Ask the REALTOR: Can I look at open houses on my own, or do I need to go with my agent?

Ask the REALTOR® is a regular video series in which I answer your most commonly-asked real estate questions, with a new Q&A posting every week. If YOU have a real estate question for me, drop me a note here.

This week’s question: Can I look at open houses on my own, or do I need to go with my agent? Here’s the answer in this brief video, and don’t miss the transcript below.

Transcript:

Hi. This is Cari McGee with Keller Williams Realty. Welcome to this week’s episode of “Ask The Realtor.” Every week, I answer questions from buyers and sellers, and pretty much everyone in between, regarding real estate.

This week’s question is, “May I go looking at open houses on my own, or do I need to go with my agent?”

You can absolutely go looking at open houses on your own. It is recommended, however, that you be prepared to give your agent’s name and number away to whomever is holding the house open. For example, some agents I know will give their clients business cards, and will instruct their clients to present that to the agent that’s holding the house open, and say, you know, “My name is so-and-so, and I’m coming in to look. I am being represented in my home search by X.” And that way the agent knows that you are not someone that they can try to obtain as a client, because you’re already spoken for. You’re being represented by another agent.

So, by all means, though, have fun looking at houses and open houses around you, if you care to, and just make sure that you make the agent who is holding the house open aware that you are being represented by someone else.

Hope that answers the question, and I hope you have a fantastic week. Talk to you next week. If you have any real estate questions for me, by all means reach out via any of the methods on the following screen. Thanks. Bye, bye.