So you can get your job done effectively!

There is no question that a busy realtor needs to hire an assistant. Whether or not your business is at that stage is another matter. The help that a real estate assistant can provide so that you can get your job done include, among others:

  • Establishing processes for routine tasks and following them.
  • Handling all manner of customer service / queries / social media.
  • Managing your marketing.
  • Managing administrative / documentation for sales transactions.

Believe it or not, in just these four categories, you’ll find 75% of the tasks that you would normally be doing, if you didn’t have an assistant.

What is a real estate assistant?

A real estate assistant is more than an office secretary or receptionist. When you have found the right one, she will become your right hand and the person you depend on most to keep your business life running smoothly so that you can focus on what you need to be doing: closing deals.

A licensed real estate assistant (as governed by OREA) has more range of tasks that they can engage in, versus an unlicensed assistant, but both roles have merits.

A licensed real estate assistant is someone who is licensed to sell real estate but doesn’t find that role to be a good fit for them and therefore opts instead to assist another realtor with the range of tasks that are required for selling properties, including but not limited to:

  • Administrative office work with respect to sales (these tasks can also be done by an unlicensed real estate assistant):
    • Communicating with clients and other service providers (photographer, for example, for listings)
    • Ensuring a checklist of events for each transaction is being followed, in order to meet closing dates
    • Processing and delivering documents / contracts
    • Processing listings
    • Writing advertising copy
    • Managing website / social media accounts
  • Showing houses on behalf of the realtor
  • Arranging and managing open houses
  • Sitting in on home inspections

An unlicensed real estate assistant is someone who has not pursued licensing to act as a realtor and is therefore more focused on the administrative tasks as noted in the first bullet above. They aren’t permitted to show homes, handle open houses or sit in on home inspections. They can, however, be present at an open house, for example, to hand out documents or assist generally, but all questions about the home, pricing and negotiations have to be handled by the agent or a licensed assistant.

From a purely financial point of view, the salaries for real estate assistants are relatively the same for licensed and unlicensed assistants. The difference comes in the bonus structure that can be put in place for a licensed assistant, on the licensed work that they do on behalf of the realtor.

Do you need a real estate assistant?

Before you look to hire the perfect assistant, you should probably have a handle on whether your current workload and style justifies the hire.

  • Are you willing to give up some of your daily tasks to someone else’s control?
  • Do you have time to engage in training someone?
  • Do you have processes in place so that it is easy to see the status of a file at any given time?
  • Do you have a high enough profit margin to warrant and afford the hiring of an assistant?

The real advantage of making the move to hiring a real estate assistant is that she is the person who can help you take your realty business from a performance plateau to growth mode. There are only so many hours in the day and in order to find the time to take on more sales, to find new clients and to work for the benefit of existing clients, an assistant can make all the difference.

If you’re ready to find the right person to work with you and become your right hand, give AGENTC a call. We’re here to help.