The Inspired Agent Academy · St. Petersburg

Module 1 · Start here · Lesson 1 of 10 · free to read

How to use this course

General education, not legal advice. Ask your broker.

General education, not legal advice. Ask your broker.

This workshop is a map, not a rulebook. It points to the places where marketing and the law meet, explains the general idea of each, and shows you where to stop and ask. It is not a licensing course and it is not legal advice. Rules change, and how they apply depends on the facts.

Your broker is responsible for supervising your advertising and is the first person to ask. Your broker may send the hard ones to an attorney, a lender's compliance team, or your MLS. That is the system working, not failing.

What we'll cover

  • Your brokerage's name in your advertising.
  • Fair housing: words, images and ad targeting.
  • Honest claims: square footage, "sold," "number one," borrowed photos and virtual staging.
  • Credit terms in ads, and when a lender should review them.
  • Calls, texts and consent.
  • Your own pre-publish checklist.

Three habits to start today

  1. Describe the property, never the people. This one habit prevents most fair housing trouble in copy.
  2. Show your brokerage. Every ad, every time, in the way your broker asks.
  3. When in doubt, ask before you post. A question costs a minute. A takedown costs more.

You'll notice the lessons say "generally" and "in most cases" a lot. That is on purpose. This is the honest shape of the subject, and it is why the last step is always the same.

Before this goes live, would you mind taking a look? I want to make sure it's right.
Try it now

Write down your broker's preferred way to ask a marketing question (email, a channel, a form). Save it where you draft your posts.

Check yourself · not graded

What is this course?

When you're unsure about an ad, what's the habit?

← Course page

Module 1 · Start here · Lesson 2 of 10 · free to read

Your brokerage's name, in every ad

General education, not legal advice. Ask your broker.

In Florida, the rule on advertising generally requires the licensed name of the brokerage firm to appear in real estate advertising. The rule is Florida Administrative Code 61J2-10.025. The idea behind it is simple: anyone who sees the ad should be able to tell which licensed brokerage stands behind it.

Where it shows up

  • Listing posts and stories on social media.
  • Your profile pages and link-in-bio pages.
  • Flyers, property stories, postcards, door hangers, signs.
  • Paid ads, video, email newsletters and your website.

Your broker will tell you exactly how the name should appear (size, placement, the precise wording) and how your office handles formats with little room, like a short video.

Team and personal names

Team names and personal brands are common. What they generally cannot do is mislead: a team name should not look like a separate brokerage, and it should not overshadow the brokerage in a way that confuses the public about who they are dealing with. Words that suggest a separate firm, like "Realty" or "Group" in a team name, are worth a conversation with your broker first.

Before and after

BeforeAfter
A reel with your name and phone number onlyThe same reel with the brokerage name in the caption and on the end card, as your broker directs
A team logo on a postcard, brokerage in tiny grey type on the backBrokerage name clearly visible, in the placement your broker requires
Try it now

Scroll your last ten posts. Could a stranger tell which brokerage each one comes from? Note any that need fixing and ask your broker how they'd like it done.

Check yourself · not graded

What generally must appear in your real estate advertising in Florida?

What's the concern with a team name?

← Back

End of the free chapter

That was chapter one. There is more waiting.

Thank you for reading. Here is what the rest of Ads Without Regrets: Marketing Law & Fair Housing covers.

Module 2 With enrollment

Fair housing in advertising

  • Describe the property, never the people
  • Images, ad targeting and the logo
Module 3 With enrollment

Honest claims

  • Square footage, "sold" and "number one"
  • Other people's listings, photos and virtual staging
Module 4 With enrollment

Money and messages

  • Credit terms in ads: when to call a lender
  • Calls, texts and consent
Module 5 With enrollment

Your pre-publish checklist

  • Build your pre-publish checklist
  • Your first week

The rest of the course

Enrollment opening soon. Join the list.

You have the first chapter. The remaining 4 modules and 8 lessons open with enrollment. Join the list and Cara will write to you once, when enrollment opens.

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Included for Inspired Nooks Realty agents. See the brokerage →

Free from start to finish, meanwhile