The profession in real estate needs a LOT of time for one to be successful. But when you have a lot on your plate between helping buyers find the property and assisting sellers to unload the property, growing your business is far from just being a walk in the park. But hiring a real estate virtual assistant might solve this dilemma.
Businesses hire a Virtual Assistant to help them free up time and focus on tasks directly relevant to their core business. On the other hand, virtual assistants are no longer only virtual secretaries or personal assistants.
Keep reading this post to learn more about real estate virtual assistants and how they may help you expand your business.
What is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant?
A real estate virtual assistant is a freelancer hired by a realtor or real estate company to manage business areas that they don’t know how to perform or don’t have time to do.
Real estate virtual assistants help with a variety of activities, including:
- putting together listings
- lead generation
- email management
- taking care of social media accounts
- transaction management
Tasks of a Real Estate Virtual Assistant
A capable Real Estate Virtual Assistant can relieve you of tedious, time-consuming activities, allowing you to concentrate solely on selling more property than ever before.
These responsibilities include:
Administrative Tasks
Administrative responsibilities are some of the most accessible and significant jobs to start outsourcing to a Real Estate Virtual Assistant. These chores are typically simple to teach and understand, and they will save you hundreds of hours overtime.
- Email management. Sorting/filtering emails, replying to prospect questions, and sending follow-ups.
- Research. You might ask your VA to investigate a home you’re interested in purchasing, including its location, property value, amenities, and nearby establishments.
- Data entry. This task includes proofreading and putting information into a spreadsheet. Entering or updating client information, such as email address, phone number, and mailing address, is also part of this process.
The Real Estate Virtual Assistant will manage both personal and professional calendars. It will also include setting up meetings, reminding you of forthcoming events, and booking appointments.
Cold Calling
Although this is a more traditional marketing tactic, it is still one of the most efficient ways to generate real estate leads. This task is an excellent chore to delegate to a skilled Virtual Assistant since it will save your time.
Scheduling Appointments & Calendar Management
The time it takes to schedule appointments and manage your calendar can quickly add up and divert your attention away from the essential tasks you should be doing for your business.
You don’t want any appointments to fall through the cracks, especially with clients. You do not have to worry about forgetting to add something to your calendar if you use a Virtual Assistant to manage this.
Send your Virtual Assistant a text, email, or voice memo and leave the rest to them.
Managing Social Media Presence
- Create an online marketing campaign
Creating catchy graphics and posting them on your business pages aids in the development of an active online presence for your company or personal brand/page. Trained virtual assistants are familiar with web-based graphic design platforms like Canva, Crello, etc. These are user-friendly applications that make use of templates and simple graphics.
- Managing Business Page
Empowering your audience and enriching your brand by consistently posting on your business page, responding to questions from your audience, and sending an invitation to like your page are a few other online tasks that are ideal for a Virtual Assistant.
- Article/Blog Writing
Hire a Virtual Assistant to help you write articles for your blog! Blogs are an excellent way to increase brand awareness through SEO tactics and new, original content. However, creating a well-written paper with backlinks, images, and videos can take some time.
- Monitoring Marketing Efforts
It is necessary to monitor your marketing efforts to determine which channels are working and which are not. Allow your Virtual Assistant to report on any Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you believe are essential and change your strategy.
Handling Leads Questions & Feedback
After closing the deal, you must establish a sound, long-term relationship with your client. You can make a customized feedback form and ask your VA to contact your clients to share their feedback or even ask for referrals. This task is also an excellent way to enhance your marketing strategies.
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Pros and Cons of Hiring a Real Estate Virtual Assistant
The following discusses the significant advantages of hiring a virtual assistant real estate professional and the limitations to consider.
Pros of Hiring Real Estate Virtual Assistant
Minimize your fixed expenses
When you hire full-time resources, you will incur a slew of costs. You’d spend a lot of money on everything from complex payrolls to tax collection.
However, when you hire a real estate virtual assistant, you only pay by the hour or the project. As a result, your fixed costs in terms of salary and benefits are insignificant. And if you ever need to let them go, the process isn’t nearly as tricky as firing an in-house employee.
More time for more significant tasks
You are wasting your time if you allow yourself to be swamped with mundane tasks that are not essential to the growth of your business. Your time is better spent scaling your business, brainstorming new ideas, and increasing revenue. Hire a competent real estate virtual assistant to handle low-level tasks so you can finally focus on the big picture.
24/7 Communication
Your real estate virtual assistant is always available by phone and mail. It means that you can always contact them, no matter where they (or you) are. When you can get your VA at any time, you can communicate ideas and complete tasks more quickly.
Complete more tasks
Imagine you are hosting an open house. To begin, send emails, make flyers, place food orders, and promote the event online. You could do it all alone, but it would consume so much of your time that your business would suffer.
Stop wasting time on paperwork and appointment scheduling by delegating non-essential tasks to your virtual assistant. Increase the amount of work you and your real estate VA do together and start growing your business.
Relax and unwind
Time management entails cramming more hours of work into each day and scheduling time for relaxation. You cannot run a successful business if you are constantly stressed out. Hire a real estate virtual assistant so you can focus on your mental health. Prioritize the things you enjoy, spend time with friends, and rejuvenate while reducing stress.
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Cons of Hiring Real Estate Virtual Assistant
Lack of physical presence
Hiring a remote employee has a lot of advantages, but it also has a lot of disadvantages. It can be challenging to communicate with remote workers, especially in different time zones.
Although applications like Skype and Zoom have made remote communication much more manageable, it can still be challenging to coordinate with someone who is not physically present, particularly in emergencies where quick responses are required.
Establishing trust
Establishing trust with a real estate virtual assistant who works remotely can be more difficult. It can be challenging to keep track of assistants to ensure that they are working during the hours they claim or not billing multiple clients simultaneously.
However, it may be worthwhile to create systems between you and your assistant to help establish trust and reduce the need for constant supervision.
Because virtual real estate assistants cannot be trained in person, business owners must devise creative workarounds to ensure that the assistant is kept up to date on how to complete tasks and projects. However, today’s technology allows anyone to record video training sessions and share computer screens.
Language barriers
Many entrepreneurs prefer to take advantage of the lower wages offered by overseas real estate virtual assistants. However, language barriers can occasionally arise as a result of this strategy.
Many virtual assistants are fluent in English, but cultural differences, business practices, and day-to-day life can lead to misunderstandings from time to time. When possible, business owners should be clear and concise and use universal terminology.
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Why Hire a Real Estate Virtual Assistant?
When managing a real estate business, maximizing one’s time is crucial. Companies can better focus their time and energy on profit-making by delegating tasks and projects, including administrative and specialized duties.
Affordability, 24/7 communication, and better mental health are advantages of hiring real estate virtual assistants. Entrepreneurs should carefully consider any potential drawbacks and risks as with any business decision. Hiring a virtual assistant is simple, but it’s good to follow best practices to reduce any risks.
