Realtors what hours days do you work?

[BoBromhal]

we should all - agent and buyer - set out our expectations of time needs and schedule when we sit down to make a plan. I don't go out of town often, but when I am, I arrange someone to cover for me. And my client knows who that is and what their number is. and the agent knows what the client is looking for, and is also on the lookout for it.

[luckeeesmom]

Maybe rather than asking him if he works weekends, ask him who you should contact as his backup to help you when he is out of town. Tell him you are afraid of missing the perfect home if it happens to come up while he is away and you need someone on call. If he can't guarantee or provide that, then look elsewhere.

[Brandon Hoffman]

I'm available 7 days a week. That doesn't mean I work 7 days a week though. It depends on appointments and when I need to take a break. I prefer to not work on Sat/Sun but I do when I'm too far behind or if someone books an appointment in advance.

[Koshka2]

As a recent buyer I knew there were times that my agent wasn't available either due to being scheduled with other clients or due to family obligations of her own. I know that she tried to take off 2 days (not consecutive) during the week (not on weekends) although sometimes would have to do work.

But -- I chose an agent that was part of a team. So - one time when I needed to see a house and she couldn't do it the head of the team showed the house to me. They worked together so she knew what we were looking for, etc. It worked fine. Being out of town and in a hot market you might be happier with an agent who works as part of a team or has someone that they consistently work with who can cover for them when out of town.

[oldtrader]

It depends on what type of real estate an agent/broker sells, and the type of client that they work with.

I spent from 1972, until I finally retired as an investment real estate broker. I ran a one man office, and my wife who was also a broker, university trained para legal, acted as my office manager. We ran a 9 to 5, 5 day a week operation, very rarely working other hours or on weekends. I worked with a good stable to investors, several of them working in foreign countries. I handled them more like a stock broker, buying, selling and exchanging real estate for them over and over.

I only sold 6 homes for personal use, and those were to help friends. On the other hand, my best day selling houses, was to sell 14 in one afternoon on the telephone. 13 were in a 13 unit to be build small subdivision, plus one home that needed selling that day to avoid repossession. One buyer took 5 homes, and no one bought less than 2 homes.

First day in the business, I sold a small 2 year old apartment house, to a former co worker. Fourth day in the business, sold the identical unit next door to another investor. The following week, I exchanged a 16 unit apartment house as the down payment on a large farm. Those two weeks, I did more business dollar wise, than all but a couple of top people in town did in a year. From then on I was off and running.

Over the years, I did some developing of multi family housing, commercial, housing tracts sold out to investors, etc. All property was not local, and exchanged real estate for other real estate which often involved multiple states, and property as far away as Costa Rica, and Belize. I and my office were featured in the Realtors Magazine, and was a regular writer for 2 of the best professional real estate business magazines.

Showing property after property to potential buyers, and in many cases not making a sale, was something I would never have done. I averaged less than 1.5 showings per sale. My overseas clients, may have owned a property for a year or longer before they came to the United States on vacation. Transactions were numerous times, witnessed by American Embassy people including
American Ambassadors.

If I was going to sell homes for personal use and land parcels, I would never have even considered going into the real estate business, and worked the crazy hours and days that the average Realtor works, or the public expects them to work. My phone number was the office phone, available 9-5, 5 days a week, with weekends off.

Of course I had a head start, as I spent the prior year before going into the business, taking classes on real estate, and investments at a major university, plus a couple of private classes that were outstanding. I also had 16 years of sales experience, so knew how to find clients and how to develop business.

The idea that an agent, should be available to be reached by potential buyers for property, 24/7, as some of the posters expect, to me was nuts. Of course I worked with the kind of people in top positions such as oil company executives, doctors, and higher income people with extra money to invest. The type of professionals, that worked professional hours, and respected those of us that did the same in my business.