Long live the part time agent

I can see your point and if it was true in all cases it would be great. My experience with part timers is they are never avalible, don't return calls in a timely manner and manage to piss everyone else off who takes their heat.

Good question. Without using the terms Part time and full time, I will attempt to answer your question. 
An agent who works 40 hours a week, doing another job that is not real estate, who is also working with clients is doing them a diservice.

If you can only meet to show properties between 6-8 pm or on weekends, your seriously risking your chances of being able to provide a service to them.
I don't think that you should answer every single phone call you receieve during the day from clients, but if its going to take you 8 hours to respond, or you can only do so in an email or text message when a phone call is best, I do feel that your not doing your job.

Most lenders and escrows don't work after 5 or 6, thus making it difficult to manage the transaction.

I think a dug a little much into your question, but I think you get the point I am trying to make. To answer your question though, no, an agent doesn't need to work more then (this many) hours to be a knowledgable/good/average producing agent. 
If the agent wants more then 16 transasctions a year, they pretty much have no choice but to be in the office or out in the field longer. 

Evan - I've never had anything against "part-time" agents. It's the "part-time" effort that gets me every time. Like you had acknowledge, even the FT people could engage in very little business. It has nothing to do with part-time versus full-time.

I started as a PT agent, btw. It's the best thing I did and I'd do it all over again. But I wouldn't take 4 1/2 years to go FT though.

Evan,  I think Loreena described my feelings too.  It is the "part-time" effort that can be a problem.  When I owned my company in Las Vegas, I had over 125 agents and I could see it didn't matter if an agent had another job if they were committed to provide real service to their clients.

  Many of the full-time agents were not as available and not as responsive as the "part-timers".  As far as having to be available 24 hours a day -- the best agents that I knew were not at the beck and call of their clients but set appointments that were mutually beneficial to both schedules.  If I saw an agent that had to drop everything to meet with clients at the whim of those clients, I felt that neither the client or myself as the broker respected them as truly professional.

Evan,

Correct, no quota. If someone wants to have a license to do a deal or 4 a year, that's fine...the accountability is the only issue I have...the same is full for "full time" agents, haha. 
Andrew Mendez 

I am a new Part Time Realtor In the Greater Attleboro Area,  and I promise you that I give full time and overtime effort. I completley agree, that in any position there can be Part timers that can manage time, multi task and get the work done just as well,and sometimes better than the full time counter part. It just depends on the individual.

A good post Evan to get everyone thinking and discussing about part time Realtors.  Interesting comments too!