Real Estate Email Signature Requirements by State (2026)
Only two of fifty-one jurisdictions require your licence number. Eleven require your broker’s telephone number. Twenty have no team-name rule at all. And twenty-six of the fifty-one regulators publish guidance that contradicts their own rules. Here is the comparison, state by state.
Five things this table shows
Only two states require a licence number
California requires an eight-digit DRE number and sets a type-size floor for it. Nevada requires the number with its letter prefix but imposes no size rule at all. Oregon is a partial third — the number is required only if you advertise under a registered alternative name. The other forty-eight require nothing of the kind, and the widespread belief that they do is traceable in seven states to a real rule one board over — and in New Mexico to a rule the Commission considered and voted down.
Six states want your broker's telephone number
Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Three of them are conditional in a way that always catches a signature block: Maryland and New Jersey are triggered by your email address appearing, and Missouri by your own name appearing. Michigan accepts a phone or a street address; New York accepts an address or a phone; Virginia lets your broker decide.
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Download freeUnlock Pro — one-time, no subscriptionTwenty-seven jurisdictions name email — two name email signatures
Colorado and Tennessee use the phrase “email signatures” in the rule itself. Louisiana goes furthest without using the phrase, enumerating five items that must appear “on the first or last page of all communications”. At the other end, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania name no medium at all — their rules are medium-neutral, and whether a signature block is an advertisement is genuinely unresolved.
Twenty jurisdictions have no team-name rule whatsoever
Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, Washington DC and Wisconsin. In three of them the regulator says so in writing — Hawaii’s twice, in 2017 and again in 2021. Yet detailed “team rules” circulate for several — Georgia’s come from proposals made twice in 2021 and adopted neither time; Pennsylvania’s from a 2015 exposure draft that has never reached the review commission in eleven years.
Thirteen states measure the broker's name against yours
And they disagree on the ratio. Texas asks for half the size of your largest contact detail; Illinois for equal or larger; Pennsylvania for exactly equal; Georgia for equal or greater size, prominence and frequency. Alabama requires it larger than any other name, text or logo; New Mexico sets a 33% floor; Kentucky inverts it into a ceiling — yours may never be larger. Oklahoma’s is ambiguous in its own text — “at least fifty percent (50%) or larger than” can be read two opposite ways. And Minnesota and Utah repealed their size rules in 2019 and 2017 respectively — both are still widely quoted.
The comparison
Every entry below was verified against that state’s own statutes, regulations and regulator publications in September 2026. Click a state for the full guide, including citations and the specific things its regulator gets wrong.
What does your state actually require?
Pick a state. Every answer is taken from the current rule text and checked against that state’s own statute and regulations — not from a template, and not from the regulator’s summary of its own rules, which is wrong in twenty-six jurisdictions.
| State | Licence number | Broker’s phone | Email named in the rule | Size / prominence rule | Team-name rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No | No | No — not named | Yes — larger than any other name, text or logo | Yes — “team”/“group” + written authorisation |
| Alaska | No | No | No — no medium named | No — none at all | No rule — defined only |
| Arizona | No | No | No — electronic media only | No | No rule (guidance only) |
| Arkansas | No | No | No — undefined | No — guidance only | No rule |
| California | Yes — 8 digits | No | Yes | Yes — no smaller than smallest type | Yes |
| Colorado | No | No | Yes — says “email signatures” | No | Yes |
| Connecticut | No | No — but a link is required | Yes — named in the rule | Yes — print and website parity | Yes — registered, $565 |
| Delaware | No | Yes | Yes — named expressly | Yes — teams, greater than | Yes — “team”/“group”/“associates” |
| District of Columbia | No | Yes — brokerage main number | Yes — plus a placement rule | No — “clearly and legibly” | No rule |
| Florida | No | No | No — websites only | Teams only | Yes |
| Georgia | No | Property ads only | Yes — incl. “email farming” | Yes — size, prominence and frequency | No adopted rule |
| Hawaii | No | Inter-island ads only | No — medium-neutral | No | No rule — Commission says so |
| Idaho | No | No | Yes — plus a placement rule | No — “clearly and conspicuously” | No rule |
