Question 1

When do you hand a visitor the agency disclosure?

Accepted Answer

North Carolina ties this to first substantial contact rather than to the event, and the Real Estate Commission says plainly that a broker's first substantial contact with a buyer or seller is sometimes in person, at the office or at an open house. Commission Rule 58A .0104(c) sets the duty: at that moment you give the visitor a copy of the Working with Real Estate Agents brochure, set your own name and license number on it, review it with them instead of just sliding it across the table, and determine whether you will act as the agent of the buyer or the seller. Hosting your own listing you are there for the seller, and the brochure is where you say that out loud. The Commission adds that signed copies should be retained for three years, so file or scan the one your visitor signs the same day.

Question 2

Can you call or text a visitor afterwards?

Accepted Answer

North Carolina runs its own Do Not Call statute alongside the federal rules. G.S. 75-102(a) bars a telephone solicitation to a number that appears in the latest edition of the Do Not Call Registry, and G.S. 75-103 sets out limited exceptions, including a call made with the subscriber's prior express invitation or permission and a call to someone the solicitor already has an established business relationship with. A stranger who wandered into your open house is neither of those until they hand you the permission themselves. That makes the sign-in screen the place to earn it: ask for follow-up permission in plain words at the door, and store the answer next to the number so the record of consent sits beside the phone you are about to dial.

Question 3

Does a visitor have to sign a buyer agreement first?

Accepted Answer

Not under the state rule, and not to walk through the house you are hosting. The North Carolina Real Estate Commission puts the state deadline at the offer, saying buyer agency agreements must be in writing and signed by the broker and client no later than the time of making an offer, and it notes the rule does not prohibit a broker from signing one earlier than that. So the Commission's own trigger is not the open house itself, it is the point where you and that visitor commit to working together. Your MLS or brokerage may impose an earlier written agreement requirement of its own, so check yours before you agree to show that visitor another home.

Question 4

What do you owe a visitor whose details you keep?

Accepted Answer

North Carolina handles the sign-in sheet under its general data rules rather than anything written for open houses. G.S. 75-64 reaches any business that conducts business in the state or possesses personal information of a North Carolina resident, and requires reasonable measures to protect that information from unauthorized access or use in connection with or after its disposal. The statute spells out what those measures include: burning, pulverizing or shredding paper so the information cannot practicably be read or reconstructed, destroying or erasing electronic media the same way, and describing those procedures as official policy in writing. A paper sign-in sheet that ends the day in a car and eventually in a trash can fails that, so decide up front how visitor details get destroyed, and apply the same deliberate step when you clear old leads out of a digital list.

Open house rules for North Carolina agents

When do you hand a visitor the agency disclosure?

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