I have got one post – or two at most - to finish in my series “What can a virtual assistant do for you?”  So far, I have penned 3 posts in an attempt to answer this question.  If you would like to read them, you will find the first one here.

As I research on the internet and talk to people “live and in person” this is the biggest question that I come across.  People don’t know what a virtual assistant is, or what they can do.  Since I am a real estate virtual assistant, I tend to focus on that part of the virtual assistant industry.

I have striven (is that a word – striven??) oh well have strove or how about this – I have made it my goal to try to answer that question in my blog. ( I also like to use my blog to rant and also share funny stories that I hope others will enjoy.) But, mostly I would like to educate people on what the function of a virtual assistant is.

I will share with you the story of my in-laws.  Ahhh in-laws – the people that are not your family but you have to accept as such because of who you chose to marry.  The people who you make an effort to convince that you really are good enough for their offspring.  The people that strive to see the …..best in you.  Yes, that is it, the best in you.  I digress.

When I started up my real estate virtual assistant business, I remember telling my precious and cherished in-laws what I was about to endeavor upon.  Their first question was the obvious one.  I will eliminate the expletives – My dear daughter-in-law, what is a real estate virtual assistant?  I explained to them, and with a condescending look on my mother-in-law’s face she remarked – “Oh isn’t that cute. You are going to start you own little business.  I hope your little adventure works out.”

With the help of a glass of white zinfandel wine (or 4), remarkably, she is still alive.  But, much to my delight, I have proven her wrong.  My “little business adventure” has become very successful, and is bringing in real money -- more than I made at my previous employer..  But I would never rub that in her face…when my children or husband are present.

Anyway, the purpose of that anecdote was to help drive home the point that many don’t know what a virtual assistant is or realize how they can enrich the life of a real estate agent. 

That is what I would like to try to explain.  However, I need the help of ya'll (for the northern bunch please see "you guys").  What would you like to know?  What question is in your mind that you have always wanted to know, but never wanted to actually call up a VA to find out?    Perhaps, you have no intention and no need to ever use a virtual assistant, but you see them on Active Rain and you are just curious.  Ask away!  If I don’t know the answer, hopefully I will get the aid of the other very competent real estate virtuals on this site.  (There is no joke about that implied.  The REVAs on this site are very qualified and I have learned much from them.  I hope to continue to learn more.  I don’t even begin to suggest I know it all)

Please post a comment and ask what you have been wondering about the real estate virtual assistant industry.  I would really love to help, with the assistance of my peers, educate Active Rain about this topic.

I am working on my next post in the “What can a real estate virtual assistant do for you?” series.  If necessary, I will include your questions in that topic. 

If possible I will try to answer your questions in my comments.  I always read my comments and most always try to comment on them.  If you are taking the time to comment, I like to show my appreciation.

So please, ask away, or if you would like, you can send me an email.  Consider this the Q and A after the lecture. J

 
Thanks for your help in getting the word out!

Virtual Assistants are getting noticed more and more these days! That is great! However, as a result, I see the same question popping up on real estate forums and blogs around the net - “What is a Virtual Assistant, and what can a virtual assistant specifically do for you?” Or “How can a Virtual Assistant help or enhance your business?” Unfortunately, I sometimes see that this question is not answered very well. Some virtual assistants will post a message on a forum in response to one of the above questions that states - “email or call me, and I will tell you how I can help you.” That’s fine! But not a great “immediate” answer to the question. The poster of the question is still clueless on how a VA can help them.

So, this is what I would like to do. I am going to start a 4 or 5 part “blog-eries” (my term for blog series) on what a virtual assistant can help a real estate agent do. I am going to break it down based on the basic real estate transaction this way:

• Pre-Listing
• Listing
• Sale (under contract phase)
• Closing
• Other Miscellaneous Tasks

When I cover one of these topics, and I leave something out that you have a question about (which I am sure that I will do unwittingly- PLEASE – post a question and I will be happy to answer it to the best of my ability! Also, if you are a VA and you see something that I have left out, please post it too! I can always learn more!

