5 Tips to Teaming with a Real Estate Virtual Assistant

You love the idea of finding a virtual assistant who specializes in real estate, but you are just not sure where to begin finding the right one for you.

Over the years I have found that any real estate agent, real estate coach or the entrepreneur wants is to have someone to assist them in organizing, maintaining and creatively assisting in building their business with them. Someone who will have an interest your success. One thing about a virtual assistant is they are a business owner and they are successful only when their clients are successful.

So, when you are ready to find the right real estate virtual assistant to assist you keep these 5 tips in mind.

1. Decide what you need a virtual assistant to help you with. What skills and abilities do you want your VA to have? What projects/tasks do you want to delegate to them? Do they have the knowledge and experience you need? Visit their websites, view client testimonials, view the services they offer and get to know them through their profile.

2. Jack-of-all-trades. Although VAs primarily offer administrative support, many are now specializing in specific industries/niches. If you’re looking for someone who offers listing coordination, lead management, website assistance, copywriting, blogging, marketing, social networking and/or transaction management look for a VA that specializes in these areas. Most real estate virtual assistants offer these unique real estate services, but it is important that they have the knowledge and experience.

3. Cheaper isn’t always better. Even though you are on a budget that does not mean to find the VA who has the lowest fees. I know it is tempting, but in the long run it could cost you more. Why… if a VA is charging less than the average rate, think about how many clients are they going to contract with before the break even in their business. The last thing you want to do is not have the deadlines met, too busy to call you and give you personal attention, mistakes because they are rushing. This will leave you with a bad experience. Remember, you get what you pay for and in most cases the higher the fee the more experience the VA will have and in the long run will save you money.

4. Virtual Assistants are Business Owners. The virtual assistant is a business owner and should run their business like a business. They may work all hours of the day and night, but they have a business and should run their business like any other successful business. Virtual assistants are organized professionals and they have systems in place to ensure their business runs smoothly so they can take care of their clients. When contacting a VA keep this in mind. This is to your advantage. They have a process of scheduling appointments for client consultations and will offer to try to meet your timeline, but may not always be able to, so work together on this. They are giving you their time for free to consult with you and to discuss your specific needs. Each client is different and will require at least an hour to determine if there is a good fit to work together, making sure they can accommodate your needs, etc. You should never work with a VA until you have spoken to them and confirmed they can handle your tasks and projects. This is the most important part of the process when working with a VA and if the VA determines they cannot meet your needs they will be happy to recommend someone who can. Everyone wants to have a positive experience and it is important to remember that the VA has your best interest.

5. Sign the dotted line. Once you and the VA decide to move forward with your working relationship they will send you an agreement, which you will be required to sign. Make sure to read it. It is important to know and agree to exactly what is expected of each other. The agreement will include information about the fees, terms & conditions etc.

And remember to schedule weekly, bi-weekly or monthly conference calls to stay on target and comfortable with the relationship.

Having a real estate virtual assistant on your team is a great asset and the return on investment in priceless. They can help you to become more organized, help you focus on what is important and allowing you to have the time you need for your business or personal life.

Your Virtual Assistant will help you plan, strategize and achieve the goals you have set for yourself. And if you have worked with a virtual assistant and had a bad experience don’t let that leave a bad taste in your mouth. Find another one. I guarantee if you work together and communicate the possibilities are endless.

Social Networking - Where You Need To Be NOW

All the buzz among today's conversations is social networking. Are you constantly being asked "What is your Twitter profile?, What is the link to your Facebook profile? Are you on LinkedIn?" You might answer yes to all these questions, but deep down thinking "I don't have a clue."

Everywhere you turn you are seeing the new term "Social Marketing Expert", but is anyone really an expert? The Social Networking phenomena is just now catching on and those like me who have been at it for months I suppose can be called the experts, but the question you should be asking is "What makes you a Social Marketing Expert?" "What can you do to help me get to the next level?"

The first thing you need to understand is by just setting up an account and a creating a profile does not do all that much for you. Sure, your on the network, but unless you really get involved it does not all that much for you in the way of search engine optimization, exposure, etc.

This is where you need someone that understands how to work each network for you and your business.

