It's rare to have unreasonable requests from agents.  Legal precedent?  Sounds like a question for an attorney.  

Great question Peter Mohylsky, South Walton . I'm not sure of the legal aspect but I believe all the agents in our MLS feel it is a must to make at least one attempt to contact the other agent no matter what the time of day. That attempt my simply be a text after hours. I don't ever remember it being a problem with any Buyers I worked with as I always explained that we may not have an answer till morning.

I'll receive offers all day & night as long as I have a heads up. No one ever told me there were "normal" hours in this business and that's fine with me.

Not 30 minutes ago, I had to type up an Offer and send it to my buyers to sign. I just emailed it to the listing agent (we had spoken earlier about the house/Offer) but, I don't expect that he'll respond until tomorrow. I know my buyers don't either. 

If I'm awake, I forward it on. Otherwise, they can wait for the next hour out of the 19 hours in the day that I am awake! 🤣 

If I am awake I respond.  It may be morning before I can present it but will answer to let them know I received it.
  Do Real Estate Agents really have set hours?  Not in my area. 

I grind all day. It often goes into the night but if an offer rolls in real late & I'm awake you'll get an email that says, "Received. Will get back to you tomorrow".

I do not do email or pick up messages after a certain hour of the day and if an agent has not notified me in advance that an offer might be coming late in the evening, it's too bad for them. They wait till the morning. And if it's all that late, nine times out of 10 I wouldn't be bothering my clients either. Plus what Richard Weeks said.

Only a few nuts feel that they MUST work 24 hours a day.

If I am awake and still at the computer I will at lease reply to the agent to acknowlsdge receipt and send on to my client with a message saying I will wait for them to get back so we can discuss.  Depending on the time I will let them know how late I plan to be up just in case they want to talk with me right away. I don't think we have set hours but out of respect I will do email and/or texting rather than call.  I don't want to shake anyone out of a good sleep or Dream.

I'm not aware of any legal precedent regarding receipt or presentation of offers, only they must be presented in a reasonable amount of time.  Also after hours is hard to define.

If I am awake I respond and forward it on. I do let my sellers know in advance that some emails may come in late in the evening. I try to set expectations with sellers, but also the agents who send in offers late in the day - it's never been an issue.

I am not a CA attorney so have no idea about any precedent.

I have received offers and other types of communication late at night. If I'm up I will respond, at least let them know I have it. Don't think there are any specific hours espically if the market is good.

Depends on what time is “after business hours” that is a subjective term.

As long as response time is within the time in the offer, have no idea how or why a precedent could or would apply, but I’m not an attorney nor do I play one on TV

If it is after 8 in the evening or before 8:in the morning you won’t hear from me until later

In my business, it will wait until morning.  Our offers have a "time period of offer" clause whereby they remain "on the table".   While we might not have "normal" hours in this business, we should all embrace common sense. We're not cardiothoracic surgeons; some things can wait until morning... 

Having cell phones, texts and email does not mean the office is always open. It is by choice if we work an offer after hours. It is not mandated.

I happily accept offers on my listings at all times of day or night!

Depending on the time and the seller, I handle it immediately or in the morning.

What's the difference when they are sent?

Yes, it is my rule. No nothing after 8pm in the summer. Nothing in the morning before 8am. I no longer practice business like 'in the old days'. 

The only after hours in my business is when i am asleep. If an offer comes in no matter when, I review it  and then present to my seller. 

For me it's easy. Once I'm done for the day I don't check my email - so it's there the following morning.

If the buyer's agent calls or text me that an offer has been sent, I will acknowledge the communication and handle appropriately - if I'm just hanging out at home I'll probably deal with it. If I'm out with friends or family or simply had enough after 12+ hour day - I'll let them know that I'll deal with their offer in the morning. I do thank them for the offer.

Not sure it matters. If an offer comes in after 8 or 9pm, the sellers won't be reviewing it until the following day anyway, and that's only if they are available to review it. Some sellers are members of an LLC, and they like to discuss offers with all members which can take 2-3+ days sometimes.

Business takes precedence. The premise? Opportunity knocks. Do you Answer? Put it off? Ignore? Get to it in time? I welcome and invite my results

If I'm sleeping and unaware an offer has come, it gets handled first thing in the morning. If I know it's coming, and my sellers are going to be available to address that evening, I'll take care of it. 

All depends on what tome of the night but usually I wait until morning to contact the seller

Legal precedence? Ha!