So let’s get started with how a virtual assistant can help you during the pre-listing phase. Let’s assume that you are just starting out in real estate, and you have nothing but your sphere of influence at the moment. You call up a virtual assistant and ask for help. Here is what he or she can do to make your life easier.

• Maintain and update your client contact data base and your email accounts. All you have to do is provide your VA with you user name and password, and get back to the business of being a real estate agent. (Any contact manager is VA compatible – Microsoft Outlook; www.topproduceronline.com; www.agentoffice.com; www.act.com; www.maximizer.com; or any other software that you desire. Even an Excel spreadsheet will work as a great starting point – just something to get your database started.) A VA can sort through your email (and the endless spam) and get to the messages that matter. They can take care of any undeliverable messages from your drip email campaign (covered later), and make sure all of your client information is up to date. Also, they can keep track of your clients or SOI birthdays and anniversaries to send cards or notes (a great program for greeting cards that are sent through regular postal mail is www.sendoutcards.com. You (or your VA) can input your database along with special dates to remember along with the cards that you would like to send, and you never have to touch it again - your cards will be mailed on the date you specified!!)
• Create and send any direct mail marketing pieces (i.e. letters or postcards) to your SOI or certain neighborhoods promoting yourself and your real estate services.
• Create, update, and maintain your website(s).
• Maintain any lead generation software that you may have. If you are using any kind of online lead generation program such as House Values or Eneighborhoods – your VA can set up an MLS search (to send matching listings to them) for the buyers or create a CMA for the sellers. Your VA can enter the contact with all of the criteria into your contact manager, and set them up on an email drip campaign if you have one. (The best email drip campaign I have found is Rainmaker. Top Producer also has one built into its program.) If you don’t have an online lead generation program but you are interested in finding one but just don’t have the time – this is another great task for you VA to perform.
• Maintain any drip email campaigns that you have in place (as mentioned earlier.) You VA can also create new and inventive letters to be utilized in your drip campaign if it is not included in your program.
• Once a listing appointment is made with prospective sellers your VA can create a pre-listing presentation. My pre-listing presentations consist of both a visual presentation and a hard copy. For example: Visual presentation – a unique and informative PowerPoint presentation is created for the agent to take to the showing. Hard copy – this will accompany and compliment the visual presentation. The hard copy will consist of the following items: cover, agent biography, testimonials and references, marketing information, helpful hints for selling your home (showing checklist, pricing strategies, appraisal, inspection, closing process, packing checklist), marketing plan, CMA, and listing forms (contracts etc).

Keep in mind, after you set up an action plan with your real estate virtual assistant, all of the above tasks are preformed on a daily basis “automatically” with little or no supervision from you - the agent. I feel that these tasks are essential to a successful real estate agent, but they can often be very time consuming – especially if you are just starting out and are working another job to begin with.

As you can see, you don’t have to have numerous clients or tons of business to get started with a VA. You can start out with hiring a virtual assistant for about 1 hour a day to start out with. They can help you build your business with little effort from you. They can be behind the scenes while you take care of all of the personal and face-to-face interaction. You could start out with a retainer of 5 to 10 hours per month at a very inexpensive price – you will find it priceless after you see your business grow.

Be sure to check back with me at this blog to get the following posts in the “blog-eries.” Next time I will focus on how a virtual assistant can help you in the listing phase.

I am back with my second post to answer the question – What can a real estate virtual assistant do for you? This post is going to cover what a real estate virtual assistant can do for you during the listing phase. My previous post covered what a virtual assistant can do to help an agent during the pre-listing phase. If you missed that post, please click here if you would like to catch up.

So the moment is finally here! You have got the listing that you have been working on for quite a while. If you got the listing with the help of a virtual assistant, then the rest of this post is a moot point – you already know the enormous positive impact that a virtual assistant can have on your real estate business. But, if you don’t yet have a virtual assistant, you may be wondering if one could help you at this point. The answer is YES! What do you have to do – NOTHING! Next I am going to take you step by step through the process of listing coordination to answer the question “What exactly can a virtual assistant do for you?”

