5.1 Online Advertising
As a general rule, if an Agent has ample room for Disclosure on a viewable page online, the Disclosure should be on the page. If there is no room on the viewable page, a link may be provided to the proper Disclosure.
Below is a list of disclosures required by the Real Estate Board and the new Standards of Practice recently clarified by the National Association of REALTORS®.
Online ads for a firm must have:
- Firm name;
- City and state of main office and all jurisdictions (usually states) in which the firm is presently licensed;
- Office phone number.
Online ads for a licensee (not a firm) must have:
- Licensee and firm name;
- City and state of the licensee’s office (not necessarily firm’s main office);
- Jurisdictions (usually states) in which the licensee holds a license, active or not;
- Office phone number.
Email Signature Format must include:
- Agent name;
- Firm name;
- Firm address;
- Agent contact phone number;
- Firm office number (required for MD, DC, and WV only);
- Agent email address;
- Website address.
Where Online Disclosures Should be Located
- Email: At the bottom of every message (i.e. in your signature line)
- Your Blog or Website: At the bottom of every page or within one click of the page the user is viewing
- Twitter: In your profile, so that it appears under your picture on your main page
- Facebook: At the bottom of every message or one click from the viewable page (often the “one-click rule is a challenge because Facebook doesn’t show your “About Me” information on your profile page)
- Image/video sharing (e.g. Interest, Flickr, YouTube): In the description of every video or picture