Washington (WA) · Open house rules

Open house rules for Washington agents

What Washington asks of an agent at the door: the agency pamphlet and the written statement of whom you represent, why keeping your own call list makes the solicitation statute land on you personally, when the services agreement is due, and the thirty day breach notice on a sign-in list.

Last reviewed September 1, 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 Washington 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 Washington.

When do you tell an open house visitor who you represent?

Washington answers this with two things owed to a visitor who has no agent of their own: the state agency pamphlet and a written statement of whom you represent. RCW 18.86.030 makes it a duty a broker cannot waive to provide the pamphlet prescribed by RCW 18.86.120 and obtain an acknowledgment of receipt, and for a party not represented by a broker the deadline is before that party signs an offer or as soon as reasonably practical. The same section requires you to disclose in writing whether you represent the buyer, the seller, or both as a limited dual agent, set out in a separate paragraph titled Agency Disclosure. At the door that means keeping pamphlets on the sign-in table and saying you are the seller's agent out loud, because the statute fixes the paperwork deadline but nothing stops the sentence coming first.

To provide a pamphlet in the form prescribed by RCW 18.86.120 and obtain an acknowledgment of receipt by the party. The pamphlet shall be provided to: (i) Any party to whom the broker renders real estate brokerage services as soon as reasonably practical but before the party signs a services agreement; and (ii) Any party not represented by a broker in a transaction before the party signs an offer or as soon as reasonably practical
Washington RCW 18.86.030, Duties of broker (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on September 1, 2026

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

Washington's telephone solicitation statute counts each real estate agent who keeps a separate call list as a company in its own right, so RCW 80.36.390 lands on you personally and not just on your brokerage. Calling a visitor back about the home they just asked about is a call made in response to their own inquiry, which that section places outside the definition of telephone solicitation. A later prospecting call to the same number is a solicitation, and then you owe them your name, your company and the purpose within the first 30 seconds, a calling window of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at their local time, a check against the federal do not call registry, and removal from your lists for at least a year if they ask. Texting is the harder channel, because RCW 19.190.060 bars a person conducting business in the state from sending a commercial text message to a Washington cell number and promoting real property is exactly what that term covers, so ask at the door how they want to hear from you and keep marketing to email or a return call.

For purposes of this section, each individual real estate agent or insurance agent who maintains a separate list from other individual real estate or insurance agents shall be treated as a company or organization.
Washington RCW 80.36.390, Telephone solicitation (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on September 1, 2026

Does a visitor have to sign a buyer agreement before you show them through?

Washington put the written agreement in statute rather than leaving it to association forms. RCW 18.86.020 requires a firm to enter a services agreement with its principal before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, its appointed broker starts rendering real estate brokerage services to that person, and a buyer's version of that agreement has to carry a term with a 60 day default, checkbox options for an exclusive or nonexclusive relationship, and separately initialed consent to any limited dual agency. Hosting your own listing is not that moment: the same section makes you the buyer's agent only where your firm has not appointed you to represent the seller, and at your open house it has. The line to watch is the point where you start working for the visitor rather than the seller, because from there the default in RCW 18.86.020(1) is that you are their agent and the written agreement is owed.

A firm must enter into a services agreement with the principal before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, its appointed broker commences rendering real estate brokerage services to, or on behalf of, the principal.
Washington RCW 18.86.020, Agency relationship and services agreement (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on September 1, 2026

What do you owe a visitor whose details you keep?

In Washington the duty scales with how much you ask for. RCW 19.255.010 requires a business that owns data including personal information to tell affected Washington residents when that data is breached and was not secured, and the notice has to go out no more than thirty calendar days after the breach was discovered. Personal information is defined at RCW 19.255.005 as a name combined with something like a driver's license number or a full date of birth, so a sign-in kept to name, phone and email falls outside it while a sheet that also copies a driver's license does not. That is the practical argument for asking for less at the door, and for keeping what you do collect in an access controlled account rather than on a clipboard that leaves with whoever picks it up.

Notification to affected consumers under this section must be made in the most expedient time possible, without unreasonable delay, and no more than thirty calendar days after the breach was discovered
Washington RCW 19.255.010, Personal information and notice of security breaches (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on September 1, 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 Washington expects of you.

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