Everyone asks it, and everyone knows the answer is frequently a polite lie from someone protecting themselves in a stranger's living room. The question they use instead doesn't mention agents at all.
On a live coaching call, a Florida agent says her team threw out the question everybody asks at an open house. This is the one they use instead:
"Who is the local expert you are working with?"
She says the answer tells her what she needs either way: We a lot of times get crickets… that one line just makes them go, 'Oh, well, I don't have one.' Or they go, 'Oh, well, it's so-and-so.' And it takes a minute to get a name.
"Do you have an agent?" is a yes/no question, and a stranger says yes to it reflexively, as a defense. Asking who instead of whether removes the escape hatch — they either produce a name or admit there isn't one, and the pause before the answer tells you as much as the answer does.
Calling that person "the local expert" also quietly sets a standard the absent agent may not meet. Check your state's agency disclosure timing before you change anything.