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How To Hire A Real Estate Virtual Assistant

Learn how to hire a virtual assistant for your real estate business in this comprehensive guide.
Struggling to find leads? Missing important client meetings? Juggling multiple showings, repair schedules, and open-houses on top of posting on social media and replying to emails?

Whew.

If running your real estate business sounds anything like this, maybe it's time to delegate some of your tasks to a real estate virtual assistant.

Here's everything you need to know about hiring one:

What do real estate virtual assistants do?

Real estate virtual assistants are highly-skilled folks who can help you accomplish a wide variety of tasks. Most of these tasks are important in your day-to-day operations but don’t need your specific expertise, so it makes sense to delegate them to another person.

These tasks include:

Calendar and schedule management

If you’re a real estate agent or broker, chances are you’re dealing with lots of clients with different needs, all at the same time. An assistant can help you stay on top of your tasks by organizing your schedule and making sure you don’t overbook yourself.

They can coordinate walkthrough schedules, showings, and open houses for you. If you need to book flights, set important appointments with clients, partners, or heck — your dentist, they can also lend a hand.

Cleaning up your inbox

Sorting through dozens of emails each day can kill your productivity and concentration.

The good news is a real estate virtual assistant can help you clean up your inbox. They can sort your email into the right folders and labels, so don’t have to comb through dozens of messages — you'd only have to deal with important conversations.

Later along the way, you can even train your virtual assistant to write emails on your behalf. When done right, this can save you multiple hours each week.

Related: How to delegate your email inbox to an assistant

Real estate marketing

The real estate industry is teeming with other agents and brokers, so you’ll need to pull all the stops to stand out. To help you attract high-quality leads, find buyers, add more to your inventory, and close deals, you can assign your real estate virtual assistant to help you:

  • Create attractive listings
  • Update existing ones
  • Prepare client decks, presentations, or physical marketing materials
  • Write enticing listing descriptions

Social media is also a powerful tool to market your business. Posting content like virtual tours, photos, and videos can help you attract more clients. Ask your virtual assistant to create and schedule these posts for you.

If you’ve got a website or newsletter, your assistant can update your posts or regularly send out emails to your mailing list. Lastly, a real estate VA can also send outreach emails to prospective buyers or even do cold-calling on your behalf.

Data entry and lead management

An assistant entering data into the company's CRM

Is your client relationship management (CRM) system looking crazy these days? Ask your VA to help you out. They can keep tabs on existing clients, update contact information for property owners and tenants, remove outdated info, and manually input new ones.

Oversee customer and partner relationships

Aside from keeping tabs on your leads, a virtual assistant for real estate can also help you build strong and lasting relationships with your customers by:

  • Providing after-sales support
  • Answering phone or chat inquiries
  • Responding to client emails and other correspondences
  • Oversee document submissions

Checking up on your previous clients improves retention and can even land you some great referrals.

Ask your virtual assistant to reach out to old clients and ask how they’re doing. You can also schedule greetings or send thoughtful gifts on holidays, housewarming parties, or birthdays.

Aside from building relationships with clients, your VA can also do the same for contractors, property managers, and other business partners. Overall, they can help you build a strong network of clients and business partners.

Market research and other admin tasks

A real estate virtual assistant can watch out for emerging trends, search for potential properties, or do a background check on clients. Lastly, they can also track documents,  keep records, and oversee bill payments for you.

Who needs real estate virtual assistants?

  • real estate agents and brokers
  • real estate investment companies
  • rental property owners
  • anyone struggling to grow their real estate business

Benefits of hiring a real estate VA

A row of houses

You’ll have more time to focus on things you're good at

Try thinking of the tasks that require your specific expertise — the things that actually move the needle. Through delegation, you’ll have more time and energy to focus on these instead of handling the busywork.

You’ll also be able to take regular vacations without having to worry about running your business. Work-life balance? It’s possible when you know how to delegate right.

Streamlined process

Being more organized helps you create a more streamlined process for your clients. The better your process, the more positive reviews and referrals you’ll get. It’s the key to sustainably growing your business.