Okay, you have your listing agreement signed and you are ready to begin marketing the property. Here is what you do. You tell your virtual assistant that you have a new listing with a signed agreement and you are ready to go. You give her the information (mls input sheet and photos) that you gathered at the listing appointment, and your work is done! This is an example of the process that your real estate virtual assistant will then go through. Keep in mind that some of these points are optional and you may have various other items that you like to use in your listing campaigns that you would need to add.

1. Add the seller to your contact manager and any drip email campaigns, such as Rainmaker (Rainmaker has awesome pre-set sellers plans set up), that you may have.
2. If you are using a transaction management system such as Relay, your virtual assistant will enter the transaction into the program and apply the proper action plan.
3. Optimize any photos of the property that were taken. These images need to look in top shape because they will be used in all printed marketing, website uploads, and MLS entry.
4. Enter the listing and photos into your MLS system.
5. Create a virtual tour.
6. Create a Single Property Site.
7. Enhance your listing on Realtor.com
8. Enter the property on Craig’s List.
9. Make any changes to your personal real estate website to reflect your new listing.
10. Send a thank you letter to the seller for allowing you to list their home.
11. Create and mail out “Just Listed” postcards to the homes surrounding the listing.
12. Create a marketing flyer with many pictures of the home and other pertinent information to place inside or outside of the home.
13. Create ads for newspaper and/or other publications.
14. Send out an email blast to other agents via www.emailaflyer.com or www.emailarranger.com letting them know about your new listing.
15. Send out an email to all the current buyers that you are working with the see if they are looking for something like it.
16. Enter the property and the lockbox number into a lockbox system (to track those that enter the home) if applicable.
17. Enter the property into Homefeedback.com to track other agents’ feedback of the home. Or, send faxes to the agent after they have had a showing to see if they have any helpful remarks or tips for you from their buyers.
18. Send a letter to the seller noting all of the above tasks that have been completed in an effort to effectively market their home.
19. Send weekly reports to the seller (either by email or USPS) recapping the number of showings, feedback, website hits, inquiries etc.
20. Send occasional seller marketing letters and moving guides via postal mail or email as dictated by the action plan.
21. Remind you the agent (or place a task on your Outlook calendar) to check in with the seller once a week to address any questions or concerns.

Remember, all of this is set into motion once you get the listing. No of this has to be initiated by you – that is the beauty of a real estate virtual assistant. You can continue to do the tasks that make you a great real estate agent without having to worry about the fine details that go into marketing a home.

As well as marketing, your real estate virtual assistant can also make sure that you listing folder is in order. This is especially simple with a transaction management system such as Relay. But a REVA can make sure that you get all the proper disclosures signed. This is especially important in state such as California where the disclosures seem endless at times.

I hope that you have found this post to be helpful! On my next post, I will concentrate on what a real estate virtual assistant can do to help you during the escrow or under contract phase.

In the mean time, you can check out the following post on my blog – “But I already know how to do this stuff. Why would I need a real estate virtual assistant?”

Please feel free to leave feedback and let me know what you think.

Need a cup of java to get you running in the morning?  How about one for your computer, more specifically, your computer browser also. This only works with FireFox, so if you are not a FireFox user, I am sorry but, nevermind.

This is an extension for FireFox that I use every day.  It is called Morning Cup of Coffee.  If you are like me, you have a set pattern that you go through every morning before you really get up and running.   Or, like me, you have a certain number of websites that you have to check to get started.  Or, maybe I just have OCD. Probably the later.

But I found this cute way to get things done at the touch of a button.  You download this extension, and it puts a little cup of coffee up in your toolbar. You click it, and you can open as many sites as you want (into your tabbed browser.)  I have about 8 sites that I open at once.  I like to check my local paper, my Yahoo! page with all of my RSS subscriptions on it, my website stats, Active Rain, some real estate forums, and a couple of other favorite pages.  You can input whatever sites that you want to open into it, and also on what days you want it to open.  For example, you can have sites that you like to open on the weekend, but not during weekdays.

It helps me function while I am waiting on my cup of coffee help me function.  How am I supposed to remember all of those websites without it? (either coffee)

Hope you find this useful! 

