Just like in every new business, we think that running a new real estate company can be managed by a few people. However, sooner or later, the volume of work is going to be too much for you to handle. Being forward thinking and planning for the long-term can help you avoid dealing with piles of listings and new clients. Doing so helps you maintain momentum while having the time to think of new ways to engage your audience, convert leads, and onboard new clients.
Yes, you can still manage all of these things despite the volume of work, but it will be a challenge and sacrifices have to be made. By sacrifices, we mean adding more workload for your office manager or taking on more tasks yourself. You may also need to hire more office staff. If you are considering the latter, why not hire a real estate virtual assistant?
What Does a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Do?
Real estate virtual assistants are remote workers who help you with administrative and operational tasks within a real estate space. They are like office managers, but they specialise in real estate.
Different types of real estate virtual assistants can help you with:
- Sales
- Marketing and advertising
- Social media management
- Office administration
How Do You Find the Best Real Estate Virtual Assistant?
There are two ways you can find your real estate virtual assistant:
- Independently
- Through an agency
The difference between hiring on your own and via an agency is that with an agency, you can be sure that the candidates go through a rigorous screening process. You can rest assured that only the most qualified real estate virtual assistants are included in its pool of talents.
At Remote Staff, for instance, we take a look at a few things to ensure that you get the right fit for your business. We gauge:
- experience and specialisation
- English-speaking ability and comprehension
- alignment of asking salary with the current market rate
- preferred schedule and availability
- behaviour and cognitive abilities required by the job and that match your company culture
If you prefer finding your own real estate virtual assistant independently, you have to be clear on the task you will have them do as well as the qualities they should possess.
What Qualities Make an Ideal Real Estate Virtual Assistant?
Fast learner
Real estate virtual assistants learn on the go as they know that time is precious in real estate. They work hard to easily get to know your business and your team.
Fast yet efficient
Real estate virtual assistants work on tasks that can take a long time to complete. These tasks include uploading listings to multiple listing services, finding and booking the best travel transportation and accommodations, and running monthly activity reports. However, seasoned real estate virtual assistants are patient and focused enough to complete them fast and efficiently.
Has research experience
Research skills are essential to real estate virtual assistants as they are tasked to do research on local properties and collect property scraping details. They should know what to look for and where to look.
Offers great feedback
Once your real estate virtual assistants master how your business operates, they can offer valuable suggestions for the improvement of your business processes.
Organised
Real estate virtual assistants are pretty anal when it comes to organising things. They must stay on top of profiles on the company CRM, the data on their monthly reports, other paperwork, and emails or correspondence.
People-person
Part of a real estate virtual assistant’s task is to speak to clients from time to time, especially when scheduling client appointments. Therefore, they must exude confidence when speaking to VIPs and make sure to not get rattled in order to avoid getting some information wrong.
They also help in conducting lead calls and follow-ups when the marketing team is swamped or lacks human workforce.
Possesses at least one real-estate specialised skill
There are real estate virtual assistants who are experts in sales and marketing. They can help you with your advertising efforts, especially if that is what you want to focus on within a period of time. However, we recommend that you choose real estate virtual assistants that have a wider skill set, so they can be flexible and capable of doing more.
Social media and tech-savvy
Real estate virtual assistants can assist the marketing team in creating campaigns to promote company services. They may not be the ones leading the campaigns, but their insights and assistance are definitely valuable.
Real estate virtual assistants can help your business thrive as they are valuable team members who care about you and your company. Once you welcome them into your team, they can quickly understand your business and learn the internal processes you have set. Hiring one can definitely change your business for the better over time.
