Rachel El Shamy
Rachel El Shamy

Flexible work can look very different when the workday has no clear edge. Real estate is often associated with independence, yet the profession can also require availability at times when many other jobs have ended for the day. The National Association of REALTORS® reported in its 2026 Member Profile that 66% of its members were women and 86% worked as independent contractors at their firms.

That structure can give agents considerable control over how they organize their work, but it does not necessarily mean predictable hours. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that real estate brokers and sales agents often work evenings and weekends to accommodate clients, and some work more than 40 hours a week. The agency also reports that earnings may be irregular, particularly for newer agents.

For women, flexibility can also intersect with responsibilities outside work. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2025 American Time Use Survey found that women averaged 2.38 hours a day on household activities, compared with 1.58 hours for men. The figures do not reflect every household or every profession, but they help illustrate why schedule flexibility may carry different practical implications depending on the responsibilities someone is managing outside work.

That distinction may be particularly relevant in a profession where evenings, weekends, and changing client needs can sometimes shape the workday. It raises a broader question about whether schedule flexibility is enough on its own, or whether the way a brokerage supports its agents also affects how workable that flexibility becomes.

Rachel El Shamy, owner of Sage Space Real Estate in Austin, TX, believes that tension deserves more attention within brokerage culture. She describes real estate as an all-time kind of job, particularly when evening calls, contract work, driving, and client needs can extend beyond conventional business hours. In her experience, flexibility can remain valuable, but it may require agents to establish realistic boundaries.

El Shamy believes boundaries can become more workable when they are communicated clearly rather than treated as a lack of commitment. Drawing on her own experience as a parent, she says there are occasions when she deliberately protects time with her family while making sure clients understand when she will be available again. For her, the goal is not constant accessibility, but maintaining trust through clear expectations and reliable follow-through.

She also sees the structure around an agent as an important part of that equation. At Sage Space, El Shamy says colleagues can step in when something genuinely time-sensitive arises, whether that means helping with a showing or keeping a transaction moving while another agent is temporarily unavailable. "As a team, we work together," she explains. "If there are things that are very pressing, we can help each other."

In her view, that distinction may help separate responsiveness from being continuously reachable. "An agent may not be able to take a full call immediately, but could still acknowledge a request, communicate when they can respond, or involve a colleague when appropriate," El Shamy says. She believes that kind of communication can help clients remain supported without requiring agents to treat every moment outside work as potentially interruptible.

She is careful not to frame that approach as a lower-performance model. Instead, El Shamy believes brokerages can consider whether stronger internal support gives agents more ways to meet professional expectations while still managing responsibilities outside work. In her experience, coverage, communication, and the ability to rely on colleagues can make flexibility more practical rather than merely theoretical.

Culture, she argues, may also influence whether agents feel comfortable using that support. El Shamy explains the environment she has sought to build at Sage Space as more collaborative than competitive, with an emphasis on colleagues helping one another when circumstances require it. She believes that approach can create room for agents to acknowledge that personal responsibilities exist without suggesting that those responsibilities diminish their professional standards.

El Shamy does not suggest that real estate can, or should, become a conventional nine-to-five profession. Her broader argument is that flexibility may be more meaningful when agents have enough support to use it without compromising professional expectations. As brokerages think about how to retain and support women in the industry, the more important question may be whether flexibility is simply promised, or whether the structure around the work makes it genuinely possible.