11 Signs it's Time to Hire a Real Estate Assistant

Let’s face it: Your time is limited. You can’t possibly do everything by yourself. You know, the countless little tasks like verifying information via phone and email and staying on top of all your paperwork. You may not always want to admit it, but you may need help in order to increase your sales and productivity. How? By hiring a real estate assistant or real estate virtual assistant. This article will help you identify the right time to hire a real estate assistant to grow your business.

According to Forbes, “The booming online staffing industry is also accelerating the growth of the freelance economy. This $1 billion industry provides a valuable alternative to companies that are leveraging a contingent workforce. In fact, the Staffing Industry Association saw the online staffing market grow 60% last year [2012], and we see no signs of that growth slowing down in 2014 and beyond.”

The success of your real estate business will depend on delegating much of your low-value busy work (sometimes called “grunt work”) to a trusted real estate assistant while you focus on what only you can do — prospecting and networking for clients and closing deals. This will also free up your precious time so you can recharge yourself and spend some time with your family.

A good and dependable real estate assistant can (among other things):

• Help post on social media
• Handle incoming calls from leads
• Help put together listing presentations
• Help manage your marketing

Sounds great right? The only problem is figuring out when it makes sense to hire an assistant.

Looking to sharpen your negotiation skills? Download 17 Essential Tips for Real Estate Negotiation!

So, When Should You Hire a Real Estate Assistant?

Here are 11 signs that you’re ready to hire a real estate assistant:

1. You are closing 2-4 deals a month (or 25-36) deals a year consistently.
2. You have consistent lead generation in place.
3. You know how profitable you are on a monthly basis.
4. You know how much you are willing to pay your assistant.
5. You have a job description listing all your assistant’s responsibilities.
6. You are comfortable and willing to let someone else do your daily tasks.
7. You have at least an hour every day (at first) to spend on training your assistant.
8. You have spoken to your other trusted agents about hiring an assistant.
9. You are able to give your assistant autonomy regarding their job.
10. Your schedule is organized, and people can find out where you are.
11. You have a system for organizing and keeping track of transactions.

If you find out that you’re not quite ready, just do a little experiment. Keep track of your day-to-day tasks over the course of a month. You’ll see how your time is spent, where things could be streamlined, what requires your personal attention, and what could be delegated.

Once you have this list, you’ll be able to figure out what tasks you’d like an assistant to be responsible for on a daily basis, and you’ll know the skills and experience they should have.

The Bottom Line

Try as you might, you can’t do it all by yourself. A real estate assistant could be the shot in the arm your business needs to get it up to the next level. If you can learn to look beyond the initial challenges, hiring a real estate assistant could be one of the smartest decisions you make.

Once you’ve decided you need an assistant, learn how to find and hire one who is a good fit for you and your real estate business and how to ensure you are enabling them to drive the success of your business.

-----

Evan Tarver is a small business and investments writer for Fit Small Business, fiction author, and screenwriter with experience in finance and technology. When he isn't busy scheming his next business idea, you'll find Evan holed up in a coffee shop working on the next great American fiction story.