| Illinois | No | No | Yes — electronic communication | Yes — equal or larger | Yes |
| Indiana | No | No | No — not named | No — “clearly visible” | No rule |
| Iowa | No | No | Yes — named twice | No — adjacency instead | Yes — adjacency, no registration |
| Kansas | No | No | Yes — named in the definition | Yes — yours no more than 2× | Yes — no “realty” or “company” |
| Kentucky | No | No | No — but settled on the record | Yes — yours never larger | Yes — must end “team”/“group” |
| Louisiana | No | Yes | Yes — five items, first or last page | No | Yes |
| Maine | No | No — optional | Yes — named in the definition | No — “prominent”, defined | No rule — permissive |
| Maryland | No | Yes — triggered by your email address | Yes — email addresses named | No | Yes |
| Massachusetts | No | No | No — blind-ad rule only | No | No rule — Board says so |
| Michigan | No | Phone or address | No — no medium named | Yes — equal or greater type size | No rule — “cooperating group” |
| Minnesota | No | No | No — no medium named | No — repealed 2019 | Yes — two conditions |
| Mississippi | No | Yes | Yes — and in the blind-ad rule | Yes — same size or larger | Yes — registered, word bans |
| Missouri | No | Yes — triggered by your own name | No — advertising vs correspondence | No | Yes — with safe harbour |
| Montana | No | No | Yes — but a link is allowed | No — repealed 2025 | No rule |
| Nebraska | No | No | No — guidance says “group emails” | Yes — similar or greater than yours | Yes — must contain “team”/“group” |
| Nevada | Yes — prefix required | No | Yes — unsolicited email | No | Yes — name and licence number |
| New Hampshire | No | Yes — triggered by your email address | Yes — and business stationery | No — “prominently” | No rule — one clause |
| New Jersey | No | Yes — triggered by your email address | Yes — named in scope | No | No rule — Commission says so |
| New Mexico | No | Yes | No — but a self-ID duty applies | Yes — 33% of your name’s size | No rule |
| New York | No | Address or phone | Yes — plus an initial-email rule | No | Yes — must use “team” |
| North Carolina | No | No | No — blind-ad rule only | No | No rule — guidance only |
| North Dakota | No | No — but contact info required | No — deleted in 2022 | Yes — equal or greater | Yes — size rule applies |
| Ohio | No | No | Yes — enumerated | Yes — at least equal prominence | Yes — “team”/“group” required |
| Oklahoma | No | Yard signs only | No — any means of communication | Yes — but the text is ambiguous | Yes — registered, $100 |
| Oregon | Only for a registered alternative name | No | Yes | No | Suspended until 1 July 2027 |
| Pennsylvania | No | Yes | No — no medium named | Yes — equal size | No rule — 2015 draft never adopted |
| Rhode Island | No | No — unsettled for email | Yes — statute names correspondence | Yes — strictly larger than yours | Yes — “Team”/“Group” + 11 banned |
| South Carolina | No | No | No — any medium | Teams only | Yes — changes 2027 |
| South Dakota | No | No | No — “publication or broadcast” | No — “clearly state” | Yes — must identify unlicensed |
| Tennessee | No | Yes | Yes — says “e-mail signatures” | Yes — same size or larger | Yes |
| Texas | No | No | Yes — definition names email | Yes — half the largest contact detail | Yes — “team”/“group” required |
| Utah | No | No | Yes — definition names email | No — repealed 2017 | Yes — one sentence |
| Vermont | No | No | Yes — incl. stationery | Yes — firm name the largest | No rule — size hierarchy only |
| Virginia | No | Your broker decides | No — any medium | No | Teams need an entity licence |
| Washington | No | No | Yes — named in the rule | No | No rule — branding rule applies |
| West Virginia | No | A phone number, not the broker’s | No — catch-all only | Yes — at least half of yours | Yes — labels, not names |
| Wisconsin | No | No | No — no medium named | No — “clear and conspicuous” | No rule |
| Wyoming | No | No | No — “digitally or in print” | No — “conspicuous” only | Yes — a team can be one person |
Where the licence-number myth comes from
Only California and Nevada require one, yet the belief that your state does is remarkably persistent. In three states we traced it to a real requirement sitting one board over:
- Missouri — a statute titled “Certificate or license number to be placed on report or contract” sits inside the real estate chapter, but governs appraisers under a different commission.
- Minnesota — the Department of Commerce also licenses mortgage loan originators, whose statute requires a unique identifier on advertisements “including business cards or websites”.
- Tennessee — the department hosts help articles for every board it regulates, and its auctioneer advertising rule does require a licence number.
Add generic multi-state signature templates that assert a licence number is needed everywhere, and the myth has four independent sources feeding it.
