Advertising policies
The short version: everyone pays for a space, dates, a format, and a tier; every campaign is reviewed before it goes live; rejected campaigns are refunded in full, no questions asked. The rest of this page spells out exactly what each of those words means.
Who can advertise
Any of the kinds below can create an account and run a campaign — most of our advertisers are independent agents and solo contractors, not agencies, so there's no minimum spend or contract.
- · Real estate agents (including independent / solo agents)
- · Builders & developers
- · Brokerages
- · Vendors (lenders, insurance, home services)
- · Graphic designers
- · Print shops
Location & size
Every sellable spot on the site, and who it's open to.
| Space | Location | Size | Open to |
|---|---|---|---|
| RE News Hero | Top banner on the daily Bay Area RE News page (formerly the homepage) | 1200×300px | Real estate agents, Builders & developers, Brokerages |
| Market Trends Sidebar | Alongside Bay Area trend charts | 300×250px | Real estate agents, Builders & developers, Brokerages, Vendors |
| Pro Directory Banner | Header on professional search | 1200×200px | Real estate agents, Builders & developers, Brokerages |
| Builder Showcase | New construction institutional cards | 800×500px | Builders & developers |
| Home Care Knowledge | Below the home-care category grid | Flexible (fits its section) | Vendors |
| e Business Card Page | Below the card layout selector | Flexible (fits its section) | Graphic designers, Print shops |
| Homepage Bottom Row | Below "More on the network", near the footer | Flexible (fits its section) | Real estate agents, Builders & developers, Brokerages, Vendors |
| New Listings Banner | Above the MLS listings browser | 1200×200px | Real estate agents, Builders & developers, Brokerages, Vendors |
| Network & Marketplace Banner | Header on OffMarket & FSBO Net and Consumer Guides | 1200×200px | Real estate agents, Builders & developers, Brokerages, Vendors |
Ad types (formats)
- · Image banner — your own creative image
- · Text link — a short headline that links out, no image
- · Promo card — image + project details (price, city, units, completion)
Not every space accepts every format — see the "open to" column above, or the per-space list on the Pricing page.
Tiers
Tier is a price multiplier, not a quality gate — pick the one that matches how much reach you want:
- · Standard — base rate. Good default for most agents and vendors.
- · Premium — costs more, same placement, priority when a space shows several ads at once (list/grid spaces).
- · Institutional — highest priority in shared spaces; meant for builders and brokerages running larger campaigns.
Scheduling & exclusivity — will my ad actually run on my dates?
It depends on the kind of space, and this is the one policy worth reading closely:
- · Exclusive spaces(currently the homepage/News hero and the Pro Directory banner — single ad shown at a time) are booked like a calendar. The first campaign paid for a given date range holds it; anyone else requesting an overlapping range is blocked at checkout and asked to pick a different window. Once you've paid, that window is yours — no one can outbid or bump you off it later.
- · Shared spaces(sidebar, showcase grids, category pages) show several campaigns at once. Your date range there means "eligible to appear," not "sole occupant" — if more advertisers are active than fit on screen, tier decides who's shown, with same-tier ties rotating day to day so no one is buried permanently.
- · Pausing an active campaign (via the dashboard's Active/Paused toggle) does not free up its dates on an exclusive space — your booking still holds the window even while paused.
- · If review takes longer than expected and your approval lands after your original start date, we shift your whole window forward so you still get every day you paid for — you never lose days to review delays.
Review & refunds
- · You're charged when you submit — not when it's approved.
- · Every campaign is checked by a person before it goes live.
- · Rejected campaigns are refunded in full, automatically, back to your ad balance.
- · No misleading claims, and no content that impersonates another business or agent.
- · Real estate license numbers (DRE#) must belong to the submitting advertiser.
Creative requirements
- · Images: JPEG, PNG, WebP, or GIF, up to 8 MB.
- · Match the space's listed size where one is given — oversized images are cropped to fit.
Notifications
Creating an account gets you an in-app notifications inbox (the bell icon on the dashboard) that tells you when a campaign is submitted, approved, or rejected; when it's about to start or end; and if your ad balance is running low. No account, no notifications — this is also why an account is required to submit a campaign in the first place.