I am curious how those of you that are solo manage without office support staff. In my rural state I am frequently out of cell phone range and haven't yet come up with ideas for dealing with this.

I don't have much cell 'phone coverage either though I do carry one to call out from in areas where I can get a signal. I rarely give out the cell number (though sometimes when I call out from it others will capture it with caller I.D.). I have a recorder on the 'phone at the office; if they can't wait long enough for me to call them back then we probably aren't going to do business anyway. Most of my communication is by e-mail (at the office, I won't take it on the cell 'phone). Even faxing is becoming less important now that scanned attachments can go on e-mail or information submitted to listing client's (I presently am doing REO only so they are corporate clients) web sites.

Freezengirl, I think the answer to your question depends on the type of brokerage you’re running. Mr. Foreclosure brought up some good points and I think that for the REO portion of my business, I could mange without much staff, since most banks have their own back-end communication procedures. It is funny that you brought up phones, because I've been thinking that I have too many. I use a cell phone for business and personal and realize that too many people have the number. I’m working to get it off of all printed and online advertising. I also use Vonage as my main office line- which provides me with a voicemail that holds 100 voicemails and has some useful forwarding and transcribing features. I also use a mobile email device – my clients and staff know to use that to reach me quickly. One of my clients has asked to be texted for routine communication, so I use that, too. That being said, I do also use some support staff that also work from their own home.

DITTO!!!!

Freezingirl, I am working this out myself right now. I am not in a rural area, but I want to have more flexibility than just a cell phone offers, (forwarding etc) Right now I am looking into a virtual 800 number service. www.tollfreefreedom.com. I like the idea of multiple voice mail boxes for property status or whatever, but the caller can always transfer to me