How to use a real estate virtual assistant to grow your busines

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    If you’re like most high-producing agents, you’re busy. Things were smooth sailing at 1-2 transactions per month, but now that you’re doing at least 30 deals a year, the cracks in your system are starting to show and things are getting a little...hairy.

    There’s no better time to start thinking about bringing on an awesome real estate VA.

    Because despite the constant glamorization of “the hustle”, a healthy business shouldn’t require you to put in 60 hours a week, or miss important time with your family — and there’s no better way to make more money in fewer hours, than by enlisting the help of an awesome real estate VA.

    But where should you start? What type of VA should you hire? And how do you know it’ll be worth the time, energy and money involved? For questions like these (and more!) we’ve got you covered.

    Before you start your search for your amazing new success sidekick, this guide will help you make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for.

    Table of contents

    Also Rea

    • Real estate virtual assistant services: What real tasks should you assign to a real estate VA?
    • Best practices when hiring a real estate virtual assistant
    • How to determine the cost-benefit when hiring a VA
    • The top real estate virtual assistant companies

    What is a virtual assistant for real estate? (And why you need one yesterday)

    In the game of business — and life — it’s all about growth. And when it comes to hiring a real estate VA, the growth benefits are pretty much endless.

    real estate virtual assistant (VA) is a business admin who essentially acts as your right hand. A real estate VA can offer a variety of business services in-person or remotely. The right VA can cover diverse tasks like lead gen and database management, or even finance and marketing.

    Here’s how Daniel Ramsey, Founder of MyOutDesk, puts it, “Once you delegate a task and create a process and a procedure, you are able to recover your time. And get this, since you have now developed a repeatable process that someone else can handle…you get that time back for the rest of your career!”

    If you’re stressed out or stagnating, it’s time to let go of the idea that it’s somehow easier, or more cost effective, to “just do it myself.” It’s not.

    Think about it. What could you do with all those mornings or afternoons spent scheduling meetings, organizing paperwork, or updating your listings? 

    • How many calls could you make? 
    • How many follow ups could you do? 
    • How many more deals could you close?

    Using a VA helps you win back your time so you can focus on the high-impact work that brings in revenue for your real estate business. Fact is, VAs are the best-kept secret top agents use time and time again to get to 7 and 8-figure status. But you’ve got to be able to do it right.

    Before you rush off and hire your first VA, you need a step-by-step process laying out exactly what it is you need them to do. Because while real estate VAs are a dime a dozen, finding a truly stellar VA that can execute to the ‘t’ is a whole other ball game.

    Real estate virtual assistant services: What real tasks should you assign to a real estate VA?

    If you’re like most agents thinking about hiring a VA, you might be tempted to pass everything (and we do mean everything — from lead nurturing to content production and transaction coordination) over to a VA.

    Big mistake.

    “I've had a lot of agents that will come to me and say, ‘Okay, I want to hire an assistant. So I want somebody who can do marketing, somebody who can be an ISA, I want somebody who's gonna be good at my transactions, I want somebody who's gonna be doing my marketing, I want somebody to go pick up my laundry...’ I say, ‘Great, so you're hiring five people, right?’ And they’re like, ‘What do you mean?” says Tammi Deinlein owner of transaction coordination company Real Pro Leverage.

    The key to success in any role is to clearly define the tasks and outcomes you’re looking for.

    If you want help with lead response, you’ll definitely want to map out a list of tasks and responsibilities for a dedicated ISA. If you want a rockstar TC to keep clients happy from contract to closing, that’s a whole other skill set.

    And if you’re on the hunt for an ace-in-the-sleeve admin who can take the small, death-by-flea-bite tasks off your plate so you can focus on getting more deals in, you’ll need to narrow down your real estate VA job description to the top 3-5 tasks of each key function you need them to assist with.

    Here are some of the many things a great virtual assistant can do to help you scale your real estate business.