Twenty-six regulators publish guidance that contradicts their own rules
This is the finding we did not expect, and it is the reason a page like this cannot be written from secondary sources. A representative sample:
- Virginia’s own downloadable regulations PDF still contains rules repealed on 1 April 2026 — the most authoritative-looking source available is the wrong one.
- Massachusetts’ Board cites its own regulation by numbers that do not exist, and its escrow policy cites two entirely different CMR titles — Landscape Architects and Allied Mental Health.
- Louisiana’s checklist asks whether an advertisement for “an option on real estate” is properly disclosed, citing a rule — and that phrase appears nowhere in Louisiana’s rules.
- South Carolina’s Commission published guidance in June 2026 describing a team-name standard as optional until 2027, a month after its own regulation made it mandatory.
- Oregon’s Agency asserts that only “Team” or “Group” may be used as descriptors. No such whitelist has ever existed in any Oregon rule, adopted or proposed.
- Nevada’s reference guide still gives a worked team-name example that stopped complying in December 2020.
- Alabama’s newsletter, written by its General Counsel, states “there is no longer a size or ratio requirement” — false since October 2025, when the strictest size test in this comparison took effect.
- Idaho’s superseded 2013 guideline is still downloadable from a state-run archive, quoting the statute in its pre-2017 form. Because it sits on a state domain, the usual “is this official?” check passes it.
Others in the same category: Texas, Maryland, Tennessee, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Hawaii, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Connecticut’s guidance diverges in eight separate places — the most of any regulator — including a word it says a team name must contain, which the statute merely permits.
One state stands apart: Indiana’s regulator publishes no advertising guidance at all. No FAQ, no newsletter, no handbook. There is nothing to be wrong — and nothing to lean on either.
Rules that were repealed, withdrawn, or never adopted
A large share of what you will read about state advertising rules describes law that is not in force:
- Florida — “your name may not be larger than the brokerage’s” comes from a 2018 amendment withdrawn in 2019.
- Utah — the “half the size” lettering rule was repealed in January 2017.
- Tennessee — the “most prominent name” standard and the franchise legend were repealed in April 2021.
- Minnesota — the “more prominently displayed” rule was repealed in August 2019, and the entire administrative rules chapter in 2004.
- Hawaii — “prominent and conspicuous”, a size rule and a licence number all come from a chapter drafted in 2019 and never adopted.
- Indiana — the advertising rule moved in 2014 and the old article was repealed; the number most often cited was never the advertising rule anyway.
- Kentucky — the internet-advertising rule requiring a street address and telephone number was repealed in 2019, and one rules mirror still serves it as the “latest version”.
- Kentucky, again — the widely-repeated ban on “realty” and “real estate” in a team name was a Commission resolution that lasted 28 days: passed 21 May 2020, rescinded 18 June 2020, never reinstated. The memorandum announcing it now 404s, which hides the withdrawal rather than revealing it.
- Alabama — the size test moved from rule into statute in 2025 and the rule was repealed; citing the rule for it is now doubly wrong.
- Michigan — the advertising rules moved into statute and the old rule series was rescinded in 2017, so the citation everyone uses is nine years dead.
- Virginia — the one-click rule and the city-and-state requirement were repealed on 1 April 2026.
- Kansas — the advertising regulation most often cited was revoked in November 2016, and the state’s own rules portal still lists it as effective, which is how the citation stays alive.
- Nebraska — the rule in force cross-references “Sections 0034 to 0067”, which do not exist: an uncorrected artifact of a 2024 renumbering, present in the official adopted text.
- West Virginia — a written-agency-agreement mandate was struck by the Legislature before the rule took effect, but still sits underlined as new text in the filed version anyone is likely to find.
- Maine — the whole advertising chapter was repealed and replaced on 26 October 2025 and renumbered; the major mirror still serves the 2013 text under dead subsection numbers.
- Montana — its internet advertising rule was repealed on 23 August 2025. The mirror still publishes it as live with no repeal marking, and Montana’s own disciplinary rule still cites it.
- Washington DC — the ban on nicknames in advertising was repealed in 2013; the subsection has read “[RESERVED]” ever since.
- Delaware — “Company”, “Corp.”, “Inc.”, “LLC”, “LP” and “LLP” were removed from the banned team-name list in 2022; older lists still carry them.
