Real estate investing and wholesaling not only requires accomplishing revenue-generating tasks but also mundane tasks like answering incoming calls, document preparation, data entry, or CRM creation. Thankfully, virtual assistants for real estate investors and wholesalers exist!
Virtual assistants can take the minor tasks out of your hand so you can focus on the skill-based aspects of your business. They're a very cost-effective help as they back you up during your busiest days. You can hire one through referrals, VA brokers, freelancing websites, and other gig-economy sites.
Before you look for a virtual assistant for your real estate business, we highly recommend going over this blog! This covers VA characteristics, questions to ask during the interview, how much to pay them, and more.
A virtual assistant is a remote employee who serves as an extra pair of hands for your wholesaling business. They have the same job description as executive assistants, but all the tasks are done virtually.
Wholesaling or real estate investing tasks that are time-consuming and routinary can be assigned to a virtual assistant.
Think of virtual assistants as software that runs in the background that can lead your business to success. They can be paid per hour or per task and can also be hired offshore. Typically, you give them tasks they can accomplish each week until you are no longer swamped with work.
Ultimately, the best virtual assistants can streamline the administrative work involved in your real estate investing business. These people can practically do anything and they don't have to be a full-time team member!
Here are the specific benefits of hiring a VA:
Real estate investing and wholesaling include a lot of repetitive administrative tasks like preparing email newsletters, data entry, managing your checking accounts, performing outbound calls and other phone calls, writing blog articles, getting building updates, identifying a great marketing platform, document preparation, etc.
When you offload these to a real estate investor virtual assistant, you can focus more on spotting deals and negotiating offers with potential clients.
In other words, you'll get more free time for tedious tasks every week, which can ultimately lead to the success of your business.
If you are negotiating with multiple sellers or closing deals all at the same time, it can really get overwhelming.
You need a real estate virtual assistant who can create or prepare the documents you'll need, brief you on the requests of the buyer or seller, answer phone calls, and fix your schedule so your appointments don't overlap.
Virtual assistants are great at researching, especially those who have been hired previously to find leads. You can leverage their skills to find more motivated leads or you can seek their help to drive traffic to your website, which leads to the same outcome.
If you seek freelance virtual assistant services for real estate investors, you only need to pay them for the work they do.
They won't expect you to provide them with a health card, pay for their social security fund, or give them bonuses. It is your discretion to pay them more or give them a bonus if they accomplished daunting tasks that made a significant impact on your business process.
To identify the best real estate virtual assistant for you, you must first understand the needs of your business.
Your real estate virtual assistant should have the relevant skills for the tasks you need to accomplish, so you need to put much thought into this.
Reflect on the tasks that keep you always busy. Make a list of real estate industry tasks you are required to work on and which ones you can outsource to free your schedule. For instance, marketing, lead generation, cold-calling, etc.
Also, consider how long you need the task to be finished. Are they long-term administrative tasks or they're just ad hoc tasks that won't require a permanent VA?
When you have your list of tasks to outsource, determine which ones can be done virtually and which require a wholesale assistant to come to your office. Tasks that are location-independent can be offloaded to a VA you'll find at UpWork, for example.
Meanwhile, if you need documents to be physically prepared and for, an assistant to accompany you on your meetings, you don't have a choice but to hire an assistant near you.
Even though you'll find virtual assistants who are familiar with the real estate niche, they still do not know your business model. Write down step-by-step instructions on the tasks you'll make them do.
There are different types of virtual assistants, and each of them has their own skill set, not to mention personality. However, there are some core characteristics you should look for when you hire your first real estate VA.
You'll be communicating with your virtual assistant regularly, so it is imperative that you both speak the same language. It is essential that you test your potential VA before you hire them for your team.
Check if they can respond to certain questions correctly and if their command of the language is above average, especially if they're from another country.
If the tasks you need accomplishing need a specific set of skills, your VA should have pre-existing knowledge about them. For instance, you may need a dedicated virtual assistant for cold calling, lead generation, blogging, setting up marketing campaigns, etc.
There are some VAs who claim they have years of experience but don't actually know how to create or accomplish anything.
To avoid working with these people, observe your VA when they start. Look into how they ask for clarifications from you or the team, how they approach a specific task (especially in marketing), or how they deal with challenges on a property.
The real estate industry is a growing field in the gig economy. Hence, you can find skilled real estate virtual assistants everywhere. They might even be living next to you!
Here are some sources of the best virtual assistants for real estate investors:
These are niche virtual assistant services that pre-screen highly-skilled virtual assistants, so you get the exact person for your real estate investment business needs. Some of these brokers even offer training so their VAs can support real estate agents and investors alike.
