Property management is a competitive business. For example, Australia has more than 2,600 commercial property management businesses and almost 11,000 residential property management businesses. The United States has more than 300,000. For your property management business to succeed, it must stand out from the competitors. You need a competitive advantage. A virtual leasing assistant can provide that competitive edge.
What Does a Virtual Leasing Assistant Do?
A virtual leasing assistant can fulfill various commercial and residential property management duties, depending on your company’s needs. Typical duties include:
- Providing information on properties and setting up appointments to show them
- Preparing leasing documents
- Collecting rent
- Screening tenants, collecting deposits, and arranging for the move-in
- Preparing move-out documents
- Developing marketing materials
How Does a Leasing Assistant Make You More Competitive?
A real estate virtual assistant can improve your company’s ability to compete in several essential ways.
You Won’t Miss Calls
Property management companies miss phone calls. Missed calls represent missed opportunities to lease the property or to provide extraordinary customer service, which retains tenants. Your team misses calls that come during off-hours, as well as calls that may come when they are out of the office. An assistant can answer these calls.
Your Marketing Will Improve
A leasing assistant can focus on creating and updating marketing materials, including online and social media. Regular posts on social media help keep you top-of-mind with potential tenants and property owners. If you and your local staff are busy handling on-premises tasks, you lack time to maintain a strong marketing presence. Your leasing assistant can take over those responsibilities.
A leasing assistant also can improve your ability to communicate with prospects and current tenants across many channels, such as voice, text, and chat. If you can answer a prospect’s questions immediately via text, you’ve got an edge over your competitor, who can only respond via voice a few hours later.
You’ll Save Money
Many property management companies hire staff to try to avoid missing calls. However, staff costs are almost always higher than hiring a virtual assistant, especially if you hire a virtual assistant who lives and works in the Philippines. Outsourcing to the Philippines gains you a highly competent assistant for a fraction of what you’d pay in most other countries. For example:
- The average salary of a local leasing assistant in Australia is 51,500 AUD, while the cost of one in the Philippines is 20,183 AUD.
- The average salary of a local leasing assistant in Canada is 30,312 AUD, but one in the Philippines is 17,951 AUD.
- A local assistant in New Zealand earns 54,914 NZD vs. 21,870 NZD in the Philippines.
- A United Kingdom-based leasing assistant typically earns 38,897 GBP vs. 11,288 GBP in the Philippines.
- The average earnings of a leasing assistant in the United States are 39,402 USD vs. 13,597 USD in the Philippines.
We could go on and on, but you get the idea. The cost of living is low in the Philippines, so salaries are low. But wages aren’t the only cost-savings. You’ll also save by not having to find a desk, chair, and computer for the assistant.
Also, hiring a local assistant requires taking time away from other activities to recruit and cull applications. However, if you use a staffing solutions firm, you’ll save all that time. You’ll only need to interview the finalists. Time is money.
You’ll Be Able to Focus Your Time
Finally, a leasing assistant frees up your time. They can handle preparing all the documents for leasing the property. They can update databases and manage the details of tenants moving in and out. With the leasing assistant handling these routine but essential tasks, you have time to focus on gaining more clients or keeping those you have. You’ll also have time to evaluate potential new property purchases. Your business can grow exponentially while your competitor’s business stands still.
You Can Scale Easily
As your business begins to grow, you’ll need more help. Hiring virtual assistants enables you to scale more quickly and with less risk. Because a virtual assistant requires less time and money to hire, you’ll be able to handle the additional workload and still have money to invest back into your business.
Where to Hire a Virtual Leasing Assistant?
To gain the most benefits from your leasing assistant, you’ll want to hire one in the Philippines. You’ll also want to work with a staffing solutions firm specializing in real estate and property management.
ShoreAgents is a real estate staffing solutions firm in the Philippines. We are the only BPO company in the Philippines managed daily by a real estate professional who grew his business through virtual assistants. We have a robust network from which to draw property management professionals.
Contact us today to see how you can gain a competitive edge by hiring a leasing assistant in the Philippines.
