In an industry driven by personal contacts and sales, real estate business cards can make the difference in closing the deal. A business card bolsters one-on-one interactions, ensuring potential clients walk away with contact details to go along with your personal impression. But an effectively designed business card goes even further. It conveys personality, professionalism and attention to detail — all traits clients want to associate with their realtor.
But crafting a business card design that stands out from the stack is no small task. It pays to learn from the successes of excellent real estate business cards — which is why we’ve collected 28 of our favorite examples.
What information should go on real estate business cards
A real estate business card design begins with its informational content. Once you connect with a graphic designer (or build your own business card), the challenge comes down to arranging that information in the most effective and visually pleasing way.
Design by HYPdesign via 99designs by Vista
Although there are a number of common elements most real estate business cards include, the specifics depend on the needs of your particular business. The purpose of your card will ultimately be your guide.
Here are the basic goals of a real estate business card:
- To communicate who you are and what sets you apart from your competitors
- To communicate contact information quickly and legibly
- To communicate professionalism
Any information or graphic design elements that are not serving these goals should not be included in your business card. With that said, the following are some of the more common elements you’ll want to include:
- Personal branding: Convey who you are through words and visuals, including your name, professional title, area of expertise, logo, brand colors and brand fonts.
- Professional credentials: Be sure to display your official accreditations or certifications for specific markets, like your residential, commercial, international or property manager certificates.
- Contact information: Although it’s helpful to give clients multiple ways to contact you, don’t overwhelm them with options. Stick to the most relevant, like your business address and phone number, website, email and social accounts.
- Optional: While the following are not strictly necessary, they can enhance the look of your card and its persuasive potential. Consider including a professional headshot, supporting graphics and illustrations, a QR code consolidating your digital contact info, a tagline and/or call-to-action.
Design by Adi Bustaman via 99designs by Vista
28 realtor business card designs
Traditional and minimalist real estate business cards
Traditional business cards follow some variation of a standard layout: the logo, brand name and any accompanying graphics are displayed on the left side while the personal name and contact details are balanced on the right.
While this arrangement is not especially creative, it has the advantage of getting straight to the point — perfect for busy clients seeking information. On the visual level, traditional and minimalist business cards come across as professional, no-nonsense and sleek.
Design by sashadesigns via 99designs by Vista
Design by Shuma41 via 99designs by Vista
At the same time, there are subtle ways to put a creative spin on a traditional or minimalist business card. Consider altering the layout through a reversed, vertical or central alignment. Texture effects — like foil accents, embossed lettering, glossy finishes and specialty card stock — add tactile character to even the most standard layouts.
Design by Eastwind˙ via 99designs by Vista
Design by Heurisko™ Studio via 99designs by Vista
Design by 363color via 99designs by Vista
Personal brand-centered real estate business cards
Like the housing market itself, real estate is a competitive industry. A personal brand identity is how you stand out and convey your individuality and support consistency across your marketing materials. For real estate agencies or brokers, the most common logo types include pictorial logos, monograms (for initials) and wordmarks.
Design by Lasmare via 99designs by Vista
Design by me.ca via 99designs by Vista
There are a variety of ways real estate business cards can emphasize the personal brand, such as transforming the logo into a repeating pattern. This, like other graphical techniques, is often reserved for the back of the card, a large empty canvas perfect for reinforcing the brand. On the front of the card, a scaled-up version of the logo provides a large graphic to balance against the written content.
Design by Terry Bogard via 99designs by Vista
Design by MPStudio via 99designs by Vista
Photographs and headshots for real estate business cards
What’s more effective than a personal brand identity? Showcasing the person behind the brand. Headshots are an enormously popular inclusion on real estate business cards because they give a face to expensive business transactions requiring a great deal of trust.
Design by L I N S _ 2 0 1 0 via 99designs by Vista
Design by Arthean via 99designs by Vista
For headshots to convey professionalism, they require investment in professional photography, dress, hair and/or makeup. For that reason, good headshots show that brokers are willing to go the extra mile, even for handouts like business cards.
When it comes to displaying the photo, designers can crop it into a useful shape, like a circle, or replace the background with creative graphics. Additionally, the colors within the photos can be resampled for a unified business card color scheme. Headshots are also not the only photos real estate agents might consider — photography that showcases beautiful looking houses can tap into clients’ aspirations for their future property.
