These days the competition for good real estate assistants can be fierce. If you’re looking for an assistant for your firm, or you’re a solo agent looking for additional support, you need to provide a solid compensation package. That all starts with an appealing real estate assistant salary. Are you offering a competitive wage that attracts top talent? If you’re not, chances are that your competitors will be.
Before doing all the research needed to find the right assistant candidate, consider a managed solution. Wing Assistant provides high quality real estate systems for a fixed monthly rate with no commitments. There are no contracts and you can cancel at any time, no questions asked and no complicated severance pay packages to consider.
But if you’re looking to hire a solo assistant, you might want to consider the factors that go into offering salaries. Let’s take a look at what to consider before locking in your real estate assistant’s salary.
Understanding Real Estate Assistant Salaries
There are a number of complex factors to consider before allocating resources for an important role like an assistant. In this section, we’ll discuss:
- Market demand
- Economic factors
- Job requirements
Armed with this information, you should be able to better assess how to make a decent salary offer to a prospective hire.
Market demand and competition
Any good businessperson understands that higher demand and intense competition can drive salaries upward. After all, the same is true in the housing market. Naturally, demand for real estate assistants varies based on local factors, like the market and the level of competition among your fellow real estate agents. There may not be a large pool of candidates either, based on your geographic area.
Wing Assistant makes all this easy by connecting you with qualified remote assistants. All Wing Assistants speak fluent English and are available to work when you need them. Once you select your plan, you can choose four or eight hour blocks, Monday to Friday. During this time, your VA will be available within a 5-minute response time. Allocate unlimited work from anywhere, at any time, and your assistant will get it done during working hours. For businesses with more demand, we offer plans with 2 dedicated, fully managed assistants. You can save time and money by letting us conduct the search for you.
Economic factors
As with most things in business, shifting economic factors can have a major impact on your luck finding a good assistant. Market stability (or instability), interest rates, and consumer confidence can influence real estate assistant salary.
In a booming market, real estate agents may be willing to pay higher salaries to attract top talent. When times are tough, your firm may not be able to offer as much. But the realities of supply and demand vary from state to state. Also keep in mind that you may be competing for assistant talent with firms in other sectors. You may work in residential but be competing with commercial real estate firms, where the market may be performing quite differently.
With its fixed pricing plan, Wing Assistant makes it easy to budget and plan for your remote real estate assistant. For a low monthly cost, you get a reliable, fully managed assistant with experience in the field. You can stop and start at any time, there are no contracts to sign. If you decide to stop using our services for any reason, you can resume and expect the same great service.
Job requirements and responsibilities
The specific tasks and responsibilities assigned to a real estate assistant can impact salary levels. More complex and specialized tasks will command higher salaries. These tasks include managing a CRM, bid management, property sourcing, and property appraisal support.
Wing Assistant offers support for all of these job responsibilities and more. Here’s a list of some of the tasks your Wing Assistant VA can handle:
- Appointment scheduling
- Bid management
- Designing and creating marketing collateral
- Creating and maintaining website listings
- Lead generation
- Negotiation support
If you have other specialized requirements, you can ask Wing’s team and we’ll do our best to find a qualified candidate. After discussing your specific business goals with our team, you can interview several Wing Assistant real estate VAs to find the right match for your needs. After this brief interview process, you can begin assigning your real estate assistant tasks immediately.
National Average Salary: US Real Estate Assistants
In the US, real estate assistant salary rates are typically between $31,813 and $36,364. The median is $32,135. As this is an average, it’s entirely possible that you might pay an entry level candidate much less than that. These numbers typically don’t include benefits like health insurance, 401K, or educational stipends, which can significantly increase the value of a package.
Now that we’ve discussed the basic salary parameters, let’s break down how these differences in salaries play out across different regions.
Regional Variations in Salaries within North America
In this section, we’ll discuss different ways of thinking about salary variations. You should consider the context in which your business operates before formulating a number for your salary offer.
Major Metropolitan Areas
It’s no surprise that real estate assistant salaries vary significantly between major cities and rural areas.
In high-cost markets like New York, Los Angeles, or Seattle, salaries may be higher than in smaller towns or cities. For instance in San Francisco, one of the country’s hottest markets, real estate assistant salaries average between $56,218 and $73,199.
By this indicator, the lowest average salary in San Francisco is $20,000 more than the highest salary in the national average! If your business is in a high-priced metropolitan area, you could be looking at a steep markup to recruit local talent.
But what about rural areas? Keep in mind that when averaging we factor in the highest and lowest numbers, so the national average accounts for many salaries lower than $31,813. These salaries are most likely in rural areas. But if you’re trying to recruit in these areas, you know you will often suffer from a lack of talent. Either way, regional differences can have an impact on the bottom line for your payroll.