Close more deals

Ultimately, focusing on your strengths and building a seamless experience allows you to close more deals. It also helps you build solid relationships with your clients and partners.

Serious cost savings

Virtual assistants from the Philippines are considerably more affordable than local equivalents. They’re highly skilled, speak great English, and have a solid work ethic. Learn more about working with remote executive assistants from the Philippines here.

What to look for in a real estate virtual assistant

A realtor handing over the keys to homeowners on a keychain shaped like a house

The ideal real estate virtual assistant should have a background on how the industry works or be familiar with real estate terms. Aside from that, they should also be:

  • Proactive - Your assistant should show initiative and genuine interest in working with you. They don’t just wait for you to tell them what to do — they’re keen problem-solvers and self-starters.
  • Results-driven - The ideal candidate should be resourceful and creative when it comes to reaching your goals.
  • Organized - They know how to prioritize multiple tasks. They should be able to help you organize different aspects of day-to-day operations like your email, calendar, and daily tasks.
  • An excellent communicator - Hire someone with excellent written and spoken English skills. They should be able to communicate ideas clearly and talk to clients and other partners with ease.
  • Proficient in tools like Google Suite, Slack, and Zoom, as well as client relationship management (CRM) systems - Training will be much easier if you hire someone who’s already experienced in the tools that you’re currently using.
  • Familiar with social media and content publication platforms - This is a must if you’re assigning real estate marketing tasks to your assistant.
  • Eager to learn and willing to be trained - Lastly, find someone who’s eager to learn about the real estate industry and your specific processes. In many cases, it’s easier to onboard a VA with genuine curiosity versus a candidate with lots of experience but no real interest in the role.

How to hire a real estate virtual assistant using Shepherd

We’re a headhunter agency that specializes in finding awesome assistants for real estate businesses at a fraction of the local cost. Here’s how you can hire an excellent real estate virtual assistant using our service:

What to expect when you work with Shepherd

Step 1: Let us know about the position you're hiring for

Fill out this form to let us know about the candidate you’re looking for. We’ll be asking for a job description, so be sure to have one ready.

Step 2: We’ll kick off a search

We’ll hop on a call, discuss details, and then introduce you to a project manager who will be your point of contact throughout the process.

Our team of talent assessors and scouts will then kick off a search for the best candidates. Each candidate will go through a rigorous screening process before being presented to you for interviews.

Step 3: Choose from a list of vetted candidates

We’ll present a bunch of highly vetted candidates to you. We can schedule a call so you can interview these candidates and see if they’re a great fit.

Step 4: Hire the best real estate virtual assistant and start taking back your time

Select the best virtual assistant from your list of vetted candidates. Once you hire them, we’ll hand off the relationship over to you and you can start integrating them into your team.

How much do real estate virtual assistants charge?

Depending on the scope of their role, hiring a full-time real estate virtual assistant from the Philippines can cost around $800-$1,100 per month. Learn more about remote staff salaries in this guide.

Ready to hire a real estate virtual assistant?

Excited to finally hand off those tasks to a real estate VA and start buying back your time? Tell us all about it and we’ll help you find an awesome virtual assistant at a fraction of the cost.

FAQs about hiring real estate virtual assistants

What do real estate virtual assistants do?

Real estate virtual assistants help agents, brokers, and investors with day-to-day tasks like:

  • Managing their schedules and emails
  • Real estate marketing
  • Data entry
  • Customer support
  • Lead generation and management

They’re also capable of doing more complex tasks like answering client inquiries, creating social media posts, or making attractive listings.

How much is the salary of a real estate virtual assistant?

Depending on what you need, the average salary of a virtual assistant from the Philippines can range from $800-$1100, fulltime. You also have to consider other benefits like government contributions, Christmas bonuses, and the like.

What skills does a virtual assistant need?

A virtual assistant needs to have initiative, a willingness to learn, familiarity with common collaboration tools, and excellent communication skills. If you’re hiring one for real estate, having relevant experience in the field is a huge advantage.

Get the hiring guide here

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