Running a real estate or property management company can be expensive—especially when it comes to hiring staff. But there’s a smart way to cut costs without losing quality: hiring a virtual assistant instead of a traditional W-2 employee.

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In this article, we'll look at the real cost savings of hiring a virtual assistant vs. an employee. If you’re trying to grow your real estate business and save money at the same time, this guide is for you.

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What Is a Virtual Assistant?

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A virtual assistant (VA) is a self-employed professional who works remotely. They help businesses by doing tasks like admin work, customer service, marketing, and more. Many real estate virtual assistants specialize in the industry and understand tasks like transaction coordination, listing management, and maintenance support.

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Unlike regular employees, virtual assistants are independent contractors. That means they handle their own taxes and don’t get company benefits like health insurance or paid leave.

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Virtual Assistants Help You Cut Costs

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Here’s how hiring virtual assistants can help real estate brokers and property managers save money.

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1. Lower Payroll Expenses

When you hire a VA, you don’t need to pay for benefits, payroll taxes, or vacation time. You simply pay for the work they complete. This is different from employees, who are paid by the hour or on a salary, no matter how much they get done.

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2. Save on Recruiting and Training

Hiring a new employee takes time and money. You might have to pay for job ads, background checks, training, and even recruiter fees. But when you hire a VA—especially through a platform like Virtual Staff Labs—you avoid most of these costs.

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Quality Work at a Lower Cost

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Some people think that if something is cheaper, the quality must be lower. That’s not true with virtual assistants.

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Many real estate virtual assistants are highly trained professionals. They can handle important tasks like scheduling, answering emails, updating property listings, coordinating showings, and more. And since they’re often paid per project or hour, they’re motivated to do a good job and keep their clients happy.

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Don’t Overpay for Talent

Hiring full-time employees can be expensive. With virtual assistants, you can often hire two or three VAs for the cost of one employee. That means more support for your business without breaking your budget.

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Easy to Scale Your Team

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Real estate businesses often have busy and slow seasons. The great thing about virtual assistants is that you can scale up or down quickly.

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If you get more listings or clients, you can add more VAs. If business slows down, you can reduce your team without worrying about layoffs or severance pay.

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You can also hire virtual assistants for full-time roles, short-term projects, or part-time help. It’s flexible and cost-effective.

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How Much Can You Really Save?

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Hiring a virtual assistant can bring big savings. In fact, many property managers find that they can hire two or more VAs for what it would cost to hire just one full-time W-2 employee. That extra help improves your productivity and allows you to take on more clients—leading to more revenue.

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Lower payroll + more clients = higher profits.

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Working with a Hybrid Team

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Even if you hire VAs, you’ll still need a few in-person team members for tasks like property tours or inspections. That’s why most real estate businesses use a hybrid team—a mix of employees and virtual assistants.

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VAs can handle the back-office work, while your employees handle on-site tasks. This setup helps your team focus on what they do best.

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To make it work smoothly, make sure your virtual assistants:

• Get the right training
• Understand your business and their role
• Feel like part of the team by joining virtual meetings and activities
  
  

Find the Right Virtual Assistant with Virtual Staff Labs

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Virtual Staff Labs is the number one platform that connects real estate businesses with trained virtual assistants. You’ll find VAs skilled in:

• Lead generation
• Admin support
• Property management
• Marketing
• Transaction coordination
  
  

With Virtual Staff Labs, you don’t waste your time on recruitment, onboarding, and training — instead, you get access to a pool of real estate-trained talent. It’s one of the easiest and most affordable ways to build your team and grow your business.

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Start saving money and scaling your real estate business today with the right virtual assistant!

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