What to Look for When Hiring a Real Estate Virtual Assistant
Real estate is one of the highest-leverage industries for virtual assistant support — and one of the most mismatched when agents and brokers hire the wrong kind of VA.
A generalist VA can manage your email and schedule your appointments. But a real estate VA who understands the sales cycle, knows their way around your MLS, can coordinate a transaction without hand-holding, and understands what a VA can and cannot legally do on your behalf? That's a different level of hire — and it requires a different approach to finding, evaluating, and onboarding.
This guide covers everything you need to know about hiring a real estate virtual assistant: what skills actually matter, what compliance lines exist, how to evaluate candidates, and how to structure the relationship to get maximum leverage on your time.
What Makes a Real Estate VA Different
A real estate business runs on a specific rhythm: lead generation, lead follow-up, listing coordination, showing management, offer negotiation support, transaction coordination, and post-closing relationship maintenance. Each stage of that cycle has distinct operational needs, and a VA who doesn't understand the cycle will miss context that matters.
Here's what separates a genuine real estate VA from a generalist assistant doing real estate tasks:
MLS Proficiency
Real estate VAs need to work fluently within MLS systems — pulling comps, updating listing statuses, uploading documents, and managing listing records. This varies by market: in South Florida, your VA will need to know Matrix or Stellar MLS. In Texas, Flexmls or NTREIS. Nationally relevant platforms like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin also play into listing management and lead monitoring.
Ask specifically: "Which MLS systems have you worked in?" A VA who says "I've worked in MLS systems" without naming one has almost certainly not worked in one.
Transaction Coordination Experience
Transaction coordination is one of the most common and highest-value delegations in real estate. It's also one of the most specific. A VA who has done transaction coordination knows what a contract-to-close checklist looks like, understands earnest money deadlines, can track contingency periods, communicate with title and escrow, chase missing signatures, and keep the deal moving without your direct involvement on every step.
A VA who hasn't done TC work will be learning on live transactions — which is not where you want training to happen.
CRM Management
Real estate CRMs are specialized tools, and your VA should know the one you're using. The major platforms in real estate include Follow Up Boss, Chime (formerly known as Boomtown in some markets), KVCore, LionDesk, and Sierra Interactive. Each has different pipeline views, automation logic, and lead routing logic.
A VA who understands your CRM can manage lead follow-up sequences, update contact records with showing feedback and conversation notes, flag leads that have gone cold for re-engagement, and ensure your pipeline accurately reflects where every prospect stands in the buying or selling process. A VA who's starting from scratch on your CRM needs weeks of ramp-up before they add real value there.
Understanding the Listing-to-Close Cycle
A real estate VA who understands the full cycle — from the moment a lead comes in through the first conversation, property search, showing scheduling, offer preparation support, inspection coordination, and final closing — can anticipate what's needed at each stage without constant prompting. They know that when a buyer goes under contract, a closing timeline appears. They know that listing appointments require a CMA packet. They know that post-closing is the beginning of the referral cycle, not the end of the relationship.
This cycle literacy is what allows a VA to work proactively rather than reactively.
What a Real Estate VA Can and Cannot Legally Do
This is the compliance question most agents don't think to ask until they've already made a mistake. Let's be direct about where the legal lines are.
A VA without a real estate license cannot:
- Interpret contract terms or advise on negotiations
- Discuss agency relationships with clients on your behalf
- Show properties
- Submit or receive offers independently
- Make material representations about a property
- Conduct any activity that constitutes "practicing real estate" under your state's license law
The definition of what constitutes practicing real estate varies by state, but the general standard is that any activity requiring real estate knowledge or judgment — including advising, negotiating, or facilitating a transaction — requires licensure.
A VA can legally handle:
- Scheduling showings (coordinating logistics, not selecting properties)
- Uploading and organizing listing documents
- Managing CRM data entry and follow-up task scheduling
- Responding to general inquiries using approved templates
- Social media content creation and scheduling
- Transaction coordination logistics (tracking deadlines, chasing signatures, organizing files)
- Lead research and list building
- Marketing materials preparation
- Administrative coordination with title, escrow, and lenders
Fair Housing Act awareness is also essential. A VA who responds to inquiries on your behalf — even using templates — must understand the basic requirements: no discriminatory language, no steering, no statements about neighborhood composition. This isn't a legal lecture — it's a training requirement for any VA who touches client communications.
The 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Real Estate VA
Use this checklist when evaluating candidates:
- Which MLS systems have you worked in, and what tasks did you complete in them? (Look for specifics — "uploaded documents to Stellar MLS," not just "used MLS systems.")
- Have you done transaction coordination? Walk me through a contract-to-close checklist you've worked from. (A VA who has done TC will have a clear mental model of the process.)
- Which real estate CRMs do you have experience with? (Follow Up Boss, KVCore, Chime, LionDesk, Sierra Interactive — name the one you use and see if they know it.)
