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Advertising and Business Cards
Current and Proposed Real Estate Commission Rules
Information provided by REALTORS ® Association of Maui
What are the CURRENT rules?
(Rules in Effect Now)
Under the Hawai‘i Administrative Rules 16-99-11 (e), “All advertising and promotional materials that refer to
the individual licensee’s name, including but not limited to business cards, shall:
(1) Include the licensee's legal name, name as licensed by the commission, or sole proprietor's trade
name as licensed by the commission;
(2) Identify the licensee with the licensee's associating or employing brokerage firm; and
(3) Specify that the licensee is a broker (B), or salesperson (S), or if a current member of the Hawaii
Association of Realtors, Realtor (R) or Realtor-Associate (RA).”
What are the PROPOSED Rule Changes?
(Rules Not in Effect Now)
“All advertising and promotional materials that refer to the individual licensee’s name, including but not
limited to business cards, shall:
(1) Include the licensee’s legal name, name as licensed by the commission, or sole proprietor’s trade
name as licensed by the commission;
(2) Identify the licensee with the licensee’s associating or employing brokerage firm; and the font size
of the name of the brokerage firm shall be at least the same sized font as the licensee’s name; and
(3) Include the licensee’s license number as issued by the commission.”
Including your license number
Under this proposed change, the license number will need to be clearly indicated; example: RB-00000 if a
broker or RS-00000 if a salesperson. This will help to clarify the license type and where there may be
several licensees with the same name. Also, it adds professionalism to the industry by demonstrating
licensure.
When will this take effect?
There is no confirmed timeframe as to when this will go into effect. The Real Estate Commission is working
through the process of getting approvals on their proposed revision to the Rules. It is an extensive process,
as the Commission is working on changes to the entire Chapter 99.
I have to order more business cards (&/or other advertisements), what should I do now?
If you are planning to order business cards or other advertisements and plan to have them for a long period
of time, you may want to consider the following:
There is no restriction on including your license number on your current advertising and promotional
materials. However, as a word of caution, review the entire PROPOSED rule changes. Also, should
you plan to follow the proposed rules, please be aware that you must also follow the CURRENT rules.
QUESTIONS? Contact Judi at 808-270-4600 or Judi@RAMaui.com
~ See 2nd page for using the REALTOR ® term in your ADVERTISING ~
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Regardless of whether you follow REC’s current or proposed rules,
RAM recommends that you include
the REALTOR ® term in all of your advertising.
The purpose of the recommendation
is to
strengthen the use of the REALTOR ® term.
The REALTOR ® term is a privilege of membership
used to distinguish you from non-member licensees.
Note:
Contrary to the current wording of section 16-99-11(e)(3),
& pursuant to NAR’s Membership Marks Manual
“REALTOR ® ” should NOT be abbreviated
REALTOR ® is a registered collective membership mark
which may be used only by real estate professionals
who are members of the National Association of
REALTORS ® and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics.
All licensees, whether a broker or a salesperson,
who are members of RAM (& HAR/NAR) are REALTORS ®
(RAM does not have REALTOR-ASSOCIATES ® )
NAR’s Membership Marks Manual can be found at: http://www.realtor.org/letterlw.nsf/pages/TrademarkManual
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