If you've ever looked at hiring a virtual receptionist, you've seen the same range — $250 to $1,500/month depending on how many calls they handle and what hours you want coverage. AI voice agents are pitched at a similar range. Let's run actual numbers for a solo real estate agent doing about 100 calls a month.
The visible costs
| Cost | Human virtual receptionist | AI voice agent (CallRelayHQ) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly base | $250–$450 | $300 |
| Per-call / per-min charge | $0.95–$1.75 per call or $1.50/min | $0.15/min after 300 included |
| After-hours surcharge | +25–50% | Included |
| Setup fee | $50–$200 | None |
| Phone number | Often extra | Included |
At 100 calls/month of average length (3 min), a human service runs roughly $475–$600/mo including after-hours coverage. CallRelayHQ runs $300 flat because all 300 minutes are included.
The hidden costs nobody quotes you
The base price isn't the whole story. Here's what tends to surprise people six months in:
Training time
A human receptionist takes 2–4 weeks to know your listings, your service area, your hours, your "always send these to me directly" rules. That's billed at the same rate as live calls. Most providers charge for the training period; some bury it as a non-refundable onboarding fee.
An AI assistant is configured once. Paste your listings, set the voice, define a few rules in plain English. Total time: about an hour. When you add a new listing, the assistant knows about it the next call.
Turnover
Virtual receptionist services rotate operators. The person who learned your business in March may not be the one taking your calls in June. You're paying for ongoing partial-knowledge, not a single trained assistant. We've heard variations of "they sent my buyer to the wrong open house" enough times to stop being surprised by it.
An AI assistant doesn't churn. Same voice, same instructions, every call, forever.
After-hours and weekend coverage
About 40% of real estate calls come outside business hours — evenings, Sundays, holidays. Human services either charge a premium for it, route to a different (less-trained) team, or just don't offer it. The cheapest plans usually cap at "weekday business hours."
AI doesn't have a business-hours mode. The Sunday 9pm call gets the same treatment as the Tuesday 10am call.
The opportunity cost of missed nuance
Be honest: a human receptionist who handles 50 accounts isn't going to know your local market the way you do. They won't recognise that a buyer asking about "the Tremont area" is talking about Cleveland's near-west side and probably wants a walkable neighborhood. They'll take the message and forward it.
An AI assistant configured with your service area gets fed exactly the neighborhood data, school districts, and price ranges you specify. It can answer "is 4612 Oak Ridge in the Solon school district?" — a question a generic receptionist would never attempt.
Total cost of ownership: 12-month look
| Item (12 months) | Human service | CallRelayHQ |
|---|---|---|
| Base subscription | $3,600–$5,400 | $3,600 |
| After-hours surcharges | $600–$1,200 | $0 |
| Setup / training time billed | $200–$600 | $0 |
| Overage above included minutes | $300–$900 | $0–$240 |
| 12-month total | $4,700–$8,100 | $3,600–$3,840 |
For a solo agent or small team, the saving is real — typically $1,000 to $4,000 per year, plus the agents we've talked to report higher lead-capture rates because the AI never misses a call and never gets a sick day.
When a human is the right answer
If you run a brokerage with 20+ agents, complex routing rules, escrow coordination, and frequent legal-adjacent conversations, a trained human team makes sense. The math we ran above is for a solo agent or small team where most calls are buyer enquiries and showing requests. That's the audience CallRelayHQ is built for.