Question 1

Do you have to tell open house visitors you represent the seller?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and Maryland writes the open house into the statute itself. In a residential transaction, Section 17-530 says a licensee holding a property open to the public complies with the disclosure requirement of that section by displaying, in a conspicuous manner, a notice to prospective buyers or lessees that the licensee present on the property represents the seller or lessor, and the same paragraph makes the Commission prepare and provide that notice. So use the Commission's open house sign and put it where visitors read it walking in, not on a side table behind the food. For anyone whose first contact with you is not the open house itself, the same section still requires the written disclosure no later than the first scheduled face to face contact, and where that first contact is not face to face, a seller's agent has to disclose through the medium in which the contact occurs that they represent the seller or lessor.

Question 2

Can you call or text a visitor after the open house?

Accepted Answer

Picking up the phone yourself and calling back a visitor who asked you to is one thing. Feeding the sign-in list into an autodialer or a system that plays a recorded message is another, and Maryland Commercial Law 14-4502 bars a telephone solicitation involving an automated system for the selection or dialing of telephone numbers, or the playing of a recorded message when the call connects, without the called party's prior express written consent. The same section also bars a solicitation call to someone between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. in that person's time zone, and more than three calls to the same person in a 24 hour period on the same subject matter. The consent the statute asks for is prior, express and written, so if automated follow up is part of your plan, the consent line belongs on the sign-in form itself and has to be collected before the first automated call goes out.

Question 3

Does an open house visitor need to sign a buyer agreement?

Accepted Answer

Not to walk through the house. The Commission's own agency disclosure form tells buyers that if they are viewing a property and have not signed a Brokerage Agreement, that agent represents the seller, so touring a visitor around your listing does not make you their agent. The same form is equally blunt in the other direction: a buyer who wishes to have an agent represent them must enter into a written brokerage agreement. So keep helping visitors through the house as the seller's agent, and treat that written agreement as the line you cross before you start evaluating properties for one of them, preparing their offer, or negotiating in their best interest.

Question 4

Is what a visitor tells you at the sign-in confidential?

Accepted Answer

No, and the Commission prints the warning for you. Its open house sign tells visitors on its face that any information they give the agent conducting the open house is not considered confidential under the Maryland Real Estate Brokers Act and could be disclosed to the seller of the property. The same sign tells them the agent conducting the open house represents the sellers and is required by law to promote the sellers' interests. That cuts both ways. You are free to pass what a visitor tells you to your seller, and you must never promise a visitor that what they say stays with you. Post the sign so it is read before anyone reaches the sign-in screen, and keep your questions to things you would repeat to the owner without flinching.

Open house rules for Maryland agents

Do you have to tell open house visitors you represent the seller?

Can you call or text a visitor after the open house?

Does an open house visitor need to sign a buyer agreement?

Is what a visitor tells you at the sign-in confidential?

How this page is put together

Open house rules where you also work

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