So the news broke today that Rocket Mortgage had purchased Redfin for a staggering $1.75BB.
Big Bad John Henson has already broke the news for TCPAWorld.com but I wanted to really focus on the TCPA angle here for a second.
Why would Rocket want Redfin?
Rather obviously because Redfin is an excellent source of leads for the mortgage giant.
Stated alternatively, people go onto Redfin to find a house to buy.
People who want to buy a house will need a loan.
So Rocket figures it will now have a massive pool of homebuyers to tap into for its mortgage products–all while it sells real estate leads to realtors on the backend.
Pretty sweet right?
Perhaps.
But notice a few TCPA things about this deal.
First, Rocket had to buy Redfin to assure that the website’s webform’s are sufficient to provide “express written consent” to Rocket. Indeed the entire value prop behind the purchase is to drive TCPA consented leads and allow Rocket to make calls and texts to consumers who might be interested in a mortgage.
Thus Redfin is not just a customer “finder” it is a bridge between the customer and Rocket and that will enable Rocket to directly pester… er.. engage with consumers who are in need of their products.
So the TCPA is literally the reason this deal was done.
A $1.75BB business transaction in 2025 entered into based upon a law from 1991.
Fun.
Next, this would not have been possible had the FCC’s one-to-one ruling gone into effect back in January. If it had then TCPA consent for real estate leads would not have been “logically and topically” related to mortgage products. So this deal could never have gone forward had the Eleventh Circuit not set aside the ruling.
Even in a post-IMC world, however, Rocket needs to be cautious to assure consent is “clearly and unmistakably stated.” Would hate to see these folks make another dire TCPA mistake.
Speaking of which, this deal likely arose due to one of Rocket’s primary previous lead sources– lowermybills.com– being found to insufficiently provide consent to consumers. Redfin’s flows are much more consumer friendly and less dark patterny. So this was a big upgrade from a compliance standpoint for Rocket.
Indeed, Rocket is in MASSIVE TCPA trouble right now. A move to purchase Redfin suggests to me a desire to clean the books of past TCPA sins and move forward in the righteous light of a new day– perhaps they’ll even join R.E.A.C.H.? But they’ll need to settle out their current portfolio of litigation in the meantime.
Regardless I really like this move for Rocket– if they play it straight and don’t get to slick with their new webform playground.
We’ll definitely keep an eye on this.
And you should keep an eye on our rates!
We are currently willing to match any #biglaw firm current handling your TCPA litigation. But that deal is up when March ends– so don’t be an April fool!
Chat soon.