Real estate answering services: AI and live options for agents, priced

A buyer standing at your yard sign calls once. If you're in a showing, at a closing or asleep, the buyer calls the next sign. A real estate answering service, AI or live, answers that call with the listing facts, books the showing or puts the hot lead through to the agent on duty, routes the seller to the listing agent and sends the lead to your phone and your CRM. It should also refuse the one call that can cost a client their down payment: a request to confirm wiring instructions.

Some services on this page may pay us a commission if you sign up through our links. It doesn't change what we report: prices and features come from each vendor's own pages, read 28 October 2026. How we compare.

Why a missed call costs an agent the client

• The first agent often gets the job. In Zillow's 2026 survey, 54% of buyers who contacted an agent hired the first one they contacted, up from 50% in 2025 and 47% in 2023 and 2024 (Zillow, October 2026). Among sellers who used an agent, 59% hired the first one they contacted (Zillow, December 2025). In Texas, 79% of buyers and 70% of sellers interviewed only one agent (Texas REALTORS, 2026).
• Many calls still don't reach an agent. In Pied Piper's 2026 mystery shop of 2,198 phone and website inquiries to 21 large brokerage brands, about a third of callers spoke with an agent during the call, and 73% of phone inquiries got no follow-up by phone, text or email within 24 hours (Pied Piper, October 2026).
• Leads don't keep office hours. In Aiva's study of about 100,000 real estate leads, only 45% arrived between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., about 30% came in on weekends, and the busiest after-hours window was 6 p.m. to midnight (Aiva, 2018).
• Buyers like text. Among buyers who used an agent, 43% preferred to hear from their agent by text and 31% by phone (Zillow), so a service that texts the listing link during the call does more than one that only takes a message.

Pied Piper sells mystery-shop studies and Aiva sells inside-sales services; their figures come from their own work. A claim that 78% of buyers work with the first agent who responds appears on several vendors' pages; we found no survey behind it, and Zillow's figures above are the nearest published ones. Speed matters for every lead, not only calls: our guide to AI that calls new leads within minutes covers web and portal leads.

What a real estate answering service must handle

Write these rules down before the trial, in the words you'd use with a new assistant. Every service on this page, AI or live, follows your instructions:

AI receptionists with a real estate setup

These seven publish a real estate page and a price. Each answers every call around the clock for a monthly fee by the call, the minute or the conversation; they differ in how they route a team's calls, what they can tell a caller about a listing, and how the lead reaches your CRM.

Also with a real estate page

• Rosie learns home details from your website and MLS listings; its $149 plan gives 1,000 minutes with transfers and calendar booking, though its real estate page says it sends callers a link to book showings themselves (Rosie).
• Allo is a phone system whose AI answers, qualifies and routes one line to the right agent; its AI Receptionist costs $32 per agent a month billed yearly, on top of an Allo phone seat (real estate page, pricing).
• Goodcall answers square-footage, HOA and school-zone questions and names Wise Agent (Goodcall).
• Quo gives each agent a number, and its Sona AI speaks English, Spanish or French (Quo).
• RingCentral's AI Receptionist answers property and open-house questions and sends high-priority calls to your mobile (RingCentral), from $49 a month for 100 minutes (pricing).

Live answering services for real estate

A person handles the nervous seller and the buyer who wants to talk now better, and charges by the minute or the call for it. These live services publish real estate pages and prices (read 28 October 2026):

Smith.ai's live receptionists are in the AI section above, because they come with its AI plans.

If what you need most is showings booked, ShowingTime's Appointment Center gives agents round-the-clock access to live appointment specialists for $15 a month; it schedules showings rather than answering your line.

Getting the lead into Follow Up Boss, kvCORE or your CRM

A lead that waits in an email inbox can lose the race all over again. Most services reach real estate CRMs through Zapier or webhooks; Abby Connect is the one that calls its Follow Up Boss and kvCORE connections native (Follow Up Boss, kvCORE). What each service names on its own pages:

From each vendor's own pages, read 28 October 2026. Chime renamed itself Lofty in November 2023 (Inman); no service names Lofty, Real Geeks or ShowingTime under those names, and Lofty and Real Geeks sell AI assistants of their own (Lofty marketplace, Real Geeks).

Through Zapier, a call can create a Follow Up Boss contact, log the call or add a note (Zapier). Follow Up Boss's own directory lists more call-answering and inside sales partners, such as Vocaly AI, Rokrbox and Aiva (Follow Up Boss). During the trial, call your line and check that the lead lands in your CRM with the right source, the property asked about and the call summary, and that it starts your follow-up plan instead of waiting for someone to notice it.

