Question 1

Who do you represent at an Alaska open house, and when do you have to say so?

Accepted Answer

Alaska ties the paperwork to what you do, not to the event. Hosting the open house and answering questions about the property is not specific assistance, so on its own it triggers nothing. The moment you cross into specific assistance, which Alaska defines as asking questions regarding confidential information, showing pieces of real estate selected for that buyer's specific needs or desires, preparing a written offer, or entering into a personal services contract, two things are due first: a copy of the pamphlet the commission produces that outlines the duties of the types of licensee relationships, and a document the visitor signs that discloses your relationship with them. Separately, if you are representing the seller and a visitor tells you they are interested in buying the place, Alaska makes you obtain their written consent to act as a neutral licensee before you show them the real estate, and that consent has to be on its own separate form entitled Waiver of Right To Be Represented.

Question 2

Can you call or text an Alaska open house visitor afterwards?

Accepted Answer

Calling a visitor to pitch your services is a telephone solicitation in Alaska, and it puts you in violation of the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act if their number is on the national do not call registry, or if they have already told you or the brokerage you are calling for that they do not want solicitations at that number. The exemption Alaska gives you is narrow, and it is the one that matters at an open house: a call made in response to a request or inquiry by the called customer is not a telephone solicitation at all. That makes the follow-up permission you capture on the sign-in sheet the thing worth keeping, so record it, timestamp it, and keep it with the lead. Alaska separately makes it a violation to originate a call using an automated or recorded message as an advertisement or a solicitation, so no prerecorded blasts to a sign-in list.

Question 3

Does an Alaska open house visitor have to sign a buyer agreement?

Accepted Answer

Alaska says in as many words that hosting an open house is not specific assistance, so a visitor walking through triggers nothing, and nothing in Alaska's licensee relationship statutes requires them to sign a buyer agreement at the door. Casual conversation about real estate, providing information about a piece of real estate, and setting an initial appointment to show one are all carved out the same way. What flips it is the next step: asking questions regarding confidential information, showing property selected for that buyer's specific needs, preparing a written offer, or entering into a personal services contract, which Alaska defines to include a fee agreement with a buyer. Because entering into that fee agreement is itself specific assistance, the signed relationship disclosure has to come first and the fee agreement second, never the other way round.

Question 4

How long do you keep an Alaska open house sign-in list, and who controls it?

Accepted Answer

Alaska does not regulate open house sign-in sheets by name, so a visitor's details fall under your brokerage's records duties instead. Your broker has to keep a complete record for three years of every real estate transaction the broker or the broker's licensees engaged in, and the statute sets the clock explicitly: it begins at the initiation of a transaction and runs until three years after the listing agreement ends or the sales transaction closes or otherwise ends. So whatever you captured from a visitor who goes on to buy belongs in the broker's file for that long. Alaska also requires your broker to adopt a written policy manual, and two of the things it has to address are maintaining confidentiality within the office for all transactions and how a single licensee represents one party while providing specific assistance to an unrepresented party in the same transaction, which is exactly the open house situation. The practical version: run your digital sign-in list and your lead list past your broker instead of keeping them as a personal side system.

Open house rules for Alaska agents

Who do you represent at an Alaska open house, and when do you have to say so?

Can you call or text an Alaska open house visitor afterwards?

Does an Alaska open house visitor have to sign a buyer agreement?

How long do you keep an Alaska open house sign-in list, and who controls it?

How this page is put together

Open house rules where you also work

Your disclosure text, on the screen, at every open house