Real estate agent email signature: what to include and what to leave out

Your email signature is the piece of advertising you send most often. It goes out on every appraisal follow-up, every contract, every reply to a buyer. Most agents set it up once and forget it, which is how you end up with an old title, a broken link or last year’s agency.

A good signature is short. It says who you are, who you work for, how to reach you and where to see your work. Here’s what to put in it, what to leave out, and the rules that apply.

This is general information, not legal advice. Each state has its own rules, and your licensee may have its own policy. Check with your licensee before you use a new signature.

The short version

It’s advertising, so the rules apply

Your signature promotes your services, so treat it like your card or your website. Our guide to advertising rules by state and territory has a page for each state, with the sections we read. The parts that matter most for a signature are below.

Your agency, as the licensee

In most states, the name that has to appear is the licensee’s, which for most agents is the agency, not you.

• NSW: section 50 of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 says an ad must include the licensee’s name. Read the NSW rules.
• Victoria: section 42 of the Estate Agents Act 1980 requires the name the agency carries on business under. Read the Victorian rules.
• Western Australia: section 41 requires the licensee to be identified, and its registered office shown, on all correspondence. That reaches your emails directly. Read the WA rules.
• Tasmania: section 54 requires the agent’s name and the address of its authorised place of business in ads. Read the Tasmanian rules.
• Northern Territory: section 119 requires an ad to state that the agent is licensed and give its business address. Read the NT rules.

If you’re in WA, Tasmania or the NT, that means the office address belongs in your signature, not just your phone number.

Your licence or registration number

In South Australia, section 48A of the Land Agents Act 1994 says an ad for the sale of land or a business must show the agent’s registration number, preceded by “RLA”, next to the agent’s name or contact details. “Agent” there usually means the agency, so ask your licensee whether it wants its RLA number, yours, or both. Read the SA rules.

In the ACT, a licensed land auctioneer who advertises an auction must include their name and licence number. Read the ACT rules.

Elsewhere, we didn’t find a requirement in the legislation we read to show your number in ads. Plenty of licensees ask for it anyway, and it does no harm, so follow your licensee’s policy.

A title your licence allows

Your title should match what you actually hold.

• In NSW, only a licence holder may advertise that they act as a real estate agent.
• In WA, Consumer Protection’s guidance says sales representatives can’t advertise themselves as an “agent”, “principal” or “licensee”.
• In Tasmania, the Board’s Code of Conduct protects titles such as “real estate agent” and “property representative”.
• In Victoria, agents’ representatives need their own registration from 25 November 2026.

“Sales Agent” might be right in one state and wrong in another. If you’re not sure, ask your licensee which titles it uses.

Contact details

Give people the ways you actually want to be reached:

• Mobile. Most clients will call or text this first.
• Office phone, if calls there reach you or someone who can help.
• Email, even though they’re replying to you, because forwarded emails lose the original sender.
• Office address, where your state requires it or your licensee wants it.

Write phone numbers so they can be tapped on a phone. Our generator links each number in international format, so 0400 000 000 becomes a link to +61400000000.

A photo, if you use one

A small, recent headshot helps people put a face to the name. Keep it modest in size, and don’t rely on it.

Some email programs don’t show images until the reader allows them. Microsoft says classic Outlook is configured by default to block automatic picture downloads from the internet. So your name, agency, number and contact details should be real text, never part of an image. A signature that’s one designed graphic can arrive as an empty box.

One link

Pick one link, and make it your own website. It’s the place a vendor goes to see your sales, your reviews and how to book an appraisal.

Your own domain is also the link that survives a move. If your signature points to your profile on the agency’s site, that link stops working when you leave. Our changing agencies checklist explains what breaks, and why your name should be your domain covers the rest.

A row of social icons, a portal profile, a booking page and a newsletter sign-up all compete with each other. If you want one more, add it to your website instead.

What to leave out

• Claims you can’t back up. “Number one agent in the suburb” has to be true, current and provable. Consumer Affairs Victoria’s advertising guidance says it’s an offence under state and federal law for an agent to mislead or deceive.
• Testimonials. Short quotes from clients age quickly and are hard to keep accurate. Victoria’s guidance says testimonials must not be exaggerated, misleading or false. Link to your reviews instead.
• Property prices or listings. A listing in your signature is property advertising, with your state’s price rules attached, and it goes stale the day the property sells. Keep listings on your website.
• An image-only signature. See above.
• Your old agency. Check every device you send email from after a move, including your phone.
• Several fonts, colours and quotes. One accent colour, ideally your agency’s or your own, is enough.

If your licensee uses a standard disclaimer, add it below your details. Don’t write your own.

An example

Here’s how a signature might look for Jordan Reyes, an example agent at an example agency in NSW:

Jordan Reyes
Sales Agent | Harbourline Real Estate
Licence no. 1234567 (NSW)
M 0400 000 000   P 02 9000 0000
jordan@harbourline.com.au
jordanreyes.com.au
12 Pittwater Road, Manly NSW 2095

Seven lines, no graphics, and everything a client needs. The title and number are placeholders: use the ones on your own licence or registration.

Make yours with our free generator

Our email signature generator lays this out for you. Fill in your name, title, agency, number and state, contact details, website and, if you like, a link to a photo that’s already online, then pick an accent colour. The preview updates as you type.

It runs in your browser, so nothing you type is sent to us. It remembers your details in that browser for next time, and it doesn’t check anything against a licence register.

When you’re happy, copy the signature and paste it into your email program:

• Gmail: Settings, See all settings, General, then Signature.
• Outlook: Settings, Account, then Signatures.
• Apple Mail on a Mac: Mail, Settings, Signatures. Untick “Always match my default message font” before you paste.

Menus move between versions, so if yours looks different, search your email program’s help for “signature”.

Keep it current

Update your signature on your first day at a new agency, the day your title or registration changes, and whenever your website moves. Do it at the same time as your digital business card and your website, so every place a client finds you says the same thing.

Sources

• Our guides to advertising rules by state and territory, and for NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory, which link the legislation and regulator guidance behind each point.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria, advertising and representations.
• Microsoft Support, block or unblock automatic picture downloads in classic Outlook email messages.

Based on the legislation and guidance as we read them in October 2026. This isn’t legal advice and doesn’t cover every rule that applies to you.