Real Estate, it is a bit OFF.

Real estate runs pretty much the opposite of the average work schedule of 9am-5pm. A lot of property is shown in the evenings, weekends and on holidays.

So, when you are going to be getting involved in a real estate transaction, you need to make sure that all parties in your “team” will be available on OFF hours.

I don’t necessarily work every day, but I do check my email and phone constantly.

I went out of town to the Bahamas for four days, and I checked my email in the morning and evening, and checked voicemail once a day.

And it is not to say that a REALTOR® doesn’t deserve some time off. If someone you are working with is out of town or unavailable, they should have a backup for you to contact, when you can’t reach them.

This isn’t just true for REALTORS®, it goes for mortgage lenders as well. When you just saw a property at 7pm at night and you need to know the numbers, you need to make sure that you can get ahold of your mortgage lender with ease.

Here is an example of what NOT to have in a lender.

This year (2015), July 4 fell on a Saturday, so many people took off on a Friday. My buyer took off on the Friday, so her and I could see properties (again, realtors working on an OFF time schedule). She had gone to her financial advisor at Morgan Stanley (locally) who gave her a contact from their bank to get preapproved by.

She found a property that she liked, but we had to get an updated pre approval letter to submit with the offer. It was 11am on a Friday and I emailed her banker. I called the banker as well, which went directly to voicemail. (The voicemail message and emails did not indicate anything about her not being available for the holiday.)

Oh, and another thing, this banker had a 1-800 number and when I googled her, I found out that she was in New Jersey. We emailed another contact she had at Morgan Stanley, who called us back to tell us that we won’t hear anything from the banker until Monday, since the banks are closed.

Sunday night at 10pm I got an email response from the banker saying, “We were closed on Friday and I am NOT supposed to be working on the weekends.  I checked my email late tonight and sent the letter.  I normally would not be able to do that.”

(This is a good example of why I don’t recommend banks as lenders.)

Here is the best advice I can give you when shopping for a mortgage lender or REALTOR®.

-Make sure they are giving you their personal cell number.

-Make sure they are local, and are familiar with the local real estate market.

-Make sure they can be reached after hours and on weekends.

I am not by any means telling you that you should expect your REALTOR® or mortgage lender to be available 24-7, but they should be pretty available, and you need to inquire about that when you begin working with them.