As a virtual assistant specializing in real estate assistance I have seen this new way of marketing work, but only if it is done correctly. It can be a very time consuming task if you don't know what you are doing, so you have to research each network to see how it will benefit you and what steps you should take to make that happen.

Because I am a virtual assistant my job is to stay on the leading edge of technology. As part of my services I offer today's business owner the help they need in setting up their social marketing action plan and making sure it is implemented to benefit you and the industry you work with.

If I may plug my services here - I think it is vital to your business to get on board with social networking even if you don't "get it" just yet. This is where I will help you and save you the trouble learning what I already know. Save time by having Kim Hughes & Company put in the forefront with your peers, industry leaders, clients, and more.

You can view my profiles on each one of the social networks in the left column to see I do know what I am doing and I do know how to help you.

So, get on the social networks today! My in-depth action plan is one that I have spent hours putting together and it is exclusively for my clients and know that your return on investment is unbelievable.

Feedburner Moving to Google

If you have not heard, Google has acquired
FeedBurner. In order to maintain your feeds you will need to move your FeedBurner account over to Google no later than February 29, 2009.

If you are wondering why do I need to do this take a minute to visit the FAQs Transferring FeedBurner Accounts to Google Accounts FAQ.

If you already have a Google Account, then you would use that username to make the transfer, if you don't have an account with Google you can open one by visiting Google.

Once you move your feeds your old FeedBurner feeds with automatically redirect traffic to the new address.

This is a very quick and painless tasks, but if you are not sure what to do ask your virtual assistant to assist you with this very important tasks. Just another way your virtual assistant can help you with your everyday business.

10 Things to ask when Getting a Mortgage Loan

As a member of several groups across various social networks it is my responsibility as a real estate virtual assistant to know what is going on the the real estate industry. I came across this article today and though this would be something of value to my readers. Let me know what you think.

We know that buying a home is a big and important decision. Selecting a good Loan Officer is a key part of your financial success. You will find our way of finding a good Loan Officer may be different from other blogs or postings. I am seeing quite a few blogs or posts that are saying the same thing and I find the questions do not really pertain to finding a good Loan Officer. Also, I find it interesting to learn that a company is selling the data.

What we have below did not come from any source that we paid for but comes from the heart and after being in the industry for a long time. At LendingLadies.com, we find character and experience plays a large part in finding a good Loan Officer. Therefore our questions are based upon that. If someone is a smart and truly caring person, they will end up being a good Loan Officer. It does not mean that everyone will agree with us, but some of you will. Please see our suggested list of questions to ask below. As always, LendingLadies.com encourages you to ask us the questions below.

Please pass this along to anyone who will be obtaining a loan in the future.

1. Do you guarantee your fees on a Good Faith Estimate? (This is important. You do not want to work with someone who will last minute add an additional charge. Please do get this in writing)
2. Have you won any national or local awards? ( If someone is good, they will be recognized)
3. Do you volunteer in the community? (We suggest you also ask in more detail. If a Loan Officer is a truly caring person, it will show in their efforts in the community. If they care about their community, they will care about finding you your best home loan. You do not want to work with one who only helps a few hours a year but does so on a monthly basis)
4. Do you have any references or testimonials? (A good Loan Officer will have these available)
5. How long have you been doing this? (You want to ask this since experience does pay)
6. What makes you different from the other Loan Officers? ( It is good to learn their own perspective on how they perceive themselves)
7. Do you prefer a fixed mortgage or an adjustable? Why do you choose so? (Write down what they say and really think about their answer)
8. Can you shop several different banks local or non local, or do you close loans for one bank? (You do not want to work with someone who is limited on their products or rates. You want to work with someone who can shop different financial institutions and find the best loan for you)
9. Do you have any specials? (You just never know what they may have going on that they would not tell you without you asking)
10. Are you willing to speak to my accountant or financial advisor to insure I will receive the best home loan? (You want to look for someone who is willing to work with your team of experts)

Written by Jessica Peterson with Lending Ladies.

