Property management refers to the monitoring and management of real estate properties. Generally speaking, a property manager is responsible for ensuring legal compliance, budgeting, addressing property repairs and maintenance, marketing properties, and handling tenants. While property management promises good networking opportunities and career growth, it comes with its caveats.
According to the National Apartment Association, US property managers cited rude tenants and residents (22%), difficulties plugging off post-office hours and poor mental well-being (16.3%), staffing maintenance (14.3%), and workload management (13.2%) as some of the most prominent challenges they face in their jobs.
To ease the struggles of property managers, real estate businesses must hire a virtual assistant for property management. This article talks about the advantages of a property management virtual assistant, followed by a round-up of the best companies and platforms for hiring one for your property management company.
What Are the Benefits of Hiring A Virtual Assistant for Property Management?
A property management virtual assistant is a self-employed real estate professional. Working closely with property managers, a property management assistant provides market support, communicates with tenants, and streamlines repetitive administrative tasks.
Basically, all the job responsibilities of a general virtual assistant — albeit sprinkled with real estate-specific tasks. Let’s delve deeper into the perks of hiring a property management VA.
1. Excellent Administrative Skills
No business can survive without a competent admin team. A property management virtual assistant is experienced in administrative tasks, and they come with the gift of implementing new technologies to simplify said tasks.
With the right property management software, a property management assistant can automate maintenance requests, rent collection, and lease renewal to ensure faster task completion and better tenant satisfaction. Now bearing the brunt of administrative duties, property managers can work on more pressing tasks without compromising their mental health. This potentially creates a better work-life balance and improves employee retention rates.
2. Smooth Customer Service
Good customer service is an indicator of success. When property managers are overwhelmed with customer queries and complaints across all communication channels, the overall efficiency of your real estate business will be compromised.
However — with a team of real estate virtual assistants — they can offer personalized responses to tenant complaints and provide potential clients with comprehensive, informative answers on leasing, rent collection, and renewal policies. In addition, a property management virtual assistant can cover after-hours support and create templates and pre-made responses for a more streamlined customer service experience.
3. Real-Time Support
With the prevalence of the gig economy, more professionals are working as freelancers or independent contractors to earn extra income and further their careers without the commitment of a full-time job. Apart from the flexibility of gig work, this set-up also benefits real estate business owners.
Real estate agents can tap into a global talent pool, hiring real estate virtual assistants from the Philippines and other countries with lower labor costs to save on costs while enjoying world-class VA services.
Time zone differences are also blurred. This means an overseas virtual assistant for property management can follow your local time zone schedule and work the mid-shift or graveyard shift to provide real-time virtual assistant support.
4. Lower Overhead Expenses and Better Flexibility
Unlike employing full-time in-house employees, hiring a freelancer or outsourcing to the best property management companies in the Philippines is a more cost-effective business strategy. While in-house employees make supervision and face-to-face interactions easier, they are costlier in the long run as property management business owners allocate more resources to office spaces, computers, benefits, and professional development programs.
Unfortunately, in the property management industry, employee turnover is rampant as property managers face long hours and pressure at work. For every quitting property manager, the cost of hiring and training a new property manager adds up. Since freelancers and outsourced real estate VAs work from home, property owners can cut their overhead expenses and provide only the necessary tools for the role.
Additionally, property management professionals have control over the timeframe of the job order. For example, they can indicate in the job description that the gig is only good for six months. This way, a property management business owner can upsize or downsize their virtual assistance team based on workload or demand without the pressure of retaining a real estate VA for the long haul.
10 Best Places to Hire A Virtual Assistant for Property Management
Finding a good virtual assistant in the Philippines is one thing. You know what separates an average real estate VA from the best virtual assistant. But knowing where to find a reliable virtual assistant is another story. Below is our roundup of the best companies and websites to hire a property management VA in the Philippines, or elsewhere.
1. KDCI Outsourcing
Located in the Philippines, KDCI Outsourcing is one of the best BPO companies with over a decade of experience in the outsourcing industry. With outsourcing services spanning from accounting and finance to property management, the company helps slash 70% of overhead costs, provide much-needed expertise, and optimize processes using technology.
KDCI Outsourcing also prides itself as its client’s partner, enabling an equal partnership between the two parties. This firm does all the heavy lifting of hiring and training property management professionals. Following a meticulous hiring process, KDCI Outsourcing selects candidates based on their educational attainment, relevant working experience, and industry knowledge.
In addition, the candidates are also tested on their customer service and VA skills, including data entry, tenant relations, and lease management. Once hired, a team leader or project coordinator will orient them on your business’s in-house processes and train them on your property management program, allowing for a smooth onboarding process.
2. BruntWork
Featured in Business Insider, Forbes, and other news platforms, BruntWork is an exemplary outsourcing company with a global client base and freelance team. The company sets and maintains high standards not just for itself but also for its freelancers. Because of BruntWork’s dedication to providing high-quality outsourcing services at a lower cost, it has earned the trust of global brands and garnered well-deserved positive reviews.
BruntWork shines in numerous industries, including virtual assistance for property management. Its scope of property management operations includes legal compliance, rent collection, coordination of maintenance requests, renewal and administration of leases, talent inquiry management, and many more.
