Agents share other agents' listings all the time. A weekend roundup of open houses. A story featuring a house you toured. A carousel of homes in a neighborhood you work in. It builds your profile as a local expert, and it can feel like a friendly gesture to a colleague.
The Illinois rules treat it more carefully than the casual habit suggests. This article walks through the passages that bear on the question, what they ask for, and how to design the post so that the permission and identification are part of it.
This is not legal advice. Rules change, and your brokerage may have stricter policies of its own. Confirm anything that matters with your managing broker before you rely on it.
The core rule
Section 1450.715 of the Illinois Administrative Code, Title 68, Part 1450 is titled Advertising. Subsection (a) lists examples of deceptive and misleading advertising. The first is:
"Advertising property subject to an exclusive listing agreement with a sponsoring broker, other than the licensee's sponsoring broker, without the permission and identification of the sponsoring broker with the exclusive listing."
Break that into its parts.
- The property is subject to an exclusive listing agreement. This is about listings held exclusively by a brokerage.
- The sponsoring broker is not yours. The rule applies when the listing belongs to a different brokerage from the one that sponsors you.
- Two things are missing in the problem case: permission and identification. The rule treats the advertising as misleading when it happens "without the permission and identification of the sponsoring broker with the exclusive listing."
Put plainly, if you advertise another brokerage's exclusive listing, you need that brokerage's permission, and the advertising must identify that brokerage.
Section 1450.720(b)(2) says the same for sponsoring brokers advertising online: the sponsoring broker seeking to advertise such a property "shall obtain permission from, and identify in the advertisement, the sponsoring broker with the exclusive listing."
Where social media fits
Section 1450.720 defines advertising or marketing real property to include using a website, digital platform or "any form of social media" to disseminate information about properties listed with a sponsoring broker, the identity of that sponsoring broker or the individual licensee for each property, and information related to those properties. A post featuring another agent's listing is information about a listed property on social media.
For a licensee advertising a property with permission, subsection (d) then lists what must appear where the advertising appears: your licensed name, or your team name, the city or geographic area and state of the property, the sponsoring broker's name, and the city and state of that broker's registered office or a link. Our article on Instagram and the advertising rules goes through that list.
The text of subsection (d) says "the sponsoring broker's name" and does not say whose. When the property belongs to another brokerage, the identification requirement in Section 1450.715(a)(1) points to the brokerage that holds the listing. A sensible reading is that a post should make clear who holds the listing and who you are. Ask your managing broker how the brokerage wants that handled, since it may have a standard format for third-party listings.
Copying versus linking
Two further passages in Section 1450.720 bear on the technique. Photo rights are covered in using listing photos after the sale.
Scraping or data mining
Subsection (a)(3) defines "Scraping or Data Mining" as "copying or extracting existing listing information or keywords from a website, digital platform, or any form of social media of another licensee and using or altering that material and posting or displaying it for the benefit of the general public on another digital platform, form of social media, or in front of a firewall on another website, without written or electronic permission and disclosure from the original listing licensee."
That definition describes exactly what happens when someone copies another agent's listing photographs and remarks into their own post. The definition turns on the absence of "written or electronic permission and disclosure from the original listing licensee." Treat that as a reason to get permission in writing, even if only in a message, and keep it.
Linking
Subsection (h) is more permissive. A sponsoring broker or other licensee "may link to listing information from another electronic or digital location without approval unless the owner of that electronic or digital location specifically requires consent." It then adds a limit: "Any link must not mislead or deceive the public as to the ownership of any listing information."
A link to the listing on the listing brokerage's site, presented as theirs, is a different thing from reposting the photographs as your own. If you link, make it plain whose listing it is.
A practical approach
The simplest way to stay on the right side is to treat another agent's listing as theirs to publish, and to offer help in a way that keeps the credit where it belongs.
Ask first, in writing
A short message is enough. The request should say what you plan to post, where, and how the listing brokerage will be identified. Keep the reply. A sample request:
I would like to feature your listing at [address or area] in a post on [platform]. I would credit [brokerage] and link to the listing page. Is that all right with you and your brokerage?
That covers permission and sets up the identification.
Credit on the image
Put the listing brokerage's name on the graphic as well as in the caption. A caption can be cropped. A name set into the image travels with it.
Keep your own identification
Your name, your sponsoring broker's name and the office city and state still belong on a post you make, as for any other advertising. The result is a graphic that carries two brokerage names: the listing brokerage, credited as the holder of the listing, and your own, as the source of the post. Design the lockup so that it is clear which is which.
Use a roundup template with a fixed credit line
If you do regular roundups, build a template where every property tile has a slot for the listing brokerage and the listing agent's permission status. It keeps the process honest at scale.
Your own team's listings
Listings from agents in your own brokerage are different, since the exclusivity is with your own sponsoring broker. Even so, your brokerage may have a policy about who may post what, and whether the listing agent must approve. Ask. A team-internal courtesy can prevent a lot of friction. Team naming is covered in Illinois real estate team names.
Sold and off-market posts
Pieces about closed sales are a separate topic with their own considerations. See our note on just sold posts. Off-market and private preview materials are subject to brokerage policy, so ask your managing broker before sharing any of them. Off-market materials are covered in private previews and off-market launches.
What the rules we read do not settle
The sections we read do not describe what form permission must take beyond the "written or electronic permission" phrase in the scraping definition, and they do not address every possible kind of share, such as a reshare feature built into a platform. If you are unsure whether a particular action counts as advertising, treat it as if it does, and ask your managing broker.
A short checklist
- Is the property under an exclusive listing held by a different brokerage?
- Do you have permission, in writing or electronically, to feature it?
- Is the listing brokerage identified on the image and in the caption?
- Does your own identification appear too: your name or team name, your brokerage, your office city and state?
- If you are linking rather than reposting, is the link plain about whose listing it is?
- Have you kept the permission message?
Sharing the work of others is good for the market and for your reputation, and it takes one extra step to do it properly. If you would like a roundup or feature template built with the credit lines in place, our social graphics work is where that sits.
Sources: Illinois Administrative Code, Title 68, Part 1450, Sections 1450.715 and 1450.720, as published on the Illinois General Assembly website (ilga.gov) and read on October 30, 2026.