5 Tricks to Managing Your Time as Real Estate Agent or Real Estate Virtual Assistant

With a new year comes new goals, so I tweeted on Twitter tonight a tip to write down your top 6 important to-dos for the next day then do them! As a real estate virtual assistant with multiple clients I have to be organized, but when things get crazy I cannot be as organized as I want, but I always get things under control be the end of each and then sit down and plan my next day.

So, this evening I saw that someone replied to my tweet - very cool - I like it when people chat with me. This twitter's profile name is twitter.com/trontastic - Levi Wardell. He tweeted back that he also wrote an article about staying organized so after I read his article I was so excited to share with my clients and anyone that read my blog. You do read my blog, right?

Anyway, Levi gave me his blessing to re-blog the article so here it is.

5 Tricks to Managing Your Time as an SEO

f you’re like me and have 100 different tasks that need to be done on a daily basis, it is critical to manage your time carefully in order to get it all done. Personally, I’ve always struggled with this so like I usually do, I took the bull by the horns and made conquering this obstacle a pet project.

In doing so I found a few ways to manage my time that I thought I’d share with you. Is this going to be an eye opening, never before revealed super secret blog post? Not unless you have been asleep most of your life, no. None the less, these are steps that have helped me in a huge way and might warrant reviewing from time to time. So, here we go…

My 5 tricks to managing my time as an SEO -Use 10% less Time to Complete Tasks

Review the processes you go through to complete your regular tasks in order to reduce the amount of time it takes to get them done. For instance, if it takes you 30 minutes to filter through your email every morning, look at why it takes that much time. Perhaps creating filters for your email will help you get to the important emails faster or delete trash emails without having to do it manually. Remember, we’re only talking about 3 minutes being saved from this one task. Add those up for every task you do on a regular basis and you’ll probably end up with a significant amount of free time.

When I did this, I evaluated the time I spend every morning looking at my analytics, going through my email, and planning out my day (ironic, huh?). I recommend you don’t try and tackle all of them at once. I took a few days to approach each task and get my processes down before moving to the next. When all was said and done, I added about 15 minutes to the clock. Not too shabby for only three tasks, right?

Email Is The Devil! Keep it at Bay And You Will Win - The Second Trick

Okay, its not the Devil, but it can suck the ever living life out of your day if you let it get out of control. The best way to keep control of your inbox is to keep it clean. Here is what I do to keep my inbox clean:

• Answer emails right away that only take a minute or two.
• If answering an email takes longer than that, I’ll let them know I will be getting back to them by day’s end. IF it is urgent, just do it.
• Delete what can be deleted as soon as it can be deleted. Don’t let junk pile up!
• Create folders to put ‘keepers’ in rather than keeping them all in your inbox.

Sounds easy right? That’s because it is. The problem most face is the lack of time to organize it. Well, that’s on you, but I recommend you find the initial time it takes to clear out the inbox, set up your folders, and get rid of the junk. You’ll feel more organized and won’t run the risk of letting things get buried.

Manage Your Time With a Calendar

Get a desktop calendar, use Outlook, Use Google’s calendar, hell, get a Dallas Cheerleader/fireman (what ever your preference) calendar to put on the wall… I don’t care. Just use a calendar that works for you.

Obviously you’ll want to stay flexible but it is important to schedule out the time you have. Not only that, but try and plan your day out by the times that you know work best for some of your campaigns. Let me esssplain Lucy…

You know the best time to submit an article to Digg is between 9am and 10am so make sure you plan to write your article the afternoon before and have the time in the AM to publish it.

OR

You have noticed that you get the best response from your email campaigns if you send out Thursday afternoon. Mark your calendar to send at 3pm and work backwards, scheduling all the items you need to accomplish before you can send it out. This accomplishes a couple different things: A) You have planned out everything you need to do in order for the email to go out so you won’t have to worry about forgetting anything and B) Allows you to hit your target without it consuming all of your time at once.

Build a Squeeze List

Along with your list of “to-do’s” for the day (I’ll get to the to-do list in a second), create what I call a ‘squeeze list’ of items that only take a few minutes to accomplish and can be done between larger high priority projects. Keep this list with you so when you’re waiting on that article from your copywriter you can knock a couple of them out or while your boss pontificates during a marathon conference call you can use the list to keep you awake.

