WV RECW. Va. C.S.R. 174-1-17Read at the source
Real estate advertising rules in West Virginia
Each advertisement must carry the company name, the responsible broker's name followed by the term Broker, the physical address of a licensed office and a phone number. Those company and broker names must be no less than half the size of the associate, salesperson or team name.
What has to be on the post
- the licensed name of your brokerage
- a phone number or address for the BROKERAGE itself, not your personal mobile
W. Va. C.S.R. 174-1-17 is a SIZE rule, not just a mention: the brokerage name must be drawn at least 50% the size of the largest agent contact text in the ad. A layout that satisfies a lighter state fails here.
The part that is easy to get wrong
West Virginia is the only state read that asks for a PHYSICAL office address on the piece. Fill in the brokerage address field, not just the phone.
The numbers, in one place
| 2 | requirements WV REC puts on the ad itself |
|---|---|
| 51 | US jurisdictions LOKAL carries, read at the source |
| 15 | of them set a text SIZE rule, not just a mention |
| 2 | require the licence number on the advertisement |
| 50 % | the minimum size of the broker name against yours here |
| 2026 | the year this rule was last read at the source |
| 29 % | of US jurisdictions turn this into a measurable size rule |
| 14,853 | US markets LOKAL can pre-fill, down to the ZIP code |
| $29 | a month for the tool that checks this before you post |
A worked example, and why one template cannot do it
Two states contradict each other outright, and it is the clearest case study of why this matters. Texas asks for the broker name at 50 % of the largest agent contact text; Illinois asks for 100 %. A layout built for Texas is therefore non-compliant in Illinois, and the difference is not a missing word but a font size. That result is only visible if something measures the pixels after drawing them, which is what LOKAL does before you post, using the 50 % West Virginia requires.
Where this comes from
WV REC, W. Va. C.S.R. 174-1-17. Read the rule at the source
Your state regulator is not the only one with a say. These federal sources apply on top of W. Va. C.S.R. 174-1-17, and no state commission will remind you of them:
- HUD, fair housing advertising and marketing
- FTC endorsement guides, for posts that carry a claim
- CFPB, when a post mentions rates or financing
LOKAL reproduces published regulator guidance and checks what it draws against it. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace your broker's review.
LOKAL checks this on the image, not on a form.
Pick your market, set your signature once, and LOKAL measures what it actually drew against W. Va. C.S.R. 174-1-17 before you post. It carries all 51 US jurisdictions.
Open the generator for West VirginiaOther jurisdictions
Questions
- What must appear on a real estate ad in West Virginia?
- Under W. Va. C.S.R. 174-1-17, WV REC requires the licensed name of your brokerage; a phone number or address for the BROKERAGE itself, not your personal mobile. Each advertisement must carry the company name, the responsible broker's name followed by the term Broker, the physical address of a licensed office and a phone number. Those company and broker names must be no less than half the size of the associate, salesperson or team name.
- Does a social media post count as advertising in West Virginia?
- WV REC writes its rule for advertising in any medium, and a market-update post that invites contact is advertising. The safest place for the disclosures is inside the image itself, because a caption can be truncated and a bio can be missed.
- Is there a size requirement in West Virginia?
- W. Va. C.S.R. 174-1-17 is a SIZE rule, not just a mention: the brokerage name must be drawn at least 50% the size of the largest agent contact text in the ad. A layout that satisfies a lighter state fails here.
- Anything easy to get wrong in West Virginia?
- West Virginia is the only state read that asks for a PHYSICAL office address on the piece. Fill in the brokerage address field, not just the phone.
How this page is written and checked
Written by the engineering team at INEYA Studio, the software studio that builds LOKAL. The West Virginia rule on this page was read at WV REC's own published text in 2026, not summarised from a third party.
It is checked automatically on every build against the compliance table the product itself applies: W. Va. C.S.R. 174-1-17 appears on this page only because LOKAL enforces exactly that rule when it draws your image. A page that claimed a requirement the product does not check would fail the build.
Reviewed by the engineering team at INEYA Studio on 2026-09-17, and re-checked automatically on every deployment. Found something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.