How Virtual Assistant Can Help Real Estate Investors?
Real estate investors are people who are expected to spend top-dollar on properties. Since these are major investments (no one spends a couple of thousands on real estate investments), there’s so much more going on behind the scenes. There’s more research, more questions, and more need for paperwork to be sorted out by the book.
Now, this task can be overwhelming, but it’s important that you find a way to get on top of it. So, here’s how a virtual assistant can help real estate investors out with this.
Managing and organizing property listings
The first thing worth mentioning is that modern real estate investments draw most of their research from property listings. Major investors' decision-making process is not at all dissimilar to that of independent property buyers. They go to listings and look for properties.
Sure, they may invest in a construction project, as well; however, even then, they’re likely to find a real estate company or a construction company via a listing.
No matter how sophisticated the AI gets in filtering properties via certain categories, there are a lot of features that are not in the prompt (things you have to see and recognize). This is why actual virtual assistants should triage this property.
2. Conducting market research and analysis.
An investor has to do research before making a decision. However, it is far more efficient for someone else to do the research and compile a report/summary that they’ll then deliver to an investor. This way, an investor will be able to go through more potential options, which will affect the final outcome.
Having five options to choose from and having fifteen options to choose from is in no way comparable. The thing is that with properties, it’s often clear where you’re getting a better worth for your investment. With more options, you always get more value. It’s really that simple, but it’s also one of the most crucial virtual assistant services for real estate investors.
3. Handling customer inquiries and communications
Real estate investments are always massive. It’s not like when you buy several hundred dollars worth of stocks. These are massive investments worth tens or hundreds of thousands (even millions).
This is why an investor won’t feel comfortable talking to a chatbot. They’re spending top dollar, and they want to know that this financial commitment earns them the attention of the party they’re doing business with.
A virtual assistant may not have all the information, but they usually have all the information that the client would care about. If it’s something extra, they have the resources and the contacts needed to inquire about it.
4. Scheduling property viewings and appointments
The interactions between the investors and real estate agencies in the first few stages revolve around a series of correspondences and appointments. Virtual assistants can be put in charge of both of these things.
Now, the appointments are not that simple. If they’re coming for a meeting, the representative needs to be informed and provided with all the data and documents they need.
If they’re coming to visit the place, it has to be cleaned and made even more presentable than it is in its default state. This goes as far as some real estate agents baking cookies just as the client is about to arrive, just so that the place feels cozier and homelier. There are so many other ways you can make the place look more appealing, as well.
While they’re not there in person, a virtual assistant can coordinate these efforts.
5. Coordinating with contractors and service providers
Every home needs to be fixed, maintained, improved, or even just inspected. Specialists should do all of this, and no real estate agency has so many specialists in-house. This is why all of these tasks are outsourced, and outsourcing requires great communication.
A virtual assistant can work as a liaison in these correspondences, facilitating and making thighs far more efficient and personal. You see, this is an area in which a delay is unacceptable, especially since the work of others depends on these inspectors finishing their tasks on time.
This is a service that you desperately need, and the more properties and investors you’re dealing with, the more assistance you’ll need. Always think about scalability when it comes to this one.
6. Managing social media and online marketing efforts
A lot of clients are choosing properties on social media. They’re clicking on Facebook and Instagram ads, but in the field of real estate, Pinterest and LinkedIn are just as big. Still, you need someone to produce and curate content and manage these platforms.
Not to mention that we’ve already stated (several times actually) that communication with the clients is the most important responsibility. Well, a lot of this communication (especially the initial outreach) takes place on social media. Now, you could use a bot for this, but it’s far better just to have a person respond. This way, the connection is more personal.
7. Assisting with property management tasks.
Managing properties is an arduous task that includes everything from reviewing contracts and vetting potential tenants all the way to taking care of property maintenance and the financial aspect of the deal.
You also need someone capable of monitoring and reporting on rental income and expenses, collecting rent, sending invoices, and more. With the help of modern rental property management software and modern accounting software, an experienced real estate assistant with just a bit of training can handle all of these.
Each of these tasks is vital, but, more importantly, it’s recurring. This means that you need someone on top of them all the time. This matters for two reasons. First, you can’t afford to miss a thing when it comes to property management (for regulatory and legal reasons). Second, you don’t want to distract a part of your staff who has other engagements and responsibilities.
Wrap up
In the end, the nature of real estate work is so administrative that you need to have a strong bureaucratic apparatus. Now, the majority of small firms (even profitable ones), cannot handle this type of manpower on their payroll. Fortunately, with the help of virtual assistants, you finally have the workforce flexibility to make it all work. By combining this with the right tech arsenal, there’s nothing that’ll stand in your way for too long.
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