Imagine you’re just living your life, and then, one day, seemingly out of nowhere, your phone starts ringing off the hook.

Every caller is a real estate agent trying to convince you to sell your home.

That’s what happened to one homeowner in Aurora, Colorado, this week. On Monday alone, she estimates she received anywhere from 75 to 100 calls in just a 12-hour period, 9NEWS reported.

The agents calling her had apparently acquired her contact information through lead generation tools, including Vulcan 7 and RedX.

Her experience captures how technology designed to help real estate agents drum up business is increasingly making life a living hell for consumers who are deemed likely to buy or sell homes.

The phenomenon raises questions about whether lead generation tools are invading consumer privacy and inadvertently damaging the image of real estate agents.

“Yeah, let’s find another way to make agents more annoying,” one broker recently tweeted, after I asked whether big data lead generators might make life a living nightmare for some homeowners.

The Colorado homeowner was apparently targeted as a lead because she had taken her home off the market after unsuccessfully trying to sell it.

Real estate agents have long chased expired listings. But the proliferation of lead generation tools is likely boosting the number of agents who hunt them.

Lead generators are also helping agents target a number of other demographics, like homeowners who have recently had kids or people whose parents have passed away.

Do you think distressed homeowners deserve more privacy protections?

Email Teke Wiggin.

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