...I also like several other Nick cartoons such as Fairly Odd Parents and Jimmy Neutron.  On a desperate day, I can even find myself chuckling along with Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.

Don't be afraid!  I have a 5 year old little girl, and these programs have grown on me.  I missed out on an important piece of advice before I became a parent.  Make sure you have a suitable recording platform in place (TiVo, DVR, if you are in bad shape, VCR) I didn't realize that eventually I would lose all television watching privileges.  Sure, I can make her watch these in her room, but then she gets these sad puppy dog eyes and tells me "I don't want to be all by myself, I want to be with you mommy."  That is all it takes...I'm done.

Now, don't get me wrong, she is extremely seldom is sitting down watching these shows, but they are her background noise of choice while she plays colors, creates stuff or reads.  I never knew that SpongeBob's voice can be comforting.

As time has progressed, I realize that I don't get to watch anything during the day.  If she is off from kindergarten for a day, we can sometimes compromise on The Price is Right, if I quickly change the channel and tell her that Avatar is coming on Nickelodeon.

It is funny how you change as a parent, and sometimes the metamorphosis is unseen.  I have to record and watch The Young and The Restless and Lost after 9 PM when she is in bed.  How did I loose control?

A really bad thing happened the other day.  Just to set the scene, I have one of those combo dining room/family room/office kind of deals.  We have a very open floor plan, and my laptop, which is my PC of choice, is usually somewhere in the dining room area. I hear that a brand new SpongeBob is coming on.  I make the exciting announcement, and my little girl bounds down the stairs with a happy yell.  She asks me to join her on the couch and I do (again with the puppy dog eyes).  My husband joins us too.  We are all enjoying the SpongeBob that we have not memorized every word to.  Change is fun.  Then during commercial a strange thing happens. My little one gets up and goes upstairs to finish what she was doing before she was called away.  SpongeBob comes back on, and my husband and I are chuckling.  He then makes that comment that Patrick just said something that he himself would have said and followed it with "Ain't that right Katelynn?"....."Katelynn???"  Aha, we are alone, over 25 and watching SpongeBob ---- and enjoying it.  She had never returned from her important tasks upstairs, and we continued to watch our program like good little children.

I found this to be funny.  I also find it funny how I can enjoy these shows so much.  I guess after you watch them against your will for a while, and they become background noise to your everyday life, you brain programming changes, and the chemical make up rearranges itself.

One thing I do know for sure -- I wouldn't change a thing for anything in the world! 

Okay, if you haven't figured out by now, I LOVE FREE!    This ticker will change daily, so check back to see if the free software for the day is something that you need!

It is just hard to believe that you can get something for free with no strings (or viruses, spyware, or adware) attached. It is good to know that it is still possible!

Have a great day!

Good morning all!

I recently posted a blog post about the Give Away of the Day site that I found on another blog site.

What is offered today seemed like a good freebie for realtors.  It is a photo software that allows you to create panoramic photos.  Does you listings have a great view that you want to be able to capture and put on a flyer?  Or, a really big room that you don't want to chop up?  This is a great tool. 

It is called Zoner Panorama Maker and it is very user friendly.  Here is the link to the site to get it for free.  Below is a picture I just took from my front door.  I took a total of 6 pictures, and it merged them together great!  I call this "View Across the Street." :)

The software is really simple to use.  I took the pictures, installed the software, and made the panoramic image in 10 minutes.  All you do is open the software, select the pictures you want, order them in the proper sequence and click on join.

The one and only catch to the Give Away of the Day site is that you have to download and install the software on the day that it is offered, or it is no longer free. (I tried it just to make sure.  I tried to download and install something the next day, and I couldn't without paying for it.) 

If you need something like this, check it out.  I hope it helps!

Have a great day! 

I am back again to stir the pot of lead generation sites.

This post is a little more specific in nature.  I received a call from an agent who wants me to perform listing and marketing coordination for him.  He uses HomeGain.com (among some others), and he wanted me to assist him with proposal writing and the like.

I don't know much about this site, and I am not familiar with those that use it.

Do any of you have an opinion about this particular site?  Please feel free to share any stories or experiences. If there are any consumers out there who have used this site to review agents, I would love to hear from you too!

