Texas real estate email signature requirements
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.
Regulator: Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC). Summarized from the rule text and official guidance linked below, as of September 28, 2026. Not legal advice.
Does the rule cover email?
- 22 TAC 535.155(b)(1) defines “advertisement” to include all electronic media including email, text messages, social media and the Internet. Communications from a license holder to their current client are not advertisements.
- 535.155(a) requires each advertisement to include, in a readily noticeable location, the name of the license holder or team placing it, and the broker's name in at least half the size of the largest contact information for any agent, associated broker or team name in the ad.
- For social media and text messages the required items may sit on a linked profile or page. There is no such exception for email.
- TREC's FAQ says the Commission does not consider URLs or email addresses to be advertisements in themselves, but it looks at the whole advertisement, and a misleading email or URL can still violate the law.
Is a license number required?
- Not required, and the Commission is barred from requiring it: Occupations Code 1101.156(b)(5) says the Commission may not adopt a rule requiring the terms “broker” or “agent,” a reference to the Commission, or the license number in an advertisement.
- TREC's FAQ answers whether a license number is required on advertising with “No.” Licensees may include one voluntarily.
Team names
- 535.154 says a team name must end in “team” or “group” and be registered.
- 535.155(d) lists as misleading advertising a team name containing “brokerage,” “company” or “associates.”
Anything specific to signatures
- 22 TAC 531.20 says the link to the Information About Brokerage Services (IABS) notice may not be in a footnote or signature block in an email. TREC's FAQ says a link in a signature does not satisfy the disclosure; the notice must be in the body or attached, with a reference in the body.
- 535.155(d)(3): an agent must not be identified as a “broker,” and a title such as owner, president or CEO, or an email or website address, that implies the agent runs the brokerage is misleading. TREC's FAQ says associated brokers use “associated broker,” “broker associate” or “associate broker.”
A practical checklist
Our reading of the rules above, not language from any rule. Your broker-in-charge has the final say.
- Show your name (or team name) and the broker's name, with the broker's name at least half the size of your largest contact detail.
- Use the correct title for your license; never “broker” for a sales agent.
- Keep the IABS link in the body of the email, not the signature.
What we could not confirm
- The exemption for communications to current clients applies to the advertising rule only; do not treat a signature as exempt in general.
- We read the rule text through TREC's site and a Cornell mirror; the Texas Secretary of State portal did not load for us.
Add your license number, brokerage name and Equal Housing line in the free generator, or set them once for your whole brokerage and keep every agent's Gmail signature in step.
Other states
- North Carolina
- Florida
- California
- New York
- Georgia
- New Jersey
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Massachusetts
- Virginia
- Washington
- Michigan
- Maryland
See also what a real estate signature can carry and how to keep it out of spam.
Sources (read September 28, 2026)
- TREC rules (22 TAC 535.154, 535.155, 531.20)
- 22 TAC 535.155 (Cornell LII mirror)
- Texas Occupations Code chapter 1101
- TREC: advertising rules, what you need to know
Rules change and this page can fall behind. Email Signature Magic is not a law firm and is not affiliated with any regulator. Found something out of date? Tell us.