Going straight to the listing agent is legal and normal
You can contact the listing agent directly in California: call or email them, ask questions, request a showing, and submit your written offer without hiring a buyer's agent. The Department of Real Estate lists buying unrepresented and disclosed dual agency as buyer options. The listing agent works for the seller, so they owe you honesty and material facts, not loyalty or advice.
There's no velvet rope here. The DRE's consumer alert on representation changes, issued November 14, 2024 and amended December 12, 2024, spells out a buyer's choices, and two of them involve no buyer's agent at all: proceed with the purchase unrepresented, or approach the seller's agent about disclosed dual agency. If you want the whole journey mapped first, start with the full guide to buying without an agent.
This post is the playbook for the direct conversation itself: what the listing agent owes you, what to keep to yourself, and five scripts you can copy. They're written for real phone calls and real inboxes, not a courtroom.
What the listing agent owes you, and what they don't
California Civil Code section 2079.16, the agency disclosure language buyers eventually see in every deal, says a seller's agent owes duties to both parties, not just the client: reasonable skill and care, honest and fair dealing and good faith, and disclosure of all facts known to the agent that materially affect the value or desirability of the property. Civil Code section 2079 adds one more, a diligent visual inspection of one-to-four unit residential property with a written disclosure of what that inspection reveals.
You don't need a signed agreement to get any of that. Here's what you don't get: loyalty, confidentiality, or advice. The listing agent's fiduciary duty runs to the seller alone, and nothing they do for you changes whose side they're on.
That's not a reason to avoid them. It's a reason to be precise. Ask for facts, documents, access, and process: disclosures, reports, showing times, offer instructions, known defects. Don't ask whether the price is fair or what the seller might take. The self-represented buyer rights guide walks that boundary in detail.
The showing-access reality
Time for the honest part. No law forces a listing agent to give any particular buyer a private showing. If an agent has brushed off your showing request because you don't have your own agent, that's the gap you ran into: private showings are discretionary.
Paperwork isn't the barrier, though. NAR's consumer guidance says visiting an open house on your own requires no signed buyer agreement, and the sign-before-touring rule is MLS policy that applies when an agent is working with you as your buyer's agent, identifying properties and arranging tours. California's AB 2992 runs on a different clock entirely: an agent who represents a buyer needs a signed representation agreement no later than the execution of the buyer's offer. Stay unrepresented and neither rule gives you anything to sign. Even the open-house sign-in sheet acknowledging that the host represents the seller is common practice, not an agency agreement.
And discretion cuts your way more often than not. The listing agent's job is selling this house, and showing it to a ready buyer serves their client. Make yourself the lowest-effort yes on their calendar:
- Ask for a specific day and offer two or three time windows.
- Say you're self-represented up front, so nobody wonders whose client you are.
- Take the open house when one is scheduled. No appointment, no signature, no friction.
- Signal that you're ready to act: if the house fits, a complete written offer follows.
Written offers must be presented
Showings are discretionary. Presenting written offers isn't. The National Association of REALTORS Code of Ethics tells agents to submit offers and counter-offers objectively and as quickly as possible (Standard of Practice 1-6), and to keep submitting them until closing unless the seller has waived that in writing (Standard of Practice 1-7).
California adds teeth. In Simone v. McKee, a 1956 appellate case, concealing offers from the seller was treated as deceit, and DRE guidance treats keeping offers secret as a license violation. A listing agent can shrug at your showing request. They can't shrug at your signed offer.
Two practical upgrades. First, make it a real written offer: under Civil Code section 1624, a contract for the sale of real property is invalid unless it's in writing and signed, so a number floated over the phone binds nobody and carries no presentation duty with it. Second, ask for proof: the standard California purchase agreement includes a mechanism where, on the buyer's written request, the seller's agent confirms in writing that the offer was presented to the seller. Script 4 builds in that ask, and the offer guide covers assembling the packet itself.
The BNA form: what signing it actually means
Expect paperwork early: many listing agents ask unrepresented buyers to sign C.A.R. Form BNA, the Buyer Non-Agency Agreement. It isn't a trap and it isn't a commitment. It documents, in writing, the arrangement you already chose. What it says:
- The seller's broker does not represent you. Everything they do, even things that assist you, is for the seller's benefit exclusively.
- Any information you reveal to the seller's broker may be conveyed to the seller. That's the most useful sentence on the page. Believe it.
- You keep the right to bring in your own agent or attorney at any time.
- Commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable.
The line the BNA doesn't move
Signing the BNA doesn't erase the statutory duties above. Honesty, good faith, and material-fact disclosure all survive it. And a form doesn't settle everything: post-settlement guidance to listing agents says to provide the forms needed to complete the transaction but not to fill in the buyer's substantive terms, because dual agency turns on conduct, not just paperwork.
Which raises the real fork in the road. If you want the listing agent's full help writing and negotiating your offer, that's disclosed dual agency, agreed to in writing by you and the seller, and it changes both what they owe you and what they're barred from repeating. The dual agency guide covers when that trade makes sense.