To me, it kind of seems like a dating service.  You put out your ad and then you pick the one who sweeps you off of your feet.  Any Real Estate Romeos out there?

Thanks for your input and help!  Ya'll (or "you guys" for the un-Southern) are always great! 

Okay, this is a question that I see repeated often throughout different real estate networking forums all over the web.

Are lead generation sites worth the price? Are lead generation systems helpful? Are lead generation systems a bunch of BS?

The answer to these questions run the gamut from sparkling praises to profanity and rage that has to be censored.  I have picked up on one fact that seems to be a universal truth - 

Don't get yourself locked into a 12 month contract with any lead generation system. 

I recently worked with an agent that found himself in just such a quandary.  He signed up with this lead generation company that told him that the system "would eventually pay for itself."  Sound familiar? I mean, they made it sound like that he was going to run out of property to sale on earth, so he would have to start selling lots on the moon.  He ended up trying to fake his own death to get out of the contract.  THERE IS NO WAY OUT OF THESE CONTRACTS. I think that it would be easier to get out of a deal with the Mafia.  I am thinking that this company may be the Mafia.  I was going to call and talk to them on his behalf but I was afraid they would make me an offer...well you know.

Anyway, joking aside and seriousness.  As a real estate virtual assistant, I try to help my agents make decisions that will be most beneficial to them.

I have decided to start my own investigation into lead generation systems.  I have brought this dilemma to Active Rain because it is such a great gathering of real estate agents, virtual assistants and other real estate professionals.  I have learned so much through AR, and I know that I will get some very helpful insight.

Please share with me any experiences that you have had with lead generations sites. Good or bad.  If you have a particularly scathing tale that you would rather not post, please feel free to email me.  I hate to see people taken advantage of, and I would like to keep it from happening to another unsuspecting agent.

I will share with you the sites that I have worked with:

HouseHunt.com - Perhaps I didn't work with this site long enough to reap its benefits, but I didn't see a whole lot to sing about.  First, it is very very expensive (at least for one good zip code in GA it is) and you HAVE  to sign a 12 month contract.  The people looking on this site were doing just that looking. Which is fine, but it stinks when you have to pay that much for curiosity.  It had a good drip email campaign, but so many of the addresses you got were bogus - you know - bob@dontcallme.com. Also, when it would pull listings from the MLS to send to clients, it wouldn't always pull the picture.  What person in Texas wants to see a listing from Georgia and try to make a decision with no picture. 

HouseValues.com - I haven't done much with this site, but I have heard good things about it.   

I have one agent that I do data entry and database management for and she uses MLSOnline.com as just one of her lead generation sites.  She gets a ton of leads from them, but because she does her own followup and in house closing coordination, I don't know how many of these leads pan out. 

One more thing to beware of lead generation seekers  -  There is a new site that I just found out about.  It is called BugMeNot.com.  It will give you a phony email address to paste into the email field of a form.   If the site has some sort of method to tell if the address is phony or not, it will recognize it as legit.  However, it leads nowhere.  It has the domain name of trashmail.com which is easy to recognize with the human eye - but computers wont catch it at first, and send it through as legit. This site bills itself as "a way to bypass compulsory registration."  Great, just one more way to make things difficult for us.

So please, share with me and others your lead generation opinions. All are welcome.  I would love to learn more and I am convinced this is the place to do it. 

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that the section that I have on my blog called "Links for your Liking" has been updated with some brand new links for you to review.

Most of the links I feature are real estate agent or real estate virtual assistant related.  I try to find links that I have not heard of before, but I think can be very useful. It is usually something that will cut down on my time.

The links that I include in this section most often always have a demo our free trial feature so you can preview what you are getting.  I dont like purchasing anything that I cant preview or use first.  Most of the links in this post have a no obligation trial period.

Check out Links For You Liking if you would like to see what links are included this week. My previous Links for you Liking post can be found here.

If you have time, I am sure that you will find something useful that will make your life interesting.  

If you have a link that you would like to see featured in this section, please feel free to either post to this blog or email me.

Thanks and enjoy!