Are you ready for help with your real estate business, but not sure if an in-house or virtual arrangement would suit you better? There are benefits to each, and cons too.

First, do you know what you really need from an assistant? Are you clear on the responsibilities you want to pass on? If not take a good look at your business, or talk your situation over with a colleague to determine either the responsibilities you don’t care to perform, are not great at or need to delegate out. If these responsibilities require a license, keep that in mind.

Do you need someone to greet office visitors, put yards sign out, sit open houses, make copies of keys and distribute flyers or other like duties? If so and you have an adequate office set-up and don’t mind another ‘body’ close by, then an in-house assistant is a given. Another benefit is switching gears, real-time. With an in-house assistant you can immediately have him/her begin work on an emergency project. If your business has a lot of crisis management situations, in-house may be the way to go. Also, if you like the emotional comfort of knowing you can ‘see the person’ working this could be reason enough to hire in-house.

Remember, with in-house hiring there will be employee paperwork, workman’s comp insurance, sick days, possible personality conflicts and the required office equipment.

If you can take care of the above mentioned tasks yourself, prefer to work independently and do not have daily emergencies, then a virtual real estate assistant (VA) may be just what you need.

With the easy online access to email, calendars, CRMs, and all the third-party websites and tools you use, a virtual assistant can seamlessly manage your business remotely.

• For contract management, you have Zipform, Ziplogix, Docusign and the like.
• Listing Marketing can be handled via online enhancements, email and direct-mail resources.
• Contact/Lead Management is a breeze via various CRMs (MarketLeader, SalesForce, TopProducer, etc).
• Communication with a VA is easier than ever with email, phone, text, Skype and remote connections.
• Virtual assistants have their own equipment, software and work as a 1099 contractor (so no workman’s comp, paid sick days, etc).

There’s a place for each of these important team members in a real estate business, you just need to take time to contemplate your particular requirements. You may find a combination of both work for you.

We area team of real estate-specialized virtual marketing assistants. Reach out to chat about your particular needs. Better yet, complete this ‘Getting to Know You’ Questionnaire to learn more about yourself and your marketing.