If you are a real estate professional, you must tackle many small things a day, which can distance you from your business goal. You may be drowning in managing listings, handling tenants or customer inquiries, appointment scheduling, and even lead generation. But is this what you should do? 

All these tasks just lower your productivity and keep you away from growing the business. Hiring a real estate virtual assistant can free you from that workload and allow you to focus on business growth.

Now, What is a real estate virtual assistant?

A real estate virtual assistant is a person who works remotely and handles various property tasks that can be managed virtually.

But before hiring an expert virtual assistant for the real estate industry, you need to find out certain things or follow a proper step-by-step guide to help you make a better decision. Let’s begin!

How To Hire a Virtual Assistant for Real Estate: step-by-step guide to find the best fit


If you are an agent, broker or in any property business, these steps will ensure you hire the right property virtual assistant.

Step 1: Find the tasks you want your virtual assistant to do


This is the first and foremost step before starting to hire. You need to find out why you need a virtual assistant and what tasks your property virtual assistant will perform.

In the real estate industry, there are many professions, and each has a separate work direction. Suppose you run a letting agency. Then, you need to figure out what specific tasks your virtual assistant will do for your lettings business. Do you want your VA to handle administrative tasks like data entry and email management or property management tasks like tenant Screening and application Processing? You might also want them to do both.

By figuring this out, you will have a clear view of what skill set you want in your virtual assistant.

Step 2: Define whether you need a part-time virtual assistant or a full-time


You already know the tasks you want your virtual assistant to do. Now, you need to decide whether you need a full-time VA or a part-time one. People have a misconception that virtual assistants only work part-time and charge per hour, but that’s totally wrong.

At Teambuild Consultancy, we help property professionals find full-time virtual assistants dedicated to their business needs. 

If you have many tasks or need the VA to support clients all day, a full-time real estate virtual assistant is likely your best choice. 

However, a short-term real estate assistant will be ideal if you need help with just a few tasks or for a short period.

Step 3: Make sure your business is ready for remote settings


This is where most property businesses struggle. If your company is not ready for a remote setting, then you need to rethink the whole process. When you shift to a remote setting, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:

  • Proper communication management: Tools like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are great for daily communication and virtual team meetings.
  • Proper project management: For project management, you can use Asana, Trello, Clickup, or Slack. These are the most trusted and used tools.
  • Secure cloud storage: This is crucial. Services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive allow your VA to safely access and share important documents.
  • HR Management for remote team members: Managing remote team members means new HR challenges, and to face these, you need to create a proper onboarding and vetting system. At Team Build Consultancy, we provide remote property VA and also make sure you won’t face any HR challenges.

Step 4: Determine the country you want to hire from


Before you jump into the recruitment process, you need to decide where you want to hire your VA. But first, you need to think about your budget. At Teambuild Consultancy, we hire skilled remote real estate VAS from the Philippines and Bangladesh with at least 3-5 years of property experience, which can cut costs up to 60% compared to hiring US or UK equivalents.

Note: We have mentioned the platforms where you can find VA in the section below.

Step 5: Set up a thorough screening and recruitment process


First, clearly list what you need in your job posting. Once applications come in, start with a quick scan of resumes. Look for people who have helped real estate pros before or show skills that match your needs. Check their online profiles, too. This can tell you if their resume matches their real experience. 

Next, create a short questionnaire for promising candidates. Ask things like:

  • “How have you helped real estate agents before?”
  • “What office tools do you use daily?”
  • “How would you handle an upset client?”

Phone interviews come next. This gives you a feel for how well they communicate. This is super important since they’ll talk to clients! During this call, notice if they speak clearly and sound professional.

For your top picks, set up a small task that shows their skills in action. Maybe ask them to draft a property listing or organize a messy spreadsheet. This shows you how they actually work, not just what they say they can do. 

The final interview should dig deeper. Meet by video to see how they present themselves. Ask about specific situations they might face while helping you. 

Make your screening fair by using the same questions and tasks for everyone. This enables you to compare candidates based on their actual skills rather than first impressions. Remember, taking time now to find someone great will save you headaches later!

Step 6: Welcome Your New real estate VA


Congratulations! You have done it! It’s time for a comprehensive onboarding process. Make sure you provide your new real estate VA access to the tools and software you use and set up proper communication channels.

Step 7: Provide Clear Instructions and Training


Sometimes, providing proper training and guidance is necessary. A well-planned SOP can make things easier.

In the training session, share all the CRM access and show them exactly how to handle real estate tasks and use your CRM. Since your VA already has years of experience in the property industry, you don’t need to provide too much training.

Additional Resources: Where can I find a real estate virtual assistant?


There are so many channels online from where you can find your best real estate VA. All of these channels have some Pros and cons which you need to keep in mind.

Referrals and Recommendations


Word-of-mouth referrals from other real estate pros can be a good option for finding reliable virtual property assistants. Maybe it is the easiest way to do this. You can contact your network, ask for recommendations, and collect insights from those who’ve already had positive experiences with VAs.

Freelance Platforms


Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, and similar freelance real estate virtual assistant marketplaces can help you. But you need to make sure they are super professional and rated well. You also need to make sure they are fully dedicated to your businesses.

Real Estate Forums and Communities


Online real estate forums, communities, and social media groups popular among industry professionals are great places to share experiences and recommend skilled virtual assistants (VAs). Some of the top real estate forums include BiggerPockets, RealEstateForums.net, and Reddit. You can explore these platforms or post a question to get started.

Here are a few forums you can check to find your preferred VA:

Specialized Virtual Assistant Recruiting Agencies


This is where you will find some peace of mind. You can easily outsource and scale your business as needed. These companies often provide pre-vetted and trained virtual assistants and manage the entire hiring process for you.

Always make sure your requirements are met, and you get a VA dedicated to your business requirements. But with Teambuild Consultancy, you don’t need to worry about that. We hire virtual assistants with at least 3-5 years of experience, specifically in your property business needs.

We have a six-step hiring process that ensures you get the top %1 of the industry talent.