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.

The #1 Question Asked By Today's Homeowner

In the real estate industry the #1 question is.... What is my home worth in today's market? Now you can get the latest quarterly median home price for your market, and its percentage change from the previous quarter by clicking here.

Real Estate Virtual Assistants offer you the tools you need to succeed in today's economy. Real Estate Virtual Assistants are creating ideas for you to use in your business so you do not spend valuable time in research. I have been offering virtual assistance to real estate professionals for 10 years now and if you are interested in the services of a REVA, but not sure how you would use the skills of one, then ask another agent that actually uses one or better yet ask a real estate virtual assistant how they can assist you.

Listings That Have The WOW Factor

Here's the scoop on how to make the seller go "WOW"! In today's real estate market agents need to step up their game when it comes to listing presentation. You need to make yourself stand out when you are going through the pre-listing stages and the bottom line with any seller is "What are you going to do for my property to give it the exposure it deserves?"

You need to have your real estate virtual assistant create some very impressive marketing pieces - both direct and Internet. Here is a sample checklist of what you should be showing the seller what you will do for their property.

Create the content for the listing. Of course, mention everything that is special, updated and unique, but you might also have the seller write a few paragraphs on why their home is special. They will mention features that maybe you have not, talk about the neighborhood, etc. Then you can incorporate this in your marketing.

Take lots of photos and make sure they are in a high resolution for printing. You will also want to walk through the home to have the seller remove items to make the home have less clutter. You might consider bringing in a stagger at this point, but the bottom line when taking photos of the inside and outside is to make sure the home is clean and clutter free.

You might also consider taking photos of the neighborhood, shopping areas and anything other points of interest.

Create impressive flyers that can be distributed in the neighborhood, placed in the home and for the Broker's Tour.

Create Just Listed postcards that are colorful and that will get noticed.

Create virtual tours that is not only going to WOW the seller, but any buyer that sees it as well.

Once you have all the information on the home, your photos, and any other important information then you can send it all to your real estate virtual assistant and she can then begin the putting the WOW on all your marketing, virtual tours, adding it to your websites, creating e-blast to your database of buyers, past clients, etc., and don't forget the agents in your database. You just never know where that buyer will come from.

Create a Single Property website on the listing. This is where you purchase the address as the domain name and you have the ability to add photos, content, documents, etc so the buyers can see everything at once.

Make sure you as your real estate virtual assistant to submit the listing to all the free real estate submission sites. There are quite a few and some of these submission site will feed to others. Some are free and some are fee based. An example is www.Craigslist.com, www.Trulia.com, www.GoogleBase.com

Once the seller becomes a client you need to set them up on your birthday card campaign, put them in your database and set them up on your Current Seller Plan and Seller drip campaign and you monthly newsletter.

Now that the listings marketing is completed and everything is up and running you need to make sure you send your sellers a monthly report on what is going on, what you are doing to market the property and share the feedback with them. This is another area that your real estate virtual assistant can assist you. Seller Reports are so important to your listing plan and one that is expected by the seller.

If you do not have some of the pieces to the above in place for your listings, now is the time to act. Get organized on what you will do for the seller and set a plan in motion.

Kim Hughes & Company's clients use Agency Logic to create their Single Property websites. Agency Logic has been the leader when it comes to setting your properties apart from the others and they very cost effective. The best thing about this program is you can send seller reports straight from the control panel to your sellers.

Visit Agency Logic for a special price when you click here.

With a slow down in the real estate market now is time to take action and get yourself organized with your listing procedure. Step-up to WOW today's seller with the marketing you offer and with the assistance of a real estate virtual assistant there is no reason you can't.

Ready to Find a real estate virtual assistant? Go to www.REVARoundtable.com to review over 30 real estate assistants profiles or submit an RFP outlining the services you need assistance with.

If you need more information on how to work with a real estate virtual assistant, please contact Kim Hughes. Kim will be happy to discuss the benefits of working with a real estate virtual assistant and even help you find the one that is right for you.

Have you hear of "Hour of Howard"?

Being one of only two real estate virtual assistants that has received the honor as a Star Power Recommended Supplier I am always excited to see what Howard is going to bring to the real estate agent today.

I just receieved his special announcement of a webinar that is coming up next week, which I am sure you do not want to miss. Check it out! You will be glad you did!

Join Howard Britton of Go Star Power for the Hour of Howard educational webinar "Marketing: YOU – Top of Mind With Today’s Consumer!". Howard Brinton and STAR POWER Stars Tami Spaulding and Heidi Hines will reveal the secrets of...

• How to generate steady referrals
• That, YES, Farming still works
• How to make easy contacts with your market How to utilize the Press to your advantage Many Time Tested Winners!

Send me a quick email after the webinar and let me know what you got from it. I would love to hear your opinions.

Get The Exposure You Deserve... Constantly!

In today's real estate market it is vital to market your services so your potential, current and past clients remember you when they are ready to buy or sell.

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Just imagine that every time someone conducts a search online for a product, service, etc they see your branding. This will remind them of you and what you have to offer.


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Interested in knowing more about this great marketing tool? Download the tool here and then look at my branding when the toolbar comes up when you conduct a search on the internet.

This is what is called "Smart Marketing"!