- Mississippi — the opposite trap: the Commission’s “final rule text” skips from Rule 3.2 to Rule 3.4, which reads exactly like a repeal of the advertising rule. It is an amendments-only document, and advertising is deliberately excluded from the rewrite.
Deadlines worth diarising
- Oregon — 1 July 2027. The ban on “realty” and “real estate” in team names was suspended in March 2026 and returns on that date. There is no restriction in force today.
- Kentucky — 16 December 2026. The advertising regulation carries a seven-year expiry on that date, and no certification or amendment had been filed as of September 2026. It is the only rule in this comparison with a date on it.
- Iowa — 22 May 2029. The advertising chapter carries a printed auto-rescission date. Under Iowa law a rule chapter lapses five years after it takes effect, and amendments to individual rules do not reset the clock — so the 2025 amendment did not move it. Re-adoption has to start from a zero base.
- Kansas — 15 July 2026, then 2031. Kansas runs a statutory five-year review of every regulation and the Real Estate Commission sat in the 2026 cohort. The advertising rule was not its named revocation candidate, but it sits inside a live review.
- Alaska — Fall 2026, then 31 December 2027. Under a deregulatory order every board must cut its requirements 15% by the end of 2026 and 25% by the end of 2027. The Commission has scheduled its advertising rule for amendment in Fall 2026 — specifically to add a team-name size rule it currently lacks.
- New Hampshire — 18 June 2027, and possibly sooner. New Hampshire rules run on a ten-year clock and the advertising rule reaches its date then. Its readoption is pending and behind schedule, which under state law can bring the expiry forward by months — and this rule has already lapsed once, in 2016. The readoption would also renumber it, breaking every existing citation. The governing statute is unaffected.
- Rhode Island — 5 January 2027. Rhode Island refiles every rule on the first Tuesday in January every fifth year. It is a refiling duty rather than a sunset — the rule does not lapse — but it is when amendments tend to arrive.
- West Virginia — 1 August 2030. The rule terminates on its own terms on that date — the longest fuse in this comparison, but a real one.
- Wisconsin — 1 January 2027. An AI-disclosure duty begins: advertising altered using technology “including artificial intelligence” so as to mislead must say so. Oklahoma extends broker responsibility to generative AI tools on 1 November 2026.
- South Carolina — 15 May 2027. The team-name word ban currently in force disappears, replaced by a mandatory “[team name] team at [brokerage]” format. Most write-ups have this backwards. A 2026 regulation already imposes the new format, so adopting it now satisfies every instrument.
How to use this
Build one signature that satisfies your own state, have your broker approve it, and use it everywhere — including on your phone, which is where the required elements usually get dropped. Where a state’s position is genuinely unresolved, the individual guides say so rather than inventing a requirement.
Method: each state was researched against its own statutes, administrative code and regulator publications, with a URL recorded for every claim and an explicit list of anything that could not be verified. Where a regulator’s guidance conflicts with its own rules, both are reported. Nothing here is drawn from secondary summaries. Verified September 2026 — advertising rules change, so confirm with your broker or your state commission before relying on any of it.
One signature, built to your state's rule
Autograph builds the signature once with the elements your state requires at the sizes it requires, installs it into Apple Mail in one click, and sets up your iPhone by QR code — because the mobile signature is where the required elements usually get dropped.
Download Autograph free See the templatesCommon questions
Which states require a real estate license number in advertising?
Only California and Nevada outright. California requires an eight-digit DRE number set no smaller than the smallest type in the material; Nevada requires the number with its S., B. or BS. prefix but sets no size rule. Oregon requires one only if you advertise under a registered alternative name. No other state in this comparison requires it.
Which states require my broker's phone number in my email signature?
Six: Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Maryland and New Jersey are triggered specifically by your email address appearing, and Missouri by your own name appearing — so all three always apply to a signature block. Michigan and New York accept an address as an alternative to a phone number.
Do any states actually mention email signatures in the rules?
Two. Colorado and Tennessee both use the phrase “email signatures” in their definitions of advertising. Louisiana goes further in substance without using the phrase, listing five items that must appear “on the first or last page of all communications”. A further twelve states name email as an advertising medium.
Is there one signature that works in every state?
Close to it. Include your name as licensed, your brokerage’s full name as registered, and your broker’s telephone number, and you satisfy the great majority of these rules. Add your licence number if you are in California or Nevada. The remaining variation is mostly about relative size, team names, and a handful of state-specific items — which is what the individual guides cover.
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