Candidates are handpicked and screened by the company’s recruitment team, and you can interview them to ensure you get the best property management VAs for your business. Although Filipinos are fluent in English and share cultural similarities with the West, BrunWork goes the extra mile and trains candidates on Western culture and communication. This way, the VAs can seamlessly integrate and work with your team with little communication lapses.
3. Property Management Virtual Assistants
Property Management Virtual Assistants is a virtual assistance website dedicated to property management. Its services include digital marketing, customer service, tenant relations, sales, tenant relations and onboarding, and more. Quality is the bedrock of Property Management Virtual Assistants. This means only the cream of the crop virtual assistants are hired on the platform, promising clients first-rate property management VA services.
Clients who partner with Property Management Virtual Assistants will undergo an initial consultation to determine their needs. Candidate sourcing can take almost a month, though. While this may be a caveat for some clients, Property Management Virtual Assistants makes up for it by sourcing the best virtual assistant for your property management business.
On top of that, you’ll get a QA specialist, supervisor, and trainer. Essentially, a whole team! This setup promises comprehensive project and performance monitoring, motivating your team to consistently meet the company’s high standards.
4. VPM Solutions
VPM Solutions provides property management solutions with the promise of driving scalability, growth, and cost-effectiveness for property management business owners. Since its founding, the company has addressed common operational issues plaguing the real estate industry — from workload-induced stress to poor client relationships.
VPM Solutions works like most freelance platforms. You post a job and wait for applicants, or scout for potential remote staff candidates yourself. You can also opt for the platform’s TalentMatch technology. This feature hastens the sourcing process, limiting your candidate pool to virtual assistants that best match your required qualifications. Best of all, VPM Solutions does not charge a platform fee or additional costs.
5. Reva Global
Founded by Bob Lachance and George Cortes, Reva Global is a dedicated platform for Filipino virtual assistants who work with clients in the US. The company’s property management virtual assistant services cover lease renewal, lead generation, showing scheduling, and coordination of utilities. Because property management is a rigorous field, Reva Global promises clients a carefully vetted property management assistant team, cost savings, and a healthy work-life balance.
6. Anequim
Anequim is a virtual assistance platform established in 2016 by Gwenn and Jeremy Aspen. While some VA websites are aimed at the Filipino market, this platform is reserved for bilingual Mexican professionals.
Partnering with Canada- and US-based clients, Anequim’s virtual property management assistant professionals provide a suite of general and property management-specific VA services. These include appointment setting and scheduling, correspondence preparation, budget preparation, maintenance coordination, and customer service.
Similar to other VA agencies, Anequim hires and onboards a virtual property management assistant for you. The company even goes as far as handling your job posting and orienting candidates on the American Disabilities Act and Fair Housing. Because Anequim values meeting key performance indicators (KPI), do expect coaching sessions from the company — aimed not just at your real estate virtual assistant, but at yourself too!
7. 20four7VA
20four7VA is a virtual assistant website for business owners across the globe. Unsurprisingly, the platform is dominated by Filipino VAs, making it an ideal pick for clients who like working with virtual assistants from the Philippines. Thanks to its rigorous yet fair screening and hiring processes, you can count on 20four7VA to match you with the right virtual assistant.
Although its main selling points center on administrative, business, marketing, and technical virtual assistance, 20four7VA also offers VA services in niche industries such as telehealth and real estate. The platform’s property management virtual assistants can take over not just administrative duties, but also marketing and real estate tasks.
8. Remote CoWorker
Remote CoWorker is an outsourcing company that is compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It boasts college-educated, English-proficient virtual assistants and offers top-notch, round-the-clock services to clients in different industries — including real estate, insurance, and hospitality.
Remote CoWorker’s real estate virtual assistant services are aimed at property management companies, real estate agents, brokers, and investors. With a team of virtual assistants for property management by your side, your property leasing needs will be taken care of without delay. An account manager will also monitor your virtual assistants, making outsourcing a win-win situation for you and your VA team.
Take note, however, that Remote CoWorker requires clients to purchase a payment plan before screening candidates.
9. ShoreAgents
Established by Stephen Atcheler, ShoreAgents is a BPO company specializing in the real estate industry, covering mortgage processing, property insurance, drafting, architecture outsourcing services, and the like. The company’s property management VAs handle property advertisement, landlord onboarding, lease renewals, tenant screening, and many other routine tasks.
ShoreAgents sources property VAs from various recruitment platforms, such as Facebook groups, databases, LinkedIn ads, and job search websites. From phone screening and English tests to client interviews, the company’s comprehensive recruitment system ensures that all candidates have the potential to be the perfect match for your team.
10. Virtudesk
Virtudesk is a tech-driven virtual assistant company established in 2016. With its high-quality VA services and unwavering desire for growth and innovation, Virtudesk positions itself as a catalyst for client and business success. Virtudesk’s property management VA services include customer service, marketing, administrative support, and prospecting — all are designed to ease your team’s workload and optimize daily property management operations.
Find A Property Management Virtual Assistant Now
We hope this round-up has given you a starting point on where to find a virtual assistant in the Philippines or any part of the world. Don’t limit yourself to our top picks, though. Check out Upwork, Fiverr, OnlineJobs.ph, and LinkedIn for a prospective virtual property management assistant.
KDCI Outsourcing takes the guesswork of screening candidates. With our expert recruitment team, we can source new and experienced VAs so you can build your ideal property management team.
Contact us now, and we look forward to meeting you for a discovery call.
