Does word Realty in a business name get you in trouble?

[Cathy M.]

I'm wanting to start an LLC. The name I picked out has the word realty in it. I am not a licensed realtor. People are telling me I would get in trouble with the state real estate commission if I use the word realty or real estate in my business name. How in the world am I supposed to let people know what kind of business I have if the name does not imply I deal in real estate.

Would I in fact get in trouble with the state real estate commission if I use the word "realty" in my business? Isn't a business name supposed to let people know what kind of business you are?

[Russell Brazil]

Originally posted by @Edward B.:

@Chinmay J., I'm a licensed agent, not a Realtor, as well and I swear I saw it somewhere but I can't find it in the VA Real Estate Regulations nor Title 54.1 Ch 21 of the Code of VA so maybe your lawyer is right. I'll keep looking because it is gonna bug me until I find out for sure.

 It's very important to note that many things that are illegal are not found in the law as written by a legislative body. This information usually comes in the form of guidance memos issued by the appropriate government agency, so trying to search for something like this on the internet is typically not going to yield results. This extends not just to guidance memos from real estate commissions but from any government agency. The laymen though thinks that anything governed by law is found in the law as the legislature writes it, (which is easy to fund) but that's simply not the case. Also much of what is law is found in case law issued by the courts, which is also hard to find.