Never reveal these three things
Every conversation with the listing agent is potentially a conversation with the seller. The BNA says so in plain terms, and the statutory contrast makes it stick: in a disclosed dual agency, Civil Code section 2079.21 bars the agent from telling the seller you're willing to pay more than your offer without your express permission. Unrepresented, no statute shields what you volunteer. Your discretion is the shield.
Share your written terms, your attached proof, and your process questions. Keep these three:
- Your ceiling. The most expensive sentence in real estate is: we could probably go up to X. Never name your maximum.
- Your urgency. Lease ending, school year starting, relocation date looming. Timeline pressure is leverage, handed over for free.
- Your motivation. We've lost three houses already, or, this is the one. That tells the seller exactly how hard to push.
Script 1: first contact
Now the scripts. Each one states self-representation clearly, asks for something concrete, and gives nothing away. Script 1 opens the channel and gets process facts, by call or email:
- Hi, I'm [name]. I'm interested in [property address], and I'm a self-represented buyer, so you'll be working with me directly rather than through a buyer's agent.
- How is the seller handling offers? Is there a deadline, or are they reviewed as they come in?
- Is the disclosure packet available yet? I'd like to review it early.
- What's the best way to reach you going forward, email or phone?
Script 2: the showing request
One clear ask, multiple windows, an open-house fallback. You're making yes the easiest word in their day:
- I'd like to see [property address] in person. I'm self-represented, so I'm asking you as the listing agent, not asking you to represent me.
- I could do [weekday] after [time], [Saturday] morning, or [Sunday] afternoon, whichever is easiest for you.
- If a private showing is hard to schedule this week, is there an open house coming up?
- I'm a serious buyer. If the house fits, I'll follow up with a complete written offer.
Script 3: the open-house follow-up
Send this the same evening, while the host still remembers faces. It converts a handshake into a paper trail:
- Thanks for hosting the open house at [property address] today. I'm [name], the self-represented buyer who asked about [the roof, the addition, the parking].
- I'm interested. Could you send the disclosure packet and any inspection reports that are ready?
- How does the seller want offers submitted, and is there a deadline?
- This email is the best place to send documents. My cell is [number] if a call is faster.
Script 4: the offer submission email
The email that carries your offer packet is a cover letter for a clean file: everything the agent needs to present it fast, plus the written ask that gets you proof of presentation:
- Subject: Offer for [property address] - [your name].
- Attached is my complete offer package for [property address]. I'm a self-represented buyer.
- Summary: [price], [financing or cash], [deposit], [closing timeline], [contingencies], with proof of funds and pre-approval attached.
- Please confirm receipt. And once the offer has been presented to the seller, please confirm that in writing as well.
- Happy to clarify any term by email or phone. Thanks for presenting it.
Script 5: the competing-offers ask
If there's no offer deadline, add one more paragraph to that same email. It costs nothing, the agent doesn't have to agree, and many will, because keeping a motivated buyer warm serves the seller too. Either way, your request now travels with your offer, in writing:
- One request: since there's no set deadline, if the seller receives another offer before deciding on mine, please let me know before the seller signs anything.
- I can respond to a counter quickly.
- I'm including this request here so we both have it in writing.
How Ohvii helps
Ohvii is built for the direct route. Paste the listing link and it pulls the property facts, nearby sold comps, and, best effort, the listing agent's contact details, and a contacts panel keeps the escrow officer, inspector, and everyone else on the deal in one place. The assistant can draft every email above for your review, replies and likely counters get flagged on the tracked thread, and when a counter lands you can accept it, counter back with a fresh signed form, or ask the assistant to explain what changed first. Nothing sends without your approval. Ohvii isn't your agent, attorney, or negotiator, and it never decides what to offer. The conversation, and the decisions, stay yours.
Questions buyers ask
Can I call the listing agent to see a house without my own agent?
Yes. The listing agent works for the seller, and showing the home serves their client. Asking them for a showing does not make them your agent, and open houses require no signature at all. Just remember that anything you reveal can reach the seller.
Does the listing agent have to show me the house?
No law forces a private showing for any particular buyer. Open houses are the easy path, since they need no appointment and no buyer agreement. A specific, flexible, clearly serious request gets most doors open, because selling the house is the listing agent's job.
Does the listing agent have to present my offer to the seller?
Effectively yes, once it is in writing. REALTOR ethics standards require offers to be submitted objectively and as quickly as possible until closing, unless the seller has waived that in writing. California case law treats concealing offers as deceit, and you can request written confirmation that yours was presented.
What is the BNA form, and is it safe to sign?
The Buyer Non-Agency Agreement documents that the listing agent does not represent you, which is the arrangement you already chose. It does not remove their duties of honesty, good faith, and disclosure of known material facts. Its most useful line is the warning that anything you tell them may be passed to the seller.
Can the listing agent tell the seller my maximum budget?
If you are unrepresented, yes. They work for the seller, and no confidentiality duty protects what you volunteer. Only a disclosed dual agent is barred by Civil Code section 2079.21 from sharing your willingness to pay more without express permission. The fix is simple: never say your ceiling out loud.
Is a verbal offer to the listing agent binding?
No. Under Civil Code section 1624, a contract for the sale of real property must be in writing and signed. A number floated on the phone binds nobody and does not carry the presentation duty that a written offer does. Put it in writing.