Buyer's guide
What should a real estate agent look for in an AI receptionist?
A real estate agent should look for an AI receptionist that answers portal and website leads within a minute, books showings from your real calendar, answers only from listing facts you provide, follows up for as long as you choose, texts open house sign-ins, handles seller and rental leads, and writes to your CRM. The table turns each into a question for a vendor. The test is a Sunday with three showings.
What are the seven things to check?
Each row is a question for the vendor. The last column is what Foreman does.
| Check | Why it matters | What to ask | Foreman |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portal & website leads | The first agent to answer a buyer who texted three agents tends to get the client. | How fast is the first reply, including Zillow & Realtor.com leads? | Reads & answers Zillow & Realtor.com leads within a minute, then tracks them to a showing. |
| Showing bookings | A promised time you cannot make costs the lead. | Does it book from your real calendar, with travel time? | Books from your real availability, with travel time between showings if you set it. |
| Listing questions | A wrong price or HOA figure costs trust. | What does it answer from? | Answers from the listing data & notes you give it. Negotiation & offers go to you. |
| Long follow-up | Most buyers take months, & most agents stop after a few touches. | How long does it follow up, & how do they stop it? | As long as you choose; many agents run 12 months with matched listings. It stops the moment someone asks. |
| Open houses | Sign-ins are warm for a day. | Does it text open house sign-ins? | Texts sign-ins after the open house with the packet or a second look. |
| Sellers & rentals | A seller lead & a rental inquiry need different questions. | Does it handle both? | Books listing appointments for seller leads. Rentals cover availability, price, pets, move-in dates, showings & applications; maintenance requests are logged & routed. |
| Your CRM | A conversation outside the CRM is lost. | Which CRMs does it write to? | Every conversation, showing & note lands on the lead record; the CRMs that are live are listed on the integrations page. |
Why does the first reply matter so much?
A buyer who texts three agents from the driveway is not comparing credentials, only who answered. The Harvard Business Review study of online sales leads is the standard citation: contacting a lead within an hour made a firm nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as waiting one hour longer. It covered sales leads across industries, so treat it as the direction of the effect, not a real estate figure. The speed-to-lead page lays out the study and the arithmetic.
What does follow-up look like over months?
A buyer who is 6 months from a purchase needs something other than a daily nudge. The pattern on the Foreman real estate page is a low-frequency text with listings that match the criteria the lead gave, for as long as you choose, ending the moment the lead asks. Ask any vendor how the lead stops it, and what the text says when a listing no longer matches.
What does it cost?
Foreman is $495 per location per month with no contract. The dated comparison is on AI receptionist pricing. The product page, with an example Sunday, is Foreman for real estate.
Questions owners ask
What else do agents ask about AI receptionists?
What should a real estate agent look for in an AI receptionist?
Look for how fast it answers a buyer or a portal lead, whether it books showings from your real calendar, whether it answers only from listing facts you provide, how long it follows up, how it handles open houses, sellers and rentals, and whether it writes to your CRM.
Can an AI receptionist answer questions about a listing?
It can answer from the data you give it (price, beds, baths, HOA, showing instructions). It should not negotiate, advise on an offer or comment on who a neighborhood suits. Those go to the agent.
How fast do I need to respond to a real estate lead?
As fast as you can. The best-known study is Harvard Business Review's, which found firms that contacted a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as those that waited an hour longer. It studied online sales leads across industries, not real estate leads specifically.
Will it text leads who did not agree to be texted?
Foreman texts only customers who have consented or have an existing relationship, and honours STOP on every channel. Consent rules vary by state and by how the lead came to you, so confirm your process with counsel. This page is not legal advice.
What does it cost?
Foreman is $495 per location per month with no contract. The dated comparison with other AI receptionists is on the AI receptionist pricing page.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Oldroyd, McElheran & Elkington, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, Harvard Business Review, 03/2011: firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as those that waited an hour longer.
- 411 Locals, field study of 85 small businesses across 58 industries over 30 days: 37.8% of calls answered live, 37.8% to voicemail, 24.3% no response.
Checked 10/11/2026. Vendor studies are directional, not audited. Where a figure is called an industry estimate, we could not trace it to a primary study. Your own phone log beats every number on this page.