Despite the fact that some claim to work 24 x 7 - I do not. 

The precedence that takes place for me is common sense.  I set the expectation on all my listing of how much time we need for a seller to respond.  

I receive an offer, I will acknowledge receipt no matter what the hour. I will present it to the owner at a reasonable time for both of us.

Offers must be presented in a reasonable time frame. Offers have expiration clauses and must be handled in a timely manner.

That actually a great question.

Should not the purchase offer be sent to the agent and buyer simultaneously?  The agent is not the gatekeeper.

Such a process address the 'did the agent present my offer?' and could even answer "Is there really another offer?"

Add an anonymimizing feature and this is a value added, transparency creating, feature those who hire us would CELEBRATE!

Meanwhile, normal business hours and days are defined within the text of most of the contracts in use in real estate.

I handle them the next business day since after 7PM I wouldn't know about them to do anthyting anyhow. I do not check work phones, text, emails, etc. after 7Pm as a committment to my boundaries, family and clients.

Also yes, there is a form limiting hours but my office hours are clearly published online. In 20 years + it's NEVER BEEN AN ISSUE.

The law in Georgia says offers are to be presented as soon as "practically possible" so if I get it at 7 pm I'll call my sellers, if I get it at 9 pm I'll forward by email to my sellers and tell them to call me at their convenience and follow up with a call at 9 am, if I get it at 11 pm I'll call them in the morning.  I just use common sense.

we discuss that topic with the homeowner when they're signing the listing....each household has a different schedule and we accommodate their schedule.... most are good up to 9:00 or 9:30pm and not before 8:00am...

Peter,

I think Michael Jacobs has your logical answer!  A

So I have boundaries that I don't work IN the business past.  Usually between 6p and 7p.  Anything after that can be handled the next day, unless it's a client emergency.

I've heard a few voicemails out here lately say "If it's after 6 or on Sunday, I'll get back to you the next day."

That depends on the rules of the game established between you and your seller

NYC is a 24 hour town. I work with clients from around the world and try to accommodate the clients. I do need some downtime- so everything is best efforts. I am not aware of anything business hours- except if I need something from a building's managing agent- and they tend to be 9-5pm or 6pm at the latest.

I learned long ago that I would not allow this business to overtake every facet of my life. It is important to set boundaries to avoid burnout. Of course, there are exceptions but rarely for me.

Our offers usually give us at least 12 hours, if not 24+.

I get them as late as 9 pm, but will not respond till next morning.

There are business hours in real estate?

It's 3:45 a.m. and I am beginning my day. I seriously doubt anyone would know the difference that sent in an offer at 11 PM. They'll get confirmation before they get up.

There's no legal requirement but the RCOE does require that we present offers as quickly as possible. And so we do.

If I am up at 9:30 p.m. which is possible but rare, and something comes in, depending on who the agent is, I may text back a response that I received it and will process in the morning or I may not respond until the morning. Because some agents will respond to that text with a phone call and I am not talking at that hour. Or this hour.

My talking hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday unless you have an appointment. 😎

What is normal today?!

OK, by e-mail. But text message close to midnight?!

If I am online during the evening, it will get forwarded to clients to take a look-see, otherwise, it can wait until morning. #NoMoreAllNightersForMe

Yeah,  we got text message from the "broker" at 11:38 PM Saturday...

That depends. If we are in a multiple bid situation I will do my best to get it to LA ASAP but it's up to them when they present to seller.  If it's my seller in a multiple bid situation we most likely already have a pre-determined time to discuss the offer - generally the next day or so.

Happy to work into the evening or as late as I need to if the buyers and sellers are asking and willing.  Selling something is the fun part of this job and I'll do that day or night.  Just give me a heads up to be looking for it because I won't be staring at my email all night with my fingers crossed that someone wants to do business.

Peter,

It is customary in our market and MLS to post in the private agent remarks when and how offers will be handled and presented. Listing agents will state something like offers presented after 7pm or on Sunday will be presented the next business day.

It is also customary here for a buyer’s agent to call the listing agent before they start preparing an offer. Among other things this allows the listing agent and seller to be aware that an offer is coming.

These private MLS instructions also include the minimum number of hours or days for a response to an offer. We often state that the seller “plans” to review offers, typically on a Monday night, but reserves the right to accept any offer at any time. Laying everything out like this minimizes the chance of a misunderstanding or problem.