Question 1

Who do you tell a visitor you represent?

Accepted Answer

Indiana starts from a presumption that catches open house hosts out at the door. Indiana Code 25-34.1-10-9.5 says a licensee has an agency relationship with, and is representing, the individual the licensee is working with, unless there is a written agreement to the contrary or the licensee is merely assisting that individual as a customer without compensation. At an open house you are working for the seller, so say that early, and keep what you do for a visitor inside that second exception: assisting them as a customer, without compensation from them. The same chapter, at 25-34.1-10-10, separately makes it a duty of a licensee representing a seller to disclose the nature of the agency relationship with the seller, and to redefine and disclose it if that relationship changes.

Question 2

Can you call or text a visitor afterwards?

Accepted Answer

Indiana's state Do Not Call law is Article 4.7 of the Indiana Code, Telephone Solicitation of Consumers. Indiana Code 24-4.7-1-1 says the article does not apply to a telephone call made by an individual licensed under IC 25-34.1, which is the real estate licensing article, if the sale of goods or services is not completed and payment is not required until after a face to face sales presentation. A call to an open house visitor to arrange a showing has exactly that shape, so as long as you are not closing a sale or taking payment on the call, the state list is usually not the thing standing between you and a follow up. Do not read the carve out wider than it is. The next section, 24-4.7-1-2, says the article does not relieve a person from complying with any other applicable law, so the federal telemarketing and texting rules sit on top of this untouched.

Question 3

Does a visitor have to sign a buyer agreement first?

Accepted Answer

Indiana wrote this into statute in 2024. Indiana Code 25-34.1-12-2 requires a buyer agency agreement, or any authority to represent a buyer or tenant, to show a definite date of expiration, to be in writing on paper or electronically, and to reach the buyer or tenant as a copy within three business days of signing. What triggers the requirement is authority to represent, not attendance, so nothing in it asks a visitor to sign anything before walking through a house you are hosting for the seller. The moment to stop and paper it is the moment you agree to act for that buyer instead of for your seller.

Question 4

What do you owe a visitor whose details you keep?

Accepted Answer

Indiana has no sign-in rule written for open houses, so the one that actually reaches your sheet is the disposal chapter, Indiana Code 24-4-14. Getting rid of a customer's unencrypted, unredacted personal information without shredding, incinerating, mutilating, erasing or otherwise rendering it unusable is an infraction, and the same chapter counts placing that information in a container for trash collection as getting rid of it. Personal information there is a defined term the chapter takes from Indiana's data breach law at 24-4.9-2-10, which reaches a Social Security number, or a name paired with a driver's license, state ID, credit card or financial account number, so a sheet holding only names, phone numbers and emails sits outside it. That is a good reason to ask for nothing more than those at the door, and to shred rather than bin any paper that ever carried more.

Open house rules for Indiana agents

Who do you tell a visitor you represent?

Can you call or text a visitor afterwards?

Does a visitor have to sign a buyer agreement first?

What do you owe a visitor whose details you keep?

How this page is put together

Open house rules where you also work

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