You’re interested in real estate, but you’re not ready to negotiate big deals, always be on the clock, and only earn income when you make sales. But that doesn’t mean a career in real estate isn’t for you. A real estate agent personal assistant is a great career alternative.
How to become a real estate agent assistant
The key qualification to be a real estate agent personal assistant is a real estate license. You should have great communication skills to speak with other agents and clients, organizational skills to maintain client and financial data, and attention to detail for preparing forms and advertisements.
Like any job, you want to do your research to find out what you’d be getting yourself into and what your daily schedule and tasks would look like. So keep reading to find out what a real estate agent personal assistant does and some critical things to know about this career path.
What Does a Real Estate Agents Personal Assistant Do?
The real estate agent personal assistant job description is quite lengthy. While you won’t be the one putting your name on a listing or earning the commission checks, you’ll be accepting nearly all of the responsibilities of a regular agent.
Real estate agent personal assistants will work alongside a single agent, a real estate team, or a real estate broker. They perform tasks like:
Real estate assistant job description
- Answering phone calls and emails from current clients or hot leads
- Scheduling listing presentations, open houses, and showings
- Preparing forms and documents (i.e., Offers, buyer’s agreements, listing agreements)
- Creating marketing materials (i.e., EDDM mailers, postcards, email campaigns)
- Adding new clients to the CRM or client database
- Delivering signed and approved documents to buyers and sellers
- Arranging for contractors, inspectors, or maintenance pros to visit a property
- Keeping financial, client, and deposit records up-to-date and accurate
- Pulling listings from the MLS and hosting open houses
- Managing yard signs and marketing materials
Real estate agent personal assistants typically have a busy workday and rarely get public recognition for their work, given they remain behind the scenes. But if you’re looking into becoming a full-time real estate agent in the future, this job is a great segue.
Qualities of a Good Licensed Real Estate Agent Assistant
Like not everybody would make a good real estate salesperson, not everyone will thrive as a personal assistant. To succeed, you’ll need to possess quite a few skills and personality traits that the job requires.
So what does it take to be an excellent real estate agent personal assistant? Consider this career path if you’re:
- Great at staying organized (data, charts, tables, and management tools)
- Knowledgeable in real estate (license-preferred)
- Skilled with software like Microsoft Office or G-Suite
- Detail-oriented and motivated to succeed
- A skilled communicator (phone, email, or written word)
- Skilled in graphic design to create marketing materials
- Able to multi-task with ease
- A pro on social media and marketing tactics
Many of the ideal real estate agent personal assistant’s skills and qualities go in line with other types of assistants and secretaries. So this would be a great career path if you’ve excelled in similar jobs and have an appreciation for the real estate industry.
Why Real Estate Assistants Should Get a License
It’s entirely possible to become a real estate personal assistant with just a high school diploma or a GED, so there’s no definitive need to get a real estate license. It all depends on the listing for the real estate assistant jobs that you are looking for.
However, most states place strict limitations on what unlicensed assistants can do on the job. So if you want to be as useful as possible to the agent or broker you work for, getting a license is in your best interest.
Without a current real estate license, you won’t be able to:
- Generate leads via cold-calling
- Host open houses (and particularly, solicit offers or provide an opinion on a home)
- Show properties to buyers
- Talk (or field questions) about contracts, leases, or listings with the public or other agents
- Negotiate a commission or fee for another agent
- Place any type of ad without getting it approved by a licensed agent first
A lack of license limits your tasks to organizing data, which would limit your job opportunities as an assistant, as agents want an assistant that can do a myriad of tasks. You’ll also notice that many job listings for real estate assistants require licensing.
Getting licensed may also improve your salary, given you’ll be able to perform more tasks!
Real Estate Assistant Jobs – Licensed or Unlicensed
The difference between the duties of licensed and unlicensed real estate assistants can be a little confusing. So the video below should make it a little easier to understand what you’d be expected to do on the job and why a license will boost your chances of getting a job:
Benefits of Becoming a Real Estate Agent Personal Assistant
There’s no doubt that any type of career in real estate is rewarding. But you also might be wondering why a person might want to become a real estate personal assistant instead of a fully-licensed and practicing agent.
The key benefit for a personal assistant for real estate agent is the consistent salary.
If you’ve never been an agent before, working your way into the real estate industry and building up name recognition take time and patience. First-year agents may not see their first listing or commission check for six or more months. As a personal assistant, you’ll earn a consistent and more predictable income from day one.
Another vital benefit is that you’ll be able to learn about the industry from behind the scenes.
You’ll be a pro at filling out the necessary paperwork, working the MLS, creating engaging advertisements, and building your communication skills with clients and other agents. So by the time you decide to jump into the salesperson role, you’ll have some experience under your belt.
Lastly, there’s far less pressure in this role, as compared to being a full-time agent.
You won’t be responsible for the more stressful tasks that agents typically handle, like negotiating a commission rate with a seller or submitting an offer in the 11th hour while everyone else in the house is asleep.
Where to Find Real Estate Personal Assistant Jobs
After you finish your pre-licensing course, pass your real estate exam, submit your application to the state, and receive your license, you’re ready to begin applying for real estate personal assistant jobs.
So you might be wondering, “Where do you find a real estate assistant jobs?”
Many local brokerages will post these listings on job boards like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and LinkedIn. You can send a resume and application directly through those sources for the hiring broker or agent to review.
But you can also give local real estate offices a call and inquire whether they’re hiring for a personal assistant role. Since real estate agent personal assistants are in high demand and you have competition, you’ll want to apply to different offices and different brokerages to increase your chances of getting hired.
Look for the top teams that advertise in your area. They are likely to be in need of staff and will have internal postings for real estate assistant positions. The structure of the real estate team will vary by brokerage, but most will have positions that support the selling agents in the areas of marketing, social media management or transaction coordination.
Real estate companies are notorious for posting or advertising which agents were the top producers in the office for the previous month. These agents are also targets that may have real estate assistant jobs available to be filled. You will need to reach out to the agents or teams individually to determine if they are looking for help.
Conclusion
A job as a real estate agent personal assistant is fulfilling in many senses.
Every day will be different, consisting of various tasks and working with new clients and agents. You’ll also be able to strengthen your communication, organizational, and real estate skills. So when you eventually decide that you want to transition into a full-time agent who works with buyers and sellers, you’ll be prepared for the job responsibilities.
You’ll also have a more consistent schedule and income than the standard agent might, which might make this the perfect career for you.
