What a real estate agent's website must show in Oregon

Does a website count as advertising in Oregon?

• Yes, by name. Advertising includes all meaningful communication meant to attract the public to real estate services, and electronic media is defined to include websites, email, social media, mobile apps, the MLS and other online marketing. OAR 863-015-0125

  “Electronic media, including but not limited to multiple listing services, websites, email, social media, mobile apps, and other online marketing.”

What every advertisement must show

• The registered business name, as registered with the Agency, immediately noticeable in all advertising. OAR 863-015-0125

  “The registered business name, as registered with the Agency, shall be immediately noticeable in all advertising.”

• If the ad includes your name: your licensed name, a common derivative of your first name with your licensed last name, or an alternative name registered with the Agency together with your license number. OAR 863-015-0125

• The ad must be identifiable as advertising by a real estate licensee, and truthful, not deceptive or misleading. OAR 863-015-0125

Websites specifically

• A website's primary or home page must show your name (in one of the permitted forms) and the registered business name. OAR 863-015-0125

  “Advertising by a real estate broker or principal broker shall include on its primary or home page: (A) The licensee's name as required in section (3) of this rule; and (B) The registered business name as registered with the Agency.”

• Social media advertising is exempt from the home-page requirement if it links to the account profile page or another page that meets it. Sponsored search links are exempt if the first page after the link complies. OAR 863-015-0125

• An email or text is exempt from the home-page requirement if your first communication with that person carried the required information. OAR 863-015-0125

Team names

• You may advertise as a "team" or "group" if the name is not an unlawful trade name or deceptively similar to another business's name, the team includes at least one active licensee, all licensee members are associated with the same principal broker, and each member uses their name in a permitted form. OAR 863-015-0125

• If unlicensed people are named in team advertising, the ad must state clearly which people are licensees and which are not. OAR 863-015-0125

What gets agents in trouble

• A broker stating or implying they are a principal broker or responsible for operating the registered business; a principal broker implying they run a registered business they are not the authorised licensee for. OAR 863-015-0125

• Implying qualifications or a level of expertise you don't currently maintain. OAR 863-015-0125

• Guaranteeing future profits from any real estate activity. OAR 863-015-0125

• Advertising a property for sale, exchange or lease without the written permission of the owner(s) or their authorised agent. OAR 863-015-0125

Worth knowing

• A license number is required only if you advertise under an alternative name registered with the Agency; otherwise the rule does not require one. OAR 863-015-0125

How many agents this applies to

1,067 real estate agents were working in Oregon when we last counted, across 12 brokerage offices. That is agents with a live profile on a brokerage's own site, not everyone holding a licence, so it is the population these rules actually bind day to day. The Oregon brokerage directory breaks it down office by office. Counted 2026-10-07.

Sources

This page paraphrases the rules; the rules themselves are what bind you. Each was read on the date shown. If the Agency changes a rule, the page will lag until it is read again.

• OAR 863-015-0125 — Advertising — read 2026-10-07
• Regulator: Oregon Real Estate Agency

Not legal advice. When a rule and this page disagree, the rule wins; when in doubt, ask your broker or the Agency.

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