Real estate email signature requirements, state by state
Agents ask what has to appear in an email signature: a license number, the brokerage name, the Equal Housing logo. We read the advertising rules in 18 states and summarize what each one says, with links to the source.
Pick your state
North Carolina's advertising rule does not mention email signatures. It requires a broker's advertising to include the firm name, and says an ad may not be only contact information such as an email address. It does not require a license number.
Florida requires real estate advertising to include the brokerage's licensed name, and sets rules for team names. It does not require a license number. Whether the rule's internet provisions reach an email body is not stated.
Texas is the clearest: its advertising rule expressly covers email, requires the license holder's or team's name and the broker's name, and the Commission is barred by statute from requiring a license number. The Information About Brokerage Services link cannot live in a signature block.
California is the one state here that requires a license number on covered materials, and its regulation lists email by name. But it targets solicitation materials meant to be a consumer's first point of contact, so whether a routine signature is covered is not settled by the text.
New York is the only state here whose rule speaks to email directly: an initial email to a client or prospect must include the required information, which may be left out of later emails to the same person. It requires the license type and broker or brokerage details, not a license number.
Georgia's advertising rule lists email as a medium but is written around advertising real estate for sale or lease. It requires the firm's name and phone number when an ad markets specific property, and a license number only when a licensee advertises their own property.
New Jersey's advertising rule, N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.1, names E-mail as a medium it covers but never mentions email signatures. A salesperson's advertising must show the name the person is licensed under and the brokerage's regular business name, displayed larger or more prominently than the agent's name. We found no license-number requirement in the rule.
Ohio's advertising rule, OAC 1301:5-1-02, lists email as a form of advertising but never mentions email signatures. It requires the licensee's name and the brokerage name, with the brokerage name displayed at least in equal prominence with the salesperson's name. A separate rule governs team names. We found no license-number requirement.
Pennsylvania's advertising rule, 49 Pa. Code § 35.305, does not mention email, email signatures or any other medium. It says an advertisement by a salesperson or associate broker must contain the employing broker's business name and telephone number, shown at equal size. We found no license-number requirement.
Tennessee's advertising rule, 1260-02-.12, names “e-mail signatures” in its definition of advertising. Advertising must list the firm name and firm telephone number as on file with the Commission, and the firm name must be at least as large as the name of a licensee or any team. We found no license-number requirement.
Arizona's advertising rule, R4-28-502, does not mention email signatures. It requires all advertising to identify the employing broker's legal name or dba name in a clear and prominent manner, and it treats advertising through an electronic medium as advertising. It does not call for a license number.
Colorado's broker rules list email signatures among the things Advertising may include (Rule 1.2). Rule 6.10 requires advertising to be done clearly and conspicuously in the brokerage firm's name, and says a broker who advertises by email must use the brokerage firm's name. Rule 6.10 does not require a license number.
Illinois's advertising rules do not use the phrase “email signature.” The Real Estate License Act requires the sponsoring broker's business name and the licensee's name in all advertisements, and 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.720 lists what a licensee must include in an electronic or digital communication. We found no license number requirement.
Massachusetts's advertising regulation, 254 CMR 3.00(9), does not mention email signatures. It says all advertisements must include the name of the real estate broker, and that salespeople may not advertise under their own name. It does not require a license number in advertising.
Virginia's advertising rule, 18VAC135-20-190 (rewritten effective April 1, 2026), does not mention email signatures. It requires all advertising by a firm or affiliated licensee to carry a clear, legible and conspicuous disclosure of the firm's name and the office contact information, which the broker's written policies specify. We found no requirement to show a license number.
Washington's advertising rule names email as a medium: WAC 308-124B-210 says all advertising or solicitations for brokerage services, including email, must include the firm name or an assumed name as licensed. It does not use the words “email signature”. We found no requirement to show a license number.
Michigan's advertising law, MCL 339.2512e, does not mention email or signatures. It says advertising that includes the name of an associate broker, salesperson, or cooperating group must include the employing broker's phone number or street address and the employing broker's business name in equal or greater type size. We found no requirement to show a license number.
Maryland's Code of Ethics speaks to email addresses in advertising: an associate broker or salesperson may not use an individual phone number or email address in an advertisement unless the broker's or branch office manager's phone number also appears (COMAR 09.11.02.01G(3)). State law also requires the licensee's name and the full name of the affiliated business, not a logo, in an advertisement (Business Occupations and Professions § 17-527.2). We found no requirement to show a license number.
Is the Equal Housing Opportunity logo required in an email signature?
- Not by any federal rule we could verify for ordinary agent signatures, and not by any of the state rules above.
- HUD's old advertising guidance (former 24 CFR Part 109) said residential real estate advertising “should” contain an equal housing opportunity logotype, statement or slogan. HUD removed Part 109 from the Code of Federal Regulations in 1996 as nonbinding guidance, so it reads as a recommendation.
- The logo or slogan is mandatory for applicants in certain FHA programs under 24 CFR 200.620, which covers program participants rather than agents' signatures.
- Separately, federal fair housing law (24 CFR 100.75) makes any notice, statement or advertisement that indicates a preference or limitation based on a protected class unlawful, which is why many brokerages include the logo as a matter of policy.
What does NAR require?
- NAR's Code of Ethics (effective January 1, 2026) applies to Realtors, not every licensee. Article 12 asks for a true picture in advertising and that recipients know a communication is from a real estate professional.
- Standard of Practice 12-5 says Realtors shall not advertise in any medium without disclosing the name of their firm in a reasonable and readily apparent manner. Electronic advertising may use a link to a display with all required disclosures.
- Standard of Practice 12-13 says to display only professional designations you are legitimately entitled to use.
- None of these mention email signatures or the Equal Housing logo.
A brokerage can set the brokerage name, license line and disclaimer once, and every agent's Gmail signature stays in step. You still decide what your compliance line says.
Found something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against the source. Rules change; the dates on each page show when we last read them.