These regional differences compound when you consider state-level variations in salaries. Let’s briefly discuss those before wrapping up our conversation on variations in salaries.
State-level Variations
Salaries often differ from state to state because of variations in the local real estate market, cost of living, and labor supply.
The list of states where salaries tend to be higher compared to the national average is not surprising. New York, Massachusetts, California, and Washington state all lead the nation in median wages. The highest median wages in the country actually aren’t in a state at all, but in Washington, D.C. The surrounding markets in Virginia and Maryland are similarly highly competitive.
Real estate assistant salary rates reflect competitiveness in the job market but also the realities of living standards in these states. Most of the states in the list have high tax rates, soaring rents, and higher standards of living overall.
To attract the right talent, you need to make sure you’re providing a wage that supports that standard of living. It’s a delicate balance that requires a lot of research before deciding what makes a competitive offer for your job candidates.
But there’s an easier way. You could hire a virtual assistant. Remote real estate assistants do not participate in local market fluctuations. They may live outside of the United States, but they can provide the same great support as their American counterparts, often at a fraction of the cost.
Wing Assistant plans include your fully managed virtual assistant and your customer success manager, who constantly collects feedback to improve your assistant’s performance.
Salaries based on experience, skills, & qualifications
Sometimes your business can make do with a fresh-faced candidate with few skills and little experience. But if you’re seeking a highly qualified candidate, it may be harder to find the right one. In this section, we’ll discuss the range of salaries and what you should expect from employees at each pay grade.
Whether they are entry level or a seasoned pro, you need to be able to trust your real estate assistant with mission-critical, recurring tasks. A good assistant takes repetitive tasks off your plate so your team can focus on growing your business.
Here is a comprehensive list of tasks that a real estate assistant should be able to complete:
- Property sourcing
- Online listing setup
- Setting up 3D tours
- Basic marketing tasks
- Property appraisal
- Bid management
- General administration
Wing Assistant VAs can do all this and more. Our real estate VAs can also handle other typical administrative tasks, including:
- Tracking expenses and invoices
- Managing personal and team calendars
- Conducting web research and producing reports
- Rolling calls and fulfilling reception duties
- Making travel arrangements
- Ordering office supplies
Entry-level salaries
Real estate assistant salary rates are lowest for those with minimal experience. A fresh graduate or someone new to the industry may focus more on general administrative tasks like scheduling appointments, booking travel, and answering phones. These candidates will typically command a smaller salary but would ideally increase with experience.
That’s not a bad thing. Sometimes that’s what your firm needs. A recent graduate with minimal experience helps your team stay within budget and is a person that could potentially grow with the company. Your firm might also benefit from the fresh talent.
If your team requires additional support, you may be looking for mid-level candidates.
Mid-level salaries
According to national statistics, the middle quartiles of real estate systems make $42,000 and $48,000. Additional skills and years of experience definitely come into play for this bump in pay. Proficiency in specific software or languages, additional certifications, and experience in particular markets can all command higher salaries.
A mid-level assistant might also be able to deal with property appraisals, setting up 3D tours and bid management in more complex situations. You can expect that these professionals are great at multi-tasking and networking too, making them a major asset to your team. The right candidate is worth it for the investment.
Your team may need an even more experienced hand, however. You may need to replace a valued employee or require an assistant for a high level executive. If this is the case, you’ll need to look for a senior-level assistant.
Senior-level salaries
The salary potential for assistants with extensive experience, advanced skills, and a proven track record will always be high. Senior-level assistants will earn salaries at the higher end of the spectrum (above $50,000 for a national average) and have the leverage to negotiate additional benefits. Oftentimes there are fewer of these candidates, so the laws of supply and demand dictate that they should cost more – and will be well worth the investment.
When looking for a senior-level assistant, it pays to do your due diligence up front in order to avoid hiring the wrong person and making a costly mistake. With Wing Assistant, you can avoid all of that legwork. You’ll get a trained and fully managed VA with a proven track record. We vet all our professionals before they reach your door. Your remote assistant will be able to complete complex tasks and handle industry-standard software like HubSpot, Pipedrive, and AppFolio. In this way, a Wing Assistant VA at a fixed rate can be a major savings for your business.
Hire trained, dedicated real estate assistants through Wing
If you’re looking for dedicated administrative support for your real estate business, Wing Assistant has you covered. Our experienced VAs can handle CRM tools, build basic marketing materials, and more. There’s no onboarding or training necessary. Your Wing Assistant VA shows up on day one ready to work.
Get in touch with us for a 15 minute call today to discuss your business needs and we’ll match you with a qualified real estate VA!
Dan Eder writes frequently about digital marketing trends, SaaS, and e-commerce. He has previously worked as a content writer at an SEO agency for tech companies, an e-commerce specialist at a Fortune 500 company, and a journalist for several educational outlets. Read more from him at www.daneder.com.