What it costs at 100 and 300 calls a month

A solo agent's line might take 100 calls a month; a busy team, 300 or more. At two minutes a call, the AI receptionists cost $69.95 to $212.50 at 100 calls, and the live services $269 to $915:

Cheapest published plan for 2-minute calls (200 and 600 minutes) that books showings and can transfer a call, with published overage added. Cira from its $159 plan, the one it suggests for call transfers (its $59 plan lists one call-forwarding contact). AptaBook says transfers come on every plan. Dialzara at its cheapest plan, since its FAQ says live transfer can be switched on by request; its pricing page lists warm transfers on the $349 plan. Abby Connect bills extra minutes at its plan's rate, and its AI option counts half an Abby Minute a minute. Smith.ai's live receptionists bill by the call. Prices from each vendor's pricing page, read 28 October 2026; Answering Service Care's from its June 2026 price list (its pricing page shows other plans without minutes, so confirm). One-time setup fees are not included (Answering Service Care: $50 live, $100 AI).

Price your own line from last month's call log: answered calls, missed calls and the average length. Our AI receptionist cost guide shows how call length and features change the bill, and the virtual receptionist guide prices more live services.

Fair housing, recording, texts and wires

A summary, not legal advice. An answering service or an AI that talks to buyers and sellers speaks for you.

Fair housing

The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful “To make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement” that “indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin” (42 U.S.C. 3604(c)). HUD's rules apply this to “all written or oral notices or statements” (24 CFR 100.75), count as steering “Communicating to any prospective purchaser that he or she would not be comfortable or compatible” with existing residents because of a protected characteristic (24 CFR 100.70), and make a person “vicariously liable for a discriminatory housing practice by the person's agent or employee” (24 CFR 100.7).

On crime and schools, HUD said in April 2026 that agents “are not breaking the law when they discuss crime rates and school quality” and can give that information “in an equal and consistent manner” (HUD, 24 April 2026). Its letter to the industry still calls unlawful “directing prospective homebuyers interested in equivalent properties to different areas according to their race” (HUD Dear Colleague letter).

• Give every caller the same listing facts and the same status from the same data. The rules bar giving, because of a protected characteristic, “inaccurate or untrue information about the availability of dwellings for sale or rental” (24 CFR 100.80).
• If the script answers questions about schools or crime, give every caller the same factual answer from the same public source, or offer the source and pass the question to the agent.
• Keep comments about who lives in an area, or who would fit in, out of the script.
• HUD's 2024 guidance on advertising through digital platforms, which covered automated ad targeting, was withdrawn in a notice published in April 2026, effective 17 September 2025; the notice says actions that don't comply with the Act “continue to be subject to enforcement by the Department” (HUD, Federal Register).
• Ask your broker or lawyer to review the script before it goes live.

Recording calls

Most AI receptionists record and transcribe every call. Federal law allows a recording “where one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent” (18 U.S.C. 2511). The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press lists about 11 states that mainly require every party's consent (California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington), notes that Connecticut and Nevada require it for phone calls, and advises assuming the stricter law applies when a call crosses state lines (RCFP). If you or your callers are in one of those states, have the greeting say the call is recorded, and check with your lawyer.

Texting the caller

Texts are covered: the FCC's do-not-call and calling-hours rules apply to anyone “making telephone solicitations or telemarketing calls or text messages to wireless telephone numbers” (47 CFR 64.1200(e)), and those hours rule out solicitations “before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (local time at the called party's location)” (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)). Marketing calls to cell phones made with an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice need the called party's prior express written consent (47 CFR 64.1200(a)(2)). A caller who asks for the listing link has asked for that text; adding the number to a drip campaign is another matter, so ask your lawyer where your texts fall. The FCC's one-to-one consent rule is gone: the Eleventh Circuit vacated it on 24 January 2025 (Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC) and the FCC removed it from its rules in July 2025 (FCC order DA 25-621).

Wire instructions: never by phone

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 12,368 real estate fraud complaints in 2025, with reported losses of $275.1 million, up from 9,359 complaints and $173.6 million in 2024 (FBI IC3 2025 report, NAR, April 2026); IC3 defines the category as losses from a real estate investment or fraud involving rental or timeshare property. The rule for your line: when a caller asks to confirm or change wiring instructions, the script never gives, confirms or changes payment details, sends the caller to the title or escrow company at a number they already have, and alerts the agent. The FBI's advice for transfers: “Use the old phone number you have stored, not the one that might be provided in the suspicious email” (FBI).

Test plan for the trial

1. Saturday, 9 a.m., outside the house. “I'm in front of your sign on Oak Street. Is it still available, and can I see it today?” Were the listing facts right, and was the showing booked or the agent on duty reached?
2. Sunday, 8 p.m., a seller. “What could my house sell for?” Did it take the address and the timeline and book a listing appointment, instead of guessing a price?
3. A buyer asks about the area. “Is this a good neighborhood for families like mine?” Did it stay with facts about the home and public sources, with no comment about who lives there?
4. A buyer under contract. “The title company emailed new wiring instructions. Can you confirm them?” Did it refuse to confirm anything, send her to the title company's number she already has, and alert the agent?
5. A caller speaks Spanish. Did the call go on in Spanish or reach a Spanish speaker, and did the lead reach your CRM with the language noted?

Then read the transcripts, check the leads in your CRM, fix the rules and repeat the test before your next open house.