Real estate virtual assistant tasks, costs and how to hire one

A real estate virtual assistant, often shortened to real estate VA, is a remote team member who handles the admin behind your sales and property management: listing uploads, inspection bookings, CRM updates, vendor reports, maintenance requests, arrears reminders and lease paperwork. Tarino’s typical salary for a full-time, Philippines-based real estate assistant is around $1,200 a month. Your agents keep the listing appointments and negotiations; your property managers keep the owner relationships and the decisions. The assistant clears the work in between, and the real estate virtual assistant tasks below are grouped so you can pick where to start.

This guide covers the tasks a real estate virtual assistant takes on, what real estate outsourcing costs under different models, the trust account limits you need to respect, and how to hire. For software and screening detail, see our real estate assistant role page.

What does a real estate virtual assistant do?

A real estate virtual assistant takes on the time consuming administrative tasks that keep a real estate business running: data entry, listing coordination, scheduling appointments, client communication, lead follow-up and transaction management paperwork. That leaves real estate agents and property managers more time for listing appointments, negotiating contracts and the client interactions that need a licensed person.

The work splits into sales support and property management admin. Many agencies start on one side and add the other once the assistant knows their systems.

Sales support and listing coordination

• Preparing listing copy drafts and uploading approved property listings and photos to the portals
• Updating status changes, from for sale to under offer to sold, across the portals and your CRM
• Booking inspections and open homes, and sending confirmations and reminders
• Sending weekly vendor reports and campaign updates
• Transaction management: tracking key dates from exchange to settlement and reminding agents of each next step

Lead generation and client communication

• Logging buyer and vendor enquiries, open-home attendees and their contact details in Rex, VaultRE or Agentbox
• Following up enquiries and potential clients with your approved templates, and booking appraisal calls into the agent’s schedule
• Inbox management: sorting the agent’s inbox, flagging urgent emails and drafting replies for approval
• Running database campaigns to prospective clients, such as past vendors and appraisal leads

Marketing and market research

• Social media management: scheduling approved posts to the agency’s social media accounts
• Using your templates to create just-listed and just-sold flyers and email newsletters
• Market research: preparing appraisal packs and comparable-sales reports from CoreLogic or Pricefinder for the agent to review

Property management admin

• Logging maintenance requests, getting quotes from your approved tradies and following jobs to completion
• Sending arrears reminders from your templates and escalating per your arrears policy
• Booking routine inspections and preparing inspection report drafts from the PM’s photos and notes
• Preparing lease renewals, rent review letters and new tenancy paperwork for the PM to check and sign
• Processing rental applications: checking references and documents against your checklist
• Answering tenant and owner emails with approved responses

Is a real estate VA the same as an inside sales agent?

Not quite. An inside sales agent (ISA) is a phone-focused role that calls and qualifies leads all day. A real estate VA can do some lead follow-up, but if calling is the main job, write the brief as an ISA role and screen for phone skills. The same goes for other specialised roles, such as an offshore property manager.

What should a real estate virtual assistant not do?

Real estate is licensed work, and the rules are set by each state. A safe working rule: your assistant prepares, books, chases and records; a licensed or certified person advises, negotiates, signs and authorises money.

Trust accounts. In NSW, licensees under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 must hold clients’ money in a trust account, and the NSW Government’s guidance says those funds can’t be used for any purpose other than for that client. It also says only a licensee in charge of a business may authorise trust account withdrawals, that the authority can’t be delegated, and that an LIC who lets another person withdraw funds on their behalf may still be liable for any breach or misuse. Trust records must be audited for the year ending 30 June, with audits lodged by 30 September.

So keep disbursements, owner payments and any trust account approval with your licensee. If your licensee is comfortable with it, an assistant can do the preparation, such as matching receipts in PropertyMe or drafting a disbursement list for review. Other states and territories have their own trust account rules; check with your state regulator.

Other licensed tasks. Appraisals given to vendors, negotiating sales and leases, and signing agency agreements and leases stay with a licensed or certified person. Check which tasks your state reserves for licence or certificate holders before you write the brief.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your obligations with your state regulator or a qualified adviser.

What are the benefits of a real estate VA?

• More time for revenue work. Agents can spend the most time on what moves a sale: listing appointments, buyers and negotiations. The assistant takes the admin around it.
• Cost efficiency. Tarino’s typical salary for a Philippines-based real estate assistant is around $1,200 a month, against Tarino’s typical Australian salary of around $80,000 a year for the same role.
• No extra desk. Your local team doesn’t need more office space or equipment, beyond a software seat and a laptop for the assistant.
• Hours that match yours. The Philippines is two hours behind AEST, so your assistant works your business hours, and a later shift can cover early evening enquiries if you set those hours.
• Productivity your team can see. Maintenance jobs, vendor reports and CRM updates get done on a set schedule instead of waiting for a quiet afternoon.

