Real Estate Cold Calling in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania market

Dial Pennsylvania sellers before your competition

Pennsylvania is an old-housing state. In Philadelphia, the city says more than 88% of homes were built before 1988, and only about 56% of residents live in a home they own. Older houses and a big rental base mean plenty of the owners investors call: absentee owners, tired landlords, inherited homes and tax delinquent properties.

A dedicated caller works your Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania

What makes Pennsylvania different to call

New calling hours from October 18, 2026

Act 47 of 2026 (Senate Bill 992), signed in July 2026, takes effect on October 18, 2026. From that date Pennsylvania sales calls are allowed only from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., never on Sundays or legal holidays. The law also covers texts, voicemails and ringless voicemails, and robocalls need the person’s prior express written consent. Until then the window is 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pennsylvania lists should be scheduled for the new hours now.

Pennsylvania keeps its own do-not-call list

The Pennsylvania Attorney General has run a state do-not-call list since 2002, with registrations that never expire. Telemarketers get it every quarter (January, April, July and October) and must remove listed numbers within 30 days. Fines run up to $1,000 per violation, or $3,000 when the person called is 60 or older. At the start of a call the caller must give their name, the purpose of the call and what is offered. Whether all of this reaches a call offering to buy a house has not been settled, and the 2026 law now defines covered goods to include real property, so the safe course is to scrub against both the national registry and the Pennsylvania list, and follow the new hours.

Wholesalers need a real estate license (Act 52 of 2024)

Since early 2025, anyone wholesaling residential property in Pennsylvania must hold a real estate license. The contract has to say it is a wholesale deal, tell the seller they may consult an appraiser, a real estate licensee or a lawyer, and give the seller the right to cancel until the earlier of midnight on the 30th day or closing, with any deposit refunded within 10 business days. Have your attorney set up your contracts before your caller books an appointment.

Philadelphia has its own rules on top

Philadelphia requires a Residential Property Wholesaler License and keeps a citywide Do Not Solicit list that covers phone calls, mail and electronic contact. Contacting an owner on that list, or one who has asked not to be contacted, can bring a fine of up to $2,000. Licensed wholesalers must also give the owner a written disclosure at least three days before making an offer. Philadelphia lists need the city’s list scrubbed as well.

Foreclosure goes through the courts, with notice windows

Pennsylvania foreclosures are judicial. Before filing, the lender sends an Act 91 notice, which gives the owner 33 days to meet a housing counselor and apply for the state’s emergency mortgage assistance, and an Act 6 notice at least 30 days before acting. The owner can catch up until one hour before bidding starts at the sheriff sale, and there is no right to buy the home back after a mortgage sheriff sale. Pre-foreclosure owners need to be reached before that date. See pre-foreclosure leads.

Tax sales: no buy-back outside Philadelphia

Outside Philadelphia, a county Tax Claim Bureau holds an upset sale, and there is no redemption period after it. In Philadelphia, tax sales run under a different law, and the prior owner of an occupied home can redeem within nine months of the sheriff’s deed. A tax delinquent owner still owns the home, and can still sell it, until the sale.

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?