You work evenings, weekends, and sometimes even holidays. As a real estate agent, it can be hard to schedule true time off. It’s easy to feel as if your business is on your back. As you go, it goes. As you don’t, it doesn’t. But If you can develop systems and processes and can implement them in such a way where things get done on autopilot, then you can actually enjoy a vacation with your family without sabotaging your real estate business. Doesn’t that sound nice? In today’s blog, we will explore four things you need to do before you skip town and enjoy your vacation!

1.Find Someone to Cover for You

You can’t leave your clients hanging without a trusted point of contact, especially those who are in the middle of a transaction. Find a fellow licensed agent with a good reputation and enough experience who will agree to cover your clients. You don’t want them to be taken care of by just anyone who can potentially leave a bad taste in their mouth with you attached to their name. Once you’ve found the right agent, have a meeting with them to review the current status of each client before you leave them in charge. You’ll want to work out beforehand how much you will pay them to cover for you, as they will be sacrificing their own time with their clients, leads, deals, etc. Depending on the length of your absence and the weight of their work in a deal, you might even want to consider generously splitting your commission with them. And hey, you might be doing the same thing for them at some point in the future!

2.Set Boundaries for Yourself

Do you want to completely unplug and enjoy your vacation work-free or are you ok with some communication regarding your current deals? You might decide you only want to receive correspondence regarding an emergency. For example, if a buyer drops out of a deal. Talk with the agent who is covering you to make a plan for how communication between the two of you will play out. It’s ok to take a step back and take time to enjoy your family away from work. Just make sure you make a plan for what your boundaries will be to avoid any surprises and to set your covering agent up well for success. 

3.Let Your Clients, Colleagues, and Broker Know Your Plans

After you’ve worked out a plan with your covering agent, let everyone you’re working with know what that plan is. If you have an assistant, give them the full details so they can help your covering agent as much as possible. Make sure to inform your broker of your vacation at least two weeks in advance. However, the sooner the better. And it’s a good idea for your colleagues to be aware of your absence as well. To save yourself some time communicating with your clients, craft an email and/or text message including the following information:

• The exact dates you’ll be out of town/unavailable
• An introduction to the person covering for you along with their contact information
• When and you will be reachable and under what circumstances

Even though you might hope to not hear from a single client on your vacation, because real estate is so relational, it’s probably not a good idea for them to feel like they’re not allowed to contact you at all. But don’t be afraid to set a firm boundary if needed. For example, you might say “I’ll be available Tuesday and Thursday from 9am-11am through text.”

Consider the Time of Year 

Experienced real estate agents understand the end of spring and beginning of summer are typically the most popular time of the year for buyers and sellers to start making moves. Why not plan your trip toward the end of the summer or around the holiday season to make for a quieter vacation? Though the real estate market can be unpredictable, some strategic planning can allow for you to have more facetime with a larger volume of clients as well as a more concentrated rest time on vacation. 

4.Know at the End of the Day, It’s a Vacation

The more proactive you can be, the better you’ll be able to enjoy your vacation knowing that things are being taken care of at work. Plan and prepare as much as you can in advance for your trip, but don’t forget this is about you getting away and enjoying personal time and/or time with your family. I have over 10 years of experience in real estate and love helping real estate agents grow in success. If you want tips on how to gain leads, check on my video here on staying top of mind with past clients!