REVA Global, VA4REI, Rocket Station, Property MOB, Call Porter, and TaskBullet are some of the most known virtual assistant companies. Some of these operate on a bucket system.
These sites are often the hang-out place of many virtual assistants and VA services looking for gigs. By doing a simple search, you can find virtual assistants looking for jobs related to your real estate investment business needs.
If you belong to a network of wholesalers or real estate investors, they can recommend a good real estate virtual assistant they've worked with in the past or a virtual assistant company they've been using.
Your other team members may also know a few local virtual assistant real estate investor. The best thing about this way of finding a VA is that it's free.
There are so many freelancing websites where most businesses get the best virtual assistants. Some of these are UpWork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.
So you have shortlisted some VA candidates and cannot decide which one to choose because all are equally smart and well-experienced in the real estate niche. What you can do to further filter your VA candidates is to ask the following questions:
Many real estate investors and wholesalers prefer only one way of payment, either per project or per hour. Make sure your VA also has the same preference and that you agree on an hourly rate or a project rate.
There's no point in getting a well-trained virtual assistant real estate wholesaling if they cannot be active during your work hours. This might be tricky if you are hiring a VA from another country because the difference in time zones can pose a challenge.
Along with internet stability, you should also ask about the speed of their connection. Can their internet allow frequent Zoom calls or manage huge software that your business needs?
Knowledge about certain software that is primarily used in your real estate business is a great advantage. But if they're willing to learn or know how to operate a similar software, give them a chance.
If you want a VA that will work exclusively for you, asking this question can help you trim your list of candidates significantly. Some real estate virtual assistants have a lot of side gigs, so it's crucial you clarify this from the start.
Aside from research, there are a lot of day-to-day tasks that you can offload to your virtual assistant. For the real estate investing and wholesaling business, this may include lead generation, database management, social media management, and a lot more.
Here is a detailed list of real estate investor virtual assistant tasks:
Your virtual assistant can help you come up with a list of potential motivated sellers and property buyers based on research and by analyzing the real estate market in your area. Granted, you may have to teach them this skill if they're new to the real estate niche and if they do not know a couple of real estate agents in your area.
In real estate, there is a lot of data and documents involved. You can easily find a specific set of data if there's a VA organizing them.
Your social media presence can greatly impact the growth of your business. Your VA can manage postings on your pages as well as the paid ads you'll run.
Cold-calling sellers and real estate investors are also some of the tasks you can outsource to your VA. Some virtual assistants are experts in cold calling so if this is the main task you want to be done, go for these specialized virtual assistants.
When you close on a property, there are a lot of documents involved. Some of these may slip your mind, especially if you are investing or wholesaling multiple homes. Luckily, the main job of virtual assistants is to help you organize everything.
If you want to grow your online presence by creating a website, making videos, sending email newsletters, or writing blogs, there are also virtual assistants that can cater to those.
CRM, or customer relationship management, is software real estate investors can use to manage their interactions with their potential and current clients. CRM creation is one of the most common tasks a VA can do.
Negotiations can be very stressful for a real estate investor or wholesaler, especially if they aren't on the same page with the seller or buyer. A virtual assistant can compile all the info you need for negotiation as well as proofread the documents.
Not to guilt you into paying more, but the right question to actually ask is, "How much are you willing to pay to get the best virtual assistant?"
If the tasks you plan to outsource require no decision-making or client contact, then you need a transactional VA. You can pay this VA for much cheaper since you only outline the instructions, and they can already get the job done.
But if you want a VA to who you can assign complex tasks in order to grow your business, like marketing, you have to pay more. This may cost you a lot of money initially, but it is a great investment.
If you're on a tight budget, you may want to find VAs offshore. Remember that the value of currencies is not similar, as well as the cost of living per country.
The intimidating amount you have to pay when you hire locally can be cut in half when you outsource to countries like India or the Philippines.
Hiring a virtual assistant in your team is strategic if you want to scale your business. They can help accomplish multiple tasks, such as database management, transaction coordination, document preparation, and CRM creation.
However, if you plan to hire a virtual assistant to help you with lead generation, you may want to explore other options first. One great alternative would be to buy leads from pay-per-lead platforms!
Here are Property Leads, we offer high-quality leads for your real estate investing and wholesaling business! We generate our leads from SEO, so you have little to no competition.
30 N Gould St Ste N
Sheridan, WY 82801
(207) 309-3949
sales@propertyleads.com
