Online privacy for real estate agents

Why agents are easy to look up

Agents advertise on purpose: your name and number appear on signs, flyers, listing pages and brokerage sites. That is the job, and it is not a problem by itself. The problem arises when the same phone number or office address is also your home.

State licence lookups are usually public so that clients can verify a licence. What they display, including any address on file, depends on the state, so look yourself up on your own state's lookup and see. Property records, which agents handle every day, are public in many places too, and that includes the records for your own home if you own it.

On top of that, people-search sites publish a page with your name, age, past and present addresses, phone numbers and relatives, built from public records and marketing data.

Step 1: opt out of people-search sites (free)

• Search your own name, your name plus your city, and your home address in a private browsing window. Write down every people-search site that shows you.
• Open each listing and copy its address into a spreadsheet with the date.
• Use each site's opt-out page. Our step-by-step guides cover Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, Intelius, PeopleFinders, TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch, MyLife, Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder. The general method is in how to remove your personal information from the internet.
• Click the confirmation link in the email each site sends. Skipping that step is a common reason a request does nothing.
• Set a calendar reminder to search again in a few months. Listings can come back when a site refreshes its data.

Step 2: ask Google to remove results about you (free)

Google has a Results about you tool that lets you ask for search results showing your home address, phone number or email to be removed from Google Search. Google can only remove the result from its own search, not the page that hosts it, so you still need the opt-outs. Our guide to removing your address and phone number from Google walks through it.

Keep in mind that your business listings are meant to be found. Only request removal of results that show your home address or personal phone.

Step 3: a business phone and email

Many agents hand out a personal mobile number everywhere, and then that number follows them for years. A separate number is easy to set up.

• Get a dedicated business number, either a second line or a free forwarding number, and use it on signs, flyers, listings and websites.
• Use a business email address on your own or your brokerage's domain, and keep a personal address for banking and shopping.
• Sign up for lead forms, directories and review sites with the business number and email.
• If your current number is already everywhere, you do not have to change it. Start using the new one on new materials.

Step 4: use a business address where rules permit

If you work from home, your home address can end up on your licence record, business registration, website footer or domain registration. Options that are often available include using the brokerage's office address, a P.O. box or a commercial mailbox. Whether you may use them is set by your state's real estate commission and your broker, and some states require a physical business address on file. We cannot say what your state allows, so ask the commission and your broker, and get the answer in writing if the rules matter.

• Licence record: ask your state commission which address is public and whether a brokerage or mailing address can be shown.
• Business registration: check what your state's business filing shows, since some filings are searchable online.
• Domain registration: many domain registrars offer a free or low-cost privacy option that hides your details from the public lookup. Check your registrar.
• Websites and email footers: use the office address or none.

Step 5: social media and client safety habits

• Keep your professional page public and your personal account private, and do not post from home in real time.
• Turn off location tagging on personal posts.
• Do not put your home address or a photo of your house on business social media.
• Brokerages often publish safety guidance for showings and open houses. Ask your broker for theirs.

Where a paid service fits in (optional)

If the repeat opt-outs feel like a second job, a removal service can take them over. According to DeleteMe's own website, as read on October 31, 2026, it searches data brokers and people-search sites, files opt-out requests, and keeps removing your information on an ongoing basis. We have not tested it, so we cannot promise how it works for you. Check the current price and terms on its site.

If you want to look at it, here is DeleteMe (Affiliate link). It does not change what your licence, business registration or brokerage pages show, so the business address and phone steps still apply.

A simple plan, in order

• This week: search your name, your phone and your home address, and note what shows.
• This week: do the people-search opt-outs and confirm each one.
• Next: submit Google's Results about you requests.
• Then: set up a business phone and email and use them on new materials.
• Then: ask your commission and broker about address options.
• In a few months: search again and repeat for anything that returned.
• Optional: a paid removal service (Affiliate link) can repeat the opt-outs.