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How Much Does a Real Estate Answering Service Cost? About $100 to $810 a Month, or Sharrk from $99

By Sharrk Team · October 17, 2026

A real estate answering service costs about $100 to $810 a month on entry and mid-size live-answering plans, based on the pricing pages of Ruby, PATLive, AnswerConnect and Smith.ai checked October 17, 2026. Sharrk answers the same calls with an AI voice agent from $99 a month on Sharrk Core, with no setup fee and no contract.

The bigger question for agents, teams and brokerages is what that money buys: how many minutes, whether the service can qualify a buyer or seller, and whether a hot lead reaches you while they are still on the phone.

How much do real estate answering services charge per month?

Most live answering services sell a bucket of minutes or calls each month and charge extra once you go over. Here is what each company lists on its own pricing page today.

Sharrk prices come from Sharrk pricing. Sharrk runs on credits: an AI call minute uses 150 credits, and Core includes 47,500 credits a month, so Core covers about 316 standard call minutes if you use it only for calls. You can top up with credit packs when a busy listing month needs more.

What does that work out to per minute?

Per-minute math shows the gap more clearly than the sticker price.

Example: say a small team gets about 100 calls a month at about 3 minutes each, or 300 minutes. That fits inside Sharrk Core at $99. On the published plans above, the same 300 minutes would be PATLive's $479 plan, AnswerConnect's $395 Growth plan, or Ruby's $1,725 plan for 500 minutes (its 200-minute plan stops short). Your call mix will be different, so plug in your own numbers.

What do real estate callers actually need from an answering service?

A generic answering service takes a message. Real estate calls need more than that, because the person calling a sign at 8:40 pm may be ready to tour tomorrow. A good setup handles five kinds of calls:

1. Buyer qualification. Price range, areas, timeline, whether they are pre-approved, and whether they already work with an agent.
2. Seller qualification. Property address, when they want to sell, whether they are buying next, and the best time for a listing conversation.
3. Showing requests. Which property, preferred days and times, and a booked slot on your calendar instead of a callback promise.
4. Sign and listing calls. Callers who only know the yard sign or the listing. The agent should know the listing details so it can answer basic questions and capture the lead.
5. After-hours calls. Evenings and weekends, when buyers browse and agents are at showings or with family.

The last piece is the hot lead transfer. When a caller is pre-approved and wants to see a home this week, or a seller is ready to list, the call should go straight to the agent's phone. Sharrk's voice agent does live transfer to a person, so you choose which callers ring through and which get booked or followed up.

If you're weighing a person on the phone against software, our guide to virtual receptionist vs answering service breaks down the trade-offs.

What should a real estate qualifying script sound like?

Here is an example script you can adapt. Bracketed items are placeholders.

Agent: Thanks for calling [Brokerage], this is [Agent Name]'s assistant. Are you calling about a property you saw, or about buying or selling a home? Caller: I saw your sign on [Street]. Agent: Great, that's [Property Address], listed at [List Price] with [Beds] bedrooms. Are you looking to buy in [Area], or are you curious about selling nearby? Caller: Buying. Agent: What price range are you shopping in, and when are you hoping to move? Agent: Have you been pre-approved with a lender yet? And are you working with an agent right now? Agent: Would you like to see [Property Address]? I have [Day] at [Time] or [Day] at [Time]. If pre-approved and ready this week: Let me connect you with [Agent Name] right now. If not ready: I'll text you the listing details and [Agent Name] will follow up. What's the best number and email?

For sellers, swap in: the property address, the timeline, whether they need to buy next, and a time for a listing appointment.

How fast should a real estate lead get a reply?

Answering the phone is half the job. Web leads from your site and portals need a fast first touch too. Sharrk replies to new leads in under 30 seconds by text, call or email, and our real estate lead response page covers that side in detail.

Follow-up after the first call can run as a Strike, Sharrk's multi-step text, call and email sequence. Outbound calls and texts need the lead's consent and approved texting registration; see AI voice calls and the TCPA before you call anyone who hasn't asked to hear from you.

How does Mako set up a real estate answering agent?

Mako is the AI assistant inside Sharrk that builds your setup from plain English. You tell it something like "answer calls for my team, qualify buyers and sellers, book showings on my calendar, and transfer pre-approved buyers to my cell." Mako builds the voice agent, its questions and its transfer rule, then shows you an Apply card before it changes anything. You can test it on Sharrk Free with 2,500 credits and no card before you pay a dollar.

Want to change one question later, like adding "Do you have a home to sell first?" Ask Mako, review the card, and apply.

How does Sharrk handle real estate calls?

Sharrk answers every call 24/7 with an AI voice agent set up with your listing details and your questions. It qualifies buyers and sellers, books showings onto Sharrk's calendar, Calendly or Cal.com (and connects Google Calendar), and transfers hot leads to you live. New web leads get a reply in under 30 seconds, and Strikes keep the follow-up going.

Plans start at $99 a month on Sharrk Core with 47,500 credits and one phone number. Teams that want the Sharrk team to build for them can choose Sharrk Complete at $449 a month with a done-for-you build every month. There are no contracts, no setup fees, and a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first payment minus what you've used. See how it fits agents on our AI receptionist for real estate page.

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Sources

• Ruby plans and pricing (checked October 17, 2026)
• PATLive pricing (checked October 17, 2026)
• AnswerConnect plans (checked October 17, 2026)
• Smith.ai virtual receptionists (checked October 17, 2026)

Related on Sharrk: AI receptionist for real estate · AI answering service · Pricing

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