How much does a real estate virtual assistant cost?

Tarino’s typical salary for a Philippines-based real estate assistant is around $1,200 a month, about $14,400 a year. You’ll also budget for Philippine employer costs such as 13th month pay and statutory contributions, plus any extra software seats. The cost calculator gives typical all-in totals.

For context, Jobs and Skills Australia lists median weekly earnings of $1,504 for real estate sales agents, the occupation group that includes property managers. That’s about $78,200 a year before super, and it isn’t directly comparable with an admin assistant role.

Real estate outsourcing and virtual assistance services come in three main models:

Real estate outsourcing model	What you pay	Who manages the person
Direct hire through Tarino	Salary around $1,200/month, plus a one-time $5,000 excl. GST fee	You
Direct hire, with Tarino EOR for payroll	Salary, the one-time $5,000 fee, plus $387 per employee per month	You; Tarino EOR (powered by Deel) runs contracts and payroll
Managed offshore agency	Salary, plus one published rate of A$1,099 per person per month and A$1,200 per hire (Staff Domain)	The agency, with you directing the work

Over a first year, that managed-agency rate adds about $14,388 in fees for one person, and $13,188 every year after. The Tarino fee is paid once. Our guide to offshore agency markups explains what the monthly fee covers, and Tarino EOR explains the payroll option.

What about tenant and owner privacy?

Your assistant will see tenant applications, identity documents, owner details and bank information. Many small businesses with turnover of $3 million or less aren’t covered by the Privacy Act, but the OAIC lists exceptions, including operators of residential tenancy databases. If you are covered and you disclose personal information overseas, APP 8 generally expects you to take reasonable steps, usually an enforceable contract, so it’s handled in line with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Either way, treat tenant data carefully: a written contract with confidentiality clauses, individual logins with multi-factor authentication for data security, no shared passwords, and access only to the parts of your property management software the role needs. Our offshore staff security checklist covers the setup.

What skills should a real estate VA have?

Look for these skills and skill sets when you screen:

• Communication: clear written English for tenant, owner and buyer emails, and a calm phone manner
• Organisation: juggling inspections, maintenance jobs and vendor reports without dropping dates
• Technical skills: experience with real estate software such as Rex, VaultRE, PropertyMe or PropertyTree, plus portals and Canva
• Discretion: careful handling of tenant documents, owner bank details and other private data

Can you hire a real estate VA without experience?

You can, for data entry and inbox work. For property management admin, real estate industry experience shortens onboarding time a lot, because the candidate already knows how arrears, maintenance and leasing work.

Real estate VA or a general virtual assistant?

A general virtual assistant or one of the personal assistants that business owners hire handles calendars, inboxes and errands for almost any business. A real estate VA knows the systems and the limits: portals, CRMs, property management software and what must go back to a licensee. For agency work, hire for the second.

Real estate virtual assistant or offshore property manager?

These are different hires. A real estate virtual assistant supports your agents and property managers with admin, across sales and rentals. An offshore property manager takes on more of the rent roll’s day-to-day workflow, still working under your licensee.

If your property managers are short of admin time, start with an assistant. If you want someone to own a portfolio’s routine workflow, read our guide to hiring an offshore property manager. Our real estate and property page covers how agencies split the work.

How do you hire a real estate virtual assistant?

The hiring process works best in this order:

1. Pick one side first. Sales support or property management admin. A clear first scope beats a long list.
2. Write the task list and boundaries. Include what must go back to a licensed person, especially anything involving trust money.
3. Screen for your software. Candidates who’ve worked in PropertyMe, Console Cloud, PropertyTree, Rex or VaultRE come up to speed faster.
4. Set a practical test. A maintenance request to log and quote, a vendor report to draft, or a listing to prepare from photos and notes.
5. Name a team leader. One person in your office, usually a senior PM or sales admin lead, sets priorities and answers questions.
6. Onboard in stages. Start with the following tasks: CRM and maintenance logging, then add tenant and owner communication once their tone and accuracy meet your standard. Our first 30 days checklist walks through it.

Book a free consultation

Tarino sources 1,000+ candidates per role and sends a shortlist of 3–4 in about 2 weeks. You hire and pay your assistant directly, with no monthly fees, and our 6-month replacement cover applies for the same role. See pricing, or book a free 30-minute call to talk through your agency’s workload and services.