Build A To-Do List Before Leaving For The Day

Before you leave for the day, review and scratch out what you accomplished and build a new list for the next day. It is important to do it before you leave because you may not remember everything the next day. Also, this way you will come in the next morning with a list already created. Usually you will have a couple things to add once you go through your emails but at least 90% of the work is already done in tasking out your day.

Like I said, none of these are revolutionary, but they are effective; and that is what it’s all about. I’d love to hear ways that you have managed to put hours on the clock, manage your to-do list, or conquer the ever growing pile of requests on your desk so shoot me an email or drop a comment!

Cheers

I want to say thanks to Levi for being so generous with his article and I invite you to visit his blog for some additional tips, etc.

Change The Way You Think in 2009

Well, here we are moving into a New Year! I am thrilled to leave 2008 behind, but take the experiences of 2008 with me. On the eve of the New Year I always look at the good and the bad that I experienced in the previous year, feel the experience again and then decide what I take with me that will improve my life into the new year. 2008 is no exception. I had some crazy things happen - as the movie is called "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". Can't we all relate to the title? We all have experiences in life, but which one's are you going to take with you in to the new year. Make sure you take the positive experiences with you, but remember the not so positive one's - these will keep you grounded.

So, this morning I am reading Chris Brogan's blog and thought is was great, so take a minute to visit what he has to say about going into 2009. Then take a minute to reflect.

One thing I know I will take from 2008 with me into 2009 and that is the friendships I made, my clients appreciation, the knowledge and the ideas that I generated that will make such an impact on my life.

Wishing you a wonderful new year! Make it count and take time to help others - even if it is just to say hi to a stranger. It is amazing the impact we all can make by just smiling and showing compassion towards one another.

ActiveRain Tip - Make It Work For You

If you want to know the #1 benefit of working with a real estate virtual assistant is we are constantly educating ourselves with the daily changes to how the Internet and Technology works. In the 10 years of being a real estate virtual assistant I have built some very solid friendships with REALTORS across country. We chat about what is going on with the real estate markets and by having this relationship with so many I am kept informed of what is going on everywhere.

So, today I am talking with my friend and client Sam Miller in Knox County, Ohio about Social Networking and how it has impacted our business. During this call we are going over some projects for the first quarter of 2009. One of the goals is to make sure his social networking sites are reviewed and updated. This lead to a conversation about Active Rain.

Active Rain has over 126,000 members today and membership continues to grows. As with any program you have to stay educated on what changes/updates are being made.

When viewing ActiveRain blogs have you ever noticed the "View all Real Estate listings in your area" field, which is up in the left corner of the screen, and a field for the consumer to enter their "city". If you have never noticed this go to your blog on Active Rain then look for this field then put in your city. Notice where the link takes you - JustListed.com - all the leads from Active Rain are being passed along to HOUSEVALUES.com participating agents! Why? I have no idea, but thanks to Sam I can show you how to make sure you get the lead.

Here is how to correct this issue:

1. First make sure the home search field does not already point to your IDX. If it doesn’t then follow these instructions:

2. Log into your AR Control Panel, click on Settings, scroll to the bottom of the page and UNCHECK the box that says "Show the Listing Router search box". Then click "Update" to save your changes

3. If you have an IDX system, follow the instructions below to set up the Listing Router Search to utilize YOUR IDX system for the cities in your MLS area. When you go into Listing Router, go down to the second item to set up...."My Markets" to route inquiries to your own IDX search for that town. You will need to add the direct link on your IDX for every town you want included, but at least the result is that those leads will come to YOU! Once that is completed, you can go back into your Settings and re-enable the search box.

4. Make sure to add your "custom link", the very last Settings item. This will appear to the right of your name at the top of your blog. Another way to capture the leads you are generating.

5. Be sure the IDX site you are directing visitors to has a good lead capture system in place. The "Find Homes For Sale" search box will now appear at the top of your screen and will "Float" as visitors scroll through your Blog, your profile, and your individual posts. Searching for property is literally just one click away now."

If you are not a member of ActiveRain, send me an email Kim@KimHughes.com and I will send you an invite.