I dont take vacations.   When I miss work with surgeries I have my broker cover my business while I am away.

Virtual assistant is great

I just returned from three weeks overseas and I didn't take any calls although I did get email and responded.  New calls and email leads were routed to my colleague who was covering for me while I was gone and it worked out great!

I am taking a vacation July 14 - coming back the July 17 because I have a wedding to go to.  I will check on my business daily and take calls.  I will have to setup appointments for when I return.   

Make a deal with someone in the office.

If I am in a place where I can take calls, I would schedule appointments or refer out.

I have a partner. If we are both gone we have another agent cover for us.

Partner. Definitely 

good question as I am working on this for myself. I think I will use a virtual assistant to answer calls and have another independent agent assist me while I am away.

I have an assistant that handles my calls if I don't want to have them forwarded to my cell phone.

We let our existing clients know 30 days out we'll be a way. New calls go to my assistant. Buyers are serviced by a buyers' agent we partner with (and do the same for when they vacation) and a trusted friend in my office cares for my listings. This allows the work to be divided, not putting one person is in overwhelm. My assistant & TC coordinate with the other two agents.

We do not takes calls, respond to e-mails nor texts while away. Only my assistant can call if it's a true emergency and that's after running the emergency past my broker first. If she can't handle it without me, I get a call.  That said, no one has ever called me on vacation and it takes 30 minutes to get back up to speed when we return. Our systems run the business better than we can ever micro-manage, so we don't. We enjoy our vacation because we truly get away.  ( I love it when other Realtors brag 24/7 or they don't take days off, nor vacations...I already have them beat being recharged).

I am lucky to be able to take 1-2 days off, the only way to take longer would require a partner to handle them and know that my clients are in good hands

Good morning Jennifer. Fortunately I have two assistants, so while I'm on vacation this week, all is being handled.

Jennifer Provencio - I assign my clients to a very good friend and colleague of mine!

I never leave for half a day without having someone in my office cover.  It's wrong for clients to not leave someone covering. I'd fire an agent who left me in a lurch.

I have agents in my company that I would refer them to.

That's where cell phones, laptops and assistants come in.