    Marketing

    You know marketing is a vital part of your business — but it can also be very time consuming. Fortunately, a virtual assistant can handle many of the marketing tasks on your plate (and even do some of the heavy lifting), so you can spend more time on the things that only you can do. A VA can help with marketing tasks like:

    • Create buyer’s packets and powerpoints
    • Send mailers to your spheres of influence
    • Graphic design for digital and print assets
    • Schedule (or even write) blog posts
    • Research content ideas
    • Update your website
    • Schedule email
    • SEO updates
    • Post, update, and advertise on social media
    • Track marketing analytics

    The top real estate virtual assistant companies

    As with who you hire, where you source your real estate virtual assistant will have everything to with where you are in your business. While there are many real-estate specific companies to choose from, many agents getting started with a VA have found great talent on Upwork or even Craigslist.

    Where you find your perfect VA is not nearly as important in being clear and confident about the outcomes and job description you’ve put together. Having said that, here are (just some) of our favorite companies and websites to help you narrow your search.

    Upwork – Best for Your First VA or One-off Hires

    This is the freelance-sourcing site we’ve all heard of. You can find pretty much any kind of contract-based talent under the sun on Upwork. Many agents new to outsourcing have found dream VAs to help them with things like organization, admin, and marketing on Upwork.

    Virtudesk - Best for a Diverse Range of Tasks

    With Virtudesk, you get access to highly trained VAs and a team of support staff to help ensure your VAs have everything they need to succeed in the role. VAs can cover any range of admin tasks as well as marketing and even transaction coordination responsibilities. The team at Virtudesk is highly focused on matching agents with the right VAs and even uses DISC profiles to make sure your VA is the perfect fit.

    Timeetc – Best for Flexible, US-Based VAs

    Like Upwork, Timeetc is a great source for generalist VAs who can help with a range of admin and operational tasks. Unlike Upwork, they do most of the hunting and pre-qualifying for you (using a process outlined by Richard Branson’s former Executive Assistant – how cool is that?) which can be a huge help if you’re extremely strapped for time.

    ClearDesk – Best for Handpicked Help

    Want a VA who has real estate experience? A social media specialist? A biz dev whiz? ClearDesk can help match you with a VA who has the right skills for the job, as well as part- or full-time options. All ClearDesk VAs go through a detailed and rigorous certification process to ensure you get the quality you expect. 

    MyTasker – Best for Quality, Affordable Overseas Help

    If you’re questioning whether you can really afford a VA, MyTasker is a great way to start. Their VAs are based in India and are experts at helping you figure out which business and personal tasks to outsource.

    MyOutDesk – Best for Agents with More than $200K in Revenue

    Ready for some serious boss-level systems? MyOutDesk has a rigorous process for selecting their overseas help and they actively train their VAs to become true experts who can cover the full spectrum of real estate tasks and activities. For expert-level help, this is about as much bang for your buck as you can get (but it WILL cost you so make sure you’ve got the revenue to make it worth it).

    Summit VA Solutions – Best for Real Estate Specialist VAs

    Summit VAs are given 160 hours of extensive real estate-specific training — meaning they can do a lot more than a generalist VA. In addition, Summit’s college-educated virtual assistants are backed by an internal support team of experts who help your VA get up to speed as quickly as possible.

    Also Read: All about the Real Estate Virtual Assistant

    Wherever you decide to start...

    Make sure your VA successfully fills the right holes in your business and can be seamlessly integrated into your workflow. For example, many VA providers require you to have another tool like Vulcan or Mojo before you can get set up with them but you won’t know details like that, unless you do your homework first. 

    Remember, when it comes to hiring a real estate VA who really gets what you’re about, you need to know what you need and make sure your house is in order, so that you can free up your time without cutting corners on the value you provide to your clients. 

    Also Read : Lead Generation Virtual Assistants and Reasons to Hire Them

    Also Read : Lead Generation Virtual Assistants and Reasons to Hire Them