As a busy real estate professional, chances are that you could benefit greatly from the services of a professional assistant. Real estate assistants can perform a wide variety of routine tasks. An assistant can support a general agent, a buyer’s agent, or a seller’s agent; an individual agent or an entire real estate team; or some combination of the above.
Most often, an assistant is expected to pitch in with general tasks that can free up real estate agents and allow them to spend more time doing what they do best — helping represent clients to buy and sell property.
Be Mindful of State Requirements
Before unleashing an assistant in your business, make sure that you have a full understanding of what duties are and aren’t allowed to be performed by unlicensed real estate assistants in your state.
You Are Responsible for Their Work
Real estate brokers are responsible for the supervision, training, and control of an assistant. If assistants perform duties that are reserved for licensed professionals, you will be held responsible and it can jeopardize your own license and business. This is an important compliance issue for brokers and real estate business owners, so it’s important to be careful and do your research up-front. If not done properly, using assistants in your business can become a liability.
Obtain Official Guidance
To understand what duties are or aren’t allowed in your state, check in with the real estate board or commission of the state(s) in which you operate — to obtain the official guidance.
You can also supplement your research with resources such as this one from NAR, which aggregate state-based information into a user-friendly chart. It’s always wise to verify this information with your state to be sure, however, as state statutes and regulations can change unexpectedly and these changes not yet be reflected in secondary resources like these.
So What Can They Do?
Assuming you’ve checked what’s allowed in your state, let’s look closer at 4 things an assistant may be able to take off your plate immediately.
#1. Scheduling Showing Appointments and More
One of the biggest benefits of an assistant is the help with keeping track of your schedule. Your assistant may be able to help in scheduling showing appointments, walkthrough appointments, and more.
#2. Creating Social Media Posts
It’s no secret that social media is a huge piece of the real estate marketing puzzle. Your assistant may be able to create and schedule social media posts, promoting your personal brand as well as your current listings.
#3. Answering Calls and Emails
As a busy professional, you know how often your phone rings, whether it’s incoming calls or emails. An assistant can help you by handling basic communications, fielding incoming calls to curate and prioritize the list of people who want to claim your time and energy.
#4. Create, Post, and Manage MLS Listings
Your assistant may be able to access the MLS on your behalf to create, post and manage listings. In this capacity, he or she can upload information and photos about each listing, as well as making sure the information is correct and the status is up to date.
What Makes a Great Real Estate Assistant?
Now that you have an idea of some of the tasks an assistant can handle for you, how do you spot a great assistant candidate? A great real estate assistant will possess a number of different traits, including the following:
Organizational Skills
All assistants are expected and asked to do a number of different tasks — and often all at the same time. A great real estate assistant will have strong organizational skills, allowing them to keep track of both current and upcoming tasks. Consider investing in an automated task management system, to help simplify your requests.
Ability to Multi-task
In addition to being able to organize tasks, a great real estate assistant will be able to juggle different tasks simultaneously. He or she should also know how to prioritize tasks, allowing for the most important tasks to be done first.
A Strong Desire to Learn
One of the biggest benefits for real estate assistants is that there is the possibility to learn so much about the real estate industry on the job. In addition to learning from the agents, great real estate assistants will take it a step further and choose to invest in learning on their own.
Pleasant Demeanor
Your assistant is hired to make your life easier. Even when he or she is stressed or having a bad day, a great real estate assistant will not outwardly show this stress and will remain professional.
In order to be successful in your role, it is crucial to delegate some of the more menial tasks, allowing you to spend more time on what’s important — buying and selling homes. For education about and for real estate assistants, check our our Assistants skills track of courses.
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