- How do you handle a situation where a client asks you a question you can't answer? (Escalation protocol is essential — you want a VA who escalates appropriately, not one who improvises with a client.)
- Describe how you would manage my lead follow-up process. (They should describe specific CRM-based workflows, not a generic "I'd follow up regularly.")
- Are you familiar with Fair Housing Act requirements as they apply to administrative tasks? (They don't need to be lawyers, but they should know the basic rules.)
- How do you track and manage multiple transaction deadlines simultaneously? (Look for specific tools or systems — spreadsheet tracking, CRM task management, a dedicated TC platform like Dotloop or Skyslope.)
- Have you created content for real estate social media? What platforms and what types of posts? (For digital marketing services, you want a VA who understands the difference between Instagram listing content and LinkedIn thought leadership.)
- How do you handle confidential client information? (Data security awareness is non-negotiable when your VA has access to purchase contracts and financial documents.)
- What's your experience with real estate lead generation platforms? (Zillow Premier Agent, Realtor.com, Google LSA, cold calling — relevant to sales growth services.)
How a Real Estate VA Frees Your Time
One THC client — a solo agent in a high-volume residential market — handed 90% of their marketing operations to their VA within the first two months of the engagement. That included all social media content creation and scheduling, listing photography coordination, MLS listing uploads, open house promotions, and client testimonial follow-up campaigns. The agent's job became showing properties, negotiating contracts, and building relationships. Everything that happened around those activities was handled.
The result: the agent went from closing 18 transactions per year to 27 — without working more hours. The VA didn't generate more leads directly. The VA freed up enough time that the agent could focus on the high-leverage, license-required activities that actually drive transactions.
This is the real estate VA leverage model. It's not about having help — it's about making sure the activities that require your license and your judgment are the only things on your plate.
THC Pricing for Real Estate Professionals
The Human Capital offers real estate VA support at the same pricing as our other service lines: $700/month for part-time, $1,300/month for full-time, month-to-month with no lock-in.
For real estate teams and brokerages, the full-time plan typically covers one dedicated VA supporting one agent or a small team. For high-volume agents managing multiple active transactions simultaneously, the full-time plan provides dedicated bandwidth across transaction coordination, marketing, lead management, and administrative support.
We also run industry-specific VA support for real estate professionals. For agents and brokers looking for a team exclusively focused on real estate VA support, visit our Industries page.
Location-specific support is available for agents in key markets. Our Miami real estate VA and Austin real estate VA services are tailored to the pace, MLS systems, and market dynamics of those specific regions.
How to Structure the Onboarding
Real estate VA onboarding requires more specificity than general admin onboarding because the context is so deal-dependent. Here's a framework:
Week 1: Access setup (CRM, MLS, email, social media), style guide review (listing description voice, template review), current pipeline walkthrough.
Week 2: Shadow tasks — VA completes tasks with your review before sending or publishing anything.
Week 3-4: Live operations with check-in protocol. VA runs tasks independently; you review outputs at agreed checkpoints.
Month 2 and beyond: Full independence on routine tasks. New task types go through a brief shadow phase before full handoff.
The Client Manager at THC manages this ramp-up process — you're not left designing the onboarding structure yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a real estate VA need a license?
No — for the types of tasks most agents delegate. Administrative, marketing, coordination, and CRM management tasks do not require a real estate license. A VA cannot practice real estate: they cannot advise clients, negotiate on your behalf, make representations about properties, or show homes. But everything that supports your licensed activity — the scheduling, the marketing, the document management, the follow-up, the coordination — can be legally handled by a qualified, trained VA. Check your state's specific license law for the precise boundary in your jurisdiction.
What CRM systems do THC real estate VAs know?
THC real estate VAs have experience across the major real estate CRM platforms, including Follow Up Boss, KVCore, Chime, LionDesk, and Sierra Interactive. During the matching process, we align you with a VA who has direct experience in your specific CRM — or, if you're open to guidance, we can help you assess which platform best fits your lead management workflow. New platform onboarding is also available for VAs transitioning to a new tool; the learning curve on most real estate CRMs is shorter than agents expect when the VA already understands real estate pipeline logic.
Can a VA handle transaction coordination?
Yes, with appropriate experience and setup. Transaction coordination is one of the most delegatable and highest-value tasks in a real estate business. A VA who has done TC work can manage the contract-to-close process using a defined checklist: tracking contingency deadlines, coordinating with title and escrow, chasing signatures, communicating status updates to all parties, and flagging anything that requires your direct decision. What they cannot do is make substantive decisions on your behalf — any material question goes back to you. But the logistics, the tracking, the communication, and the organization? That's all fair game, and it typically saves agents 5-8 hours per active transaction.
Real estate is a relationship business, and your time is worth the most when you're in front of clients. Book a free 15-minute strategy call and we'll help you figure out exactly what your VA should own — so you can focus on what only you can do.