offense. The same definition also covers anyone who “assists or directs in procuring or referring of leads or prospects” meant to lead to a sale, which is worth raising with your attorney before an Illinois campaign starts.

The opening of the call is set by law

Under the Illinois Telephone Solicitations Act, a live sales call must immediately give the caller’s name, the business and the purpose of the call, and ask at the start whether the person agrees to continue. Calls are allowed only from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., caller ID must not be blocked, and opt-out requests must be honored. A person can sue for three times their actual damages plus attorney fees. Whether the Act reaches a call offering to buy a house has not been settled, so the safe course is to build that opening into every Illinois script.

Autodialer and recorded-message rules

The Illinois Automatic Telephone Dialers Act bars autodialed calls between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m., requires the line to disconnect within 30 seconds of a hang-up, and bars dialing numbers in sequence. Playing a recorded message without the person’s consent can cost $500 per violation on top of damages.

No separate state do-not-call list

Illinois sends residents to the national Do Not Call Registry rather than keeping a state list, so a scrub against the national registry and your own do-not-call list covers it.

Foreclosure is judicial, with long windows

Illinois foreclosures go through the courts. On a home the owner can reinstate the loan within 90 days of being served, and can redeem until the later of seven months from service or three months from judgment (30 days if the court finds the house abandoned). Only then is the property sold, and a judge must confirm the sale. That leaves months in which a pre-foreclosure owner can still sell.

Tax sales: up to two and a half years to redeem

At an Illinois tax sale the buyer gets the delinquent taxes, not the house. For most homes the owner has had two and a half years to redeem; vacant land, larger apartment buildings and commercial property one year. Cook County also holds a scavenger sale every two years for properties three or more years behind. A 2026 law changes parts of the tax sale process and adds protections for owners’ equity, so check the current rules for your county. A tax delinquent owner usually has time to sell.

One time zone

All of Illinois is on Central Time.

General information, not legal advice. Have your attorney confirm what applies to your campaign. The federal rules are in is real estate cold calling legal?