Should You Hire a Real Estate Assistant?
To succeed as a real estate agent, you have to be attentive, responsive and agile. However, the high demands of the real estate industry can leave many agents feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Under the right circumstances, a real estate assistant can help ease the burden so you can focus on the things that matter most. Here’s how to tell if you could use some extra help with your real estate business.
Do You Really Need One?
If you are the type of person who likes to control every facet of your business, you might struggle with the idea of allowing someone else to shoulder some of that responsibility. If it helps improve your bottom line, however, you should seriously consider offloading some of your daily duties.
If you aren’t sure whether you are ready for an assistant, ask yourself the following questions:
- Can I afford to pay an assistant?
- Can I keep an assistant busy enough to justify the expense?
- Are my day-to-day activities organized?
- Am I closing two to four deals per month?
- Do I consistently generate leads?
- Can I find a dependable assistant I am willing to trust?
- Do I have time to train an assistant?
- Can I rely on my business to stay profitable on a monthly basis?
- Are day-to-day administration tasks standing in the way of growth?
If you answer yes to most of these questions, you should consider getting an assistant. If you aren’t sure where to start, try to get advice from other trusted real estate professionals. Ask them about their experiences with assistants so you will know what to expect.
How Can an Assistant Help?
You can free up your valuable time by delegating secondary tasks to a real estate assistant. This will allow you to focus the majority of your time prospecting for clients and closing more deals. A trustworthy real estate assistant can help with several tasks, including:
- Managing social media
- Fielding incoming calls from leads
- Putting together key components of listing presentations
- Organizing data to help with marketing
- Tackling low-impact tasks as they arise
Things to Consider
Before you look for a real estate assistant, it’s important to understand what they can and can’t do. A good, unlicensed real estate assistant should be able to help you organize your client call list, manage your database, schedule appointments, make general inquiry phone calls, coordinate showings and help you prepare for listings.
That said, if you expect more, you will need to look for a licensed assistant. Without a license, your assistant will not be able to show properties to clients, hold open houses or discuss the merits of a home with a client. They also won’t be able to discuss offers with clients or draft/submit counter offers.
Every state has its own regulations about what an unlicensed assistant can and cannot do when assisting with a real estate transaction. If you aren’t sure whether your unlicensed assistant is allowed to carry out a given task, you should consult the NAR’s helpful list of State Statutes and Regulations for Unlicensed Assistants.
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