Michigan (MI) · Open house rules

Open house rules for Michigan agents

What Michigan expects when you hold a house open: the agency disclosure owed before a visitor tells you anything confidential, when a follow-up call needs permission first, whether a visitor signs a buyer agreement, and which visitor records must be destroyed.

Last reviewed August 31, 2026Every claim links to a primary source

This is not legal advice

We are software people, not lawyers. This page is a plain reading of public Michigan sources, gathered so you can go read them yourself. Rules change, and how any rule applies to your situation is a question for your broker, your association, or an attorney licensed in Michigan.

Who do you tell an open house visitor you represent?

At an open house on your own listing you are the seller's agent, and every visitor walking in is a potential buyer you have not disclosed to yet. Michigan fixes the timing to a moment rather than a milestone. The disclosure is owed before that visitor tells you anything confidential about themselves, which at an open house is usually inside the first minute of conversation. The Occupational Code prints the form in full, "Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationships", with a Seller's Agent box for you to check. Hand it over at the door, before they tell you their budget or why they need to move, not after.

A licensee shall disclose to a potential buyer or seller in a real estate transaction all types of agency relationships available and the licensee's duties that each agency relationship creates before the disclosure by the potential buyer or seller to the licensee of any confidential information specific to that potential buyer or seller.
Michigan Occupational Code, MCL 339.2517 (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on August 31, 2026

Can you call a visitor after the open house?

Michigan's telephone solicitation rules turn on permission given in advance. The Home Solicitation Sales Act carves a call out of the definition of a telephone solicitation entirely when the person invited or permitted it before you dialed, so the most valuable thing on a sign-in sheet is not the phone number, it is a visitor who has actually agreed to be called. Put a plain opt-in on the form, ask visitors to check it, and keep that answer attached to the lead so you can show it later. The carve-out is written for voice calls to residential subscribers, so treat texting and email as separate questions.

Telephone solicitation does not include any of the following: (i) A voice communication to a residential telephone subscriber with that subscriber's express invitation or permission prior to the voice communication.
Michigan Home Solicitation Sales Act, MCL 445.111 (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on August 31, 2026

Do you need a written buyer agreement with an open house visitor?

No, not to let them walk through. Michigan Realtors answered this one directly: the written buyer agreement requirement attaches to an agent working with a buyer, and an agent hosting an open house is working for the seller, so opening the door and showing an unrepresented visitor around does not oblige you to sign anything with them first. The same guidance names the two events that do trigger it, working with the buyer, meaning providing brokerage services to them, and touring a home, including virtual tours. So the agreement gets signed before you take that visitor out to see anything, not later in the deal.

No. Written agreements are only required for agents “working with a buyer.” An agent hosting an open house is working on behalf of the seller – not the buyer – and would not be obligated to enter into a written agreement with the buyer before showing the property.
Michigan Realtors, MICHIGAN REALTOR magazine, August 2024 (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on August 31, 2026

What are your duties for the visitor list you keep?

The Michigan rule that reaches an open house sign-in list is the Identity Theft Protection Act's disposal duty, and it fires on a narrow slice of what you collect. The Act defines personal information as a first name or initial and last name linked to a Social Security number, a driver license or state ID number, or a financial account number together with the code that unlocks it. That is what you are holding the moment you photograph a visitor's driver license at the door, or keep a document they hand you that shows one of those numbers. Once that data comes out of your working list and you are not keeping it elsewhere for a lawful purpose, you have to destroy it rather than let it sit, and destroy means shredding or erasing it so it cannot be read, deciphered or reconstructed. Give those records a retention window and clear the exports, spreadsheets and phone photos when it expires.

a person or agency that maintains a database that includes personal information regarding multiple individuals shall destroy any data that contain personal information concerning an individual when that data is removed from the database and the person or agency is not retaining the data elsewhere for another purpose not prohibited by state or federal law
Michigan Identity Theft Protection Act, MCL 445.63 and 445.72a (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on August 31, 2026

How this page is put together

  • Every claim above carries a link to a primary source, plus the exact words from that source that support it. If a claim cannot be quoted, it is not on this page.
  • Each claim shows the date a human last opened that link and confirmed the quote still says what it says.
  • We only cover what we could source. A topic you were hoping to find may be one we have not confirmed yet, so treat this as a starting point rather than a complete list of everything Michigan expects of you.

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