Design by Bondarovska via 99designs by Vista
Design by Tegonity via 99designs by Vista
Design by Prozmajevski via 99designs by Vista
Design by Shu Garbuglia via 99designs by Vista
Bold colors for real estate business cards
Color is one of most visceral tools of visual communication, and bold colors on real estate business cards foster an emotional connection without expensive photographs. A solid bright color on the back of the card creates a daring and strong impression even if the layout is not particularly innovative. On the other hand, a strategically placed accent color can make details like the personal name stand out.
Design by VERYGUT DESIGN via 99designs by Vista
Design by THINK… via 99designs by Vista
When it comes to choosing effective business card colors, take your cue from your logo design or the basics of color theory. Along those lines, blue is a popular choice because (according to color psychology) viewers associate it with trust and security — useful traits for a broker dealing in life-changing purchases. Warmer colors like red, yellow and orange create a welcoming, homey atmosphere, whereas green communicates rebirth, for clients looking forward to a fresh start.
Design by Terry Bogard via 99designs by Vista
Design by simplemachine via 99designs by Vista
Design by Logocentris™ via 99designs by Vista
Design by iggzy via 99designs by Vista
Abstract graphics and illustrations for real estate business cards
Although real estate business cards tend to be creatively constrained for the sake of professionalism, supporting graphics can go a long way in adding visual flair and personality. Abstract shapes are the most common graphics included, and they typically combine the brand colors with triangular polygons or flowing lines. Not only does this add a dynamic interpretation to the color scheme, it creates visual framing to guide the eye through the written content.
Design by Aleksandar Coric via 99designs by Vista
Design by Sanuri via 99designs by Vista
Although not as common, illustrations can massively charm less formal audiences. An illustrated headshot provides a creative twist on the more common photographic approach. A cartoon character or mascot, on the other hand, can be fun, quirky and approachable — all of which mitigate the stress of purchasing property. Keep in mind that illustrations can also come across as childish or unprofessional to the wrong crowd, so be sure to thoroughly research your target audience.
Design by maneka via 99designs by Vista
Design by D E S P O T I C via 99designs by Vista
Design by Martirep via 99designs by Vista
Design by Brands by Sam via 99designs by Vista
Looking for creative ideas? Check out these unique business cards that can help your business stand out.
Make the sale with a real estate business card
A real estate business card can be so much more than a container for your phone number. With a creative design, it shows your personality, conveys information in an easy-to-read way and reassures clients that their property purchases are in expert hands. When you’re just starting out, a customizable business card template can ground your design choices.
Need more ideas? Explore these stylish business card examples from simple and elegant to bold and colorful.
Realtor business card FAQ
What are the requirements for a real estate business card?
Regardless of industry, be sure to use standard business card dimensions and sizes. In the US, the standard size is 3.5″x 2″ — be sure to research sizing requirements in your specific region. In addition, business cards must contain an extra bleed margin, which is approximately 0.125 inches all around the card. Finally, all colors in the design file must be set to CMYK mode.
Should I use a template design for my real estate business card?
Business card templates are invaluable tools for real estate professionals. Because most business card designs (custom-made or not) are built on a standard layout, templates streamline the design process by eliminating the layout steps. And since realtors can customize templates with their own branded colors, fonts and other assets, it’s rarely obvious that a template was used.
Should I include a photo on my real estate business card?
A photo is not required on a real estate business card. Many realtors choose to include a professionally photographed headshot on their business card because it’s an extra branding touch that gives clients a face to put to the name. But realtors should note that photos contain complex color information, which can inflate printing costs. This can be mitigated through grayscale photos.
How much do real estate business cards cost?
When researching the cost of real estate business cards, buyers need to factor in two expenses: design and printing. The cost of design varies depending on the specific graphic designer, but a business card template generally provides a lower cost solution. Printing depends on the size of the card, the card material, the amount of color ink used, the number of cards printed and special touches like glosses, foils and embossing.
With Vistaprint, realtors can design and print business cards all in one place, the pricing model works out like this:
- Traditional starts at $17.99 per 100 cards
- Premium starts at $24.99 per 100 cards
- Deluxe starts at $33.99 per 100 cards
Additionally, there are pricing options for unique shapes, special finishes and different paper materials.
