Who is calling, and what do they need?
Buyers, sellers, tenants, and people calling about a property listing have different needs. Use familiar caller language and send each group to a team that can identify the property or next step.
Keep the top-level menu in the caller’s language. In Auto Attendant each option does one thing: it rings up to three phones one after another (each for 10 to 60 seconds, never together), takes a voicemail, or plays a message and hangs up. Point each option at the person, or the shared phone, that actually handles this call, and add a backup only where a missed call costs you.
How real estate brokerage calls actually go
Real estate calls are lead calls. A buyer calling about a listing, a seller asking for a valuation, and a renter asking about availability will often call three brokerages in ten minutes, and the one that answers or calls back first usually gets the conversation. Speed of response matters more here than almost anywhere, and a menu that makes the caller wait through five options works against it.
The structure that fits is simple: one key for people looking to buy or rent, one for people looking to sell, one for transactions already underway (closings, paperwork, showings). Agents work out of cars and open houses, so the buying and selling options are best pointed at the agent on duty that week rather than the listing agent on the sign, and voicemail transcripts let the team claim a lead from a phone.
Recommended menu
| Caller’s choice | Role to ring | What it does | Why this route |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Buying or selling a property | duty agent, then second agent | Rings up to 3 phones in turn, then voicemail | The agent on duty that week rings first, then a second agent, so a new caller is less likely to reach voicemail. |
| 2. Question about a listing | listing coordinator | Rings one phone | One coordinator can route the enquiry after learning which property it concerns. |
| 3. Existing transaction | transaction coordinator | Rings one phone | A single coordinator route is clear for a caller already under contract. |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Shaded text is a fill-in field: replace it with your own.
This example uses 3 menu options. Auto Attendant allows up to seven; add an option only when it sends a distinct kind of caller to a meaningfully different destination. A call that rings every phone you listed without an answer goes to voicemail. The menu can be in English, French or Spanish, and a line can also skip the menu and go straight to one action.
Greeting script
Business name. If you are buying or selling a property, press 1. For a question about a listing, press 2. If you have an existing transaction, press 3.
Shaded text is a fill-in field: replace it with your own.
28 words, about 11 seconds spoken at 150 words per minute. The estimate is calculated from the script above; allow extra time for pauses and clear delivery.
Read each reason before its key, as in “For a new enquiry, press 1”. Replace the shaded fields and any role or service wording before you type the greeting into the menu; a text-to-speech voice reads it to callers.
A worked example
Illustration: a six-agent brokerage offers 1 for buying or renting, 2 for selling, 3 for a transaction in progress. Options 1 and 2 ring the duty agent’s mobile. Option 3 rings the transaction coordinator. The voicemail asks for name, number, the property or neighbourhood, and when the caller is free. The duty rota changes weekly, the office points both options at the new duty agent each Monday, and the person on duty replies to every transcript within the stated window.
The classic mistake is routing everything to the listing agent shown on the sign. That agent is at a showing and loses calls for the whole team. A weekly duty agent solves it, but only if someone owns the rota and updates the menu.
After hours, weekends, and holidays
State the next staffed opening and accept a voicemail with the property or transaction reference. Calls are not forwarded after hours; if agents cover evenings, extend the hours on those days rather than promising an on-call contact.
Show when the office is staffed and whether listing enquiries are monitored. Keep holiday availability consistent with the people actually taking calls.
Outside the hours you set, Auto Attendant plays your closed message and then takes a voicemail or ends the call; it does not forward calls after hours, and holidays are closed all day. Where the advice above mentions an on-call route, either keep that person’s option within your set hours or give the arrangement in the closed message.
Check the greeting after every schedule change. A voicemail arrives by email with the recording attached and a transcript when one is produced, but it does not make the call live or guarantee a response time.
Rules and standards worth knowing
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of housing because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status or national origin, and its disability protections are in the same law 1. It also bars any notice, statement or advertisement that indicates a preference, limitation or discrimination on those grounds. A greeting is a public statement, so avoid describing the “kind of buyer” or “family” a property suits. HUD and the Department of Justice both publish plain-language summaries 23.
Many brokerages follow up on leads by text. Consent rules for automated calls and messages sit in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act 4. Auto Attendant places no outgoing calls or texts, but the follow-up your agents send afterwards is covered by the consent they obtained.
First-time buyers often ask what the process involves. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes a consumer guide to buying a house 5 that your team can point callers to instead of improvising on the phone. Licensing and brokerage rules are set by each state.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state and change; confirm anything that affects your business with the source or an adviser.
Common menu mistakes
- Listing individual agents who may be unavailable or no longer responsible.
- Using “sales” and “service” labels that do not map to property callers.
- Promising immediate listing answers when no one is watching the route.
Keep the greeting short, use the same names callers see elsewhere, and make sure every route has a sensible end when nobody picks up.
Check the menu before you publish it
- Assign an owner for the weekly duty rota and test the route before each week begins.
- Read the greeting aloud and remove any wording that describes who a property is for.
- Define a response window for voicemail transcripts and monitor it.
- Send transaction-in-progress calls to a person with the file, not to the duty agent.
- Make sure option 1 does not make rental enquirers listen to seller options first.
Related guides and templates
- Property management company: phone menu guide
- Insurance agency: phone menu guide
- Law firm: phone menu guide
- Moving company: phone menu guide
- Service versus sales submenu: call-flow template
- Overflow when nobody answers: call-flow template
- Weekend greeting: call-flow template
- General voicemail greeting: call-flow template
- Call routing and menu design
- Missed calls and what they cost
Further reading
Longer research pieces on this topic, each with its own source list and a downloadable PDF.
Articles on this topic
Topics Small business phone Auto attendant Call forwarding Voicemail All topics
Sources
Every regulatory and pricing claim on this page links to the primary source it came from. Figures were checked on the date shown at the top of the page; rules and prices change, so verify before relying on one.
- 42 U.S.C. § 3604, Discrimination in the sale or rental of housing and other prohibited practices (Fair Housing Act). Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/3604 - HUD, Housing Discrimination Under the Fair Housing Act. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_overview - US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, The Fair Housing Act. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.justice.gov/crt/fair-housing-act-1 - 47 U.S.C. § 227, Restrictions on use of telephone equipment (Telephone Consumer Protection Act). Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/227 - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Buying a house. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/owning-a-home/