Most Commonly Outsourced Services For Real Estate Businesses

Running a real estate business is challenging for several reasons. First, it’s a combination of administrative and creative tasks, both simultaneously fighting for your attention and focus. Second, it’s a highly competitive market, mostly operating on a commission. This means that it works on a winner-takes-all principle, which drastically increases all the stakes. This is why specialists who close deals and call all the shots need the freedom to focus on this aspect of their business and leave everything else to either assistants or agencies they’re outsourcing to.

Still, what kind of services are outsourced the most? Here’s what you need to know!

Market research specialists

Anyone can review property listings and write down properties in a Google Sheets table; however, a specialist must understand what’s really happening in the market.

When it comes to the real estate market and real estate research, there’s more to it than just comparing property prices. Neighbourhoods are really hard to estimate. You need to evaluate school systems and crime rates, as well as read the municipal development plan. A new park or a playground, let alone a government initiative, can turn the place around. This means that what is now worthless may end up being a prime piece of real estate in just five years.

Just remember that while a good real estate agent can understand a few of these things intuitively, this is never enough. What you need is a systemic approach to this problem. Even more importantly, you need someone to set up the system so that even your assistants, interns, and entry-level employees can handle it (after a quick onboarding).

Lastly, it’s not just about you. You need someone to make these reports that you can later present to your partners and clients. Since this is a lot of work and requires quite a bit of finesse, most real estate businesses choose to outsource it.

Real estate accounting and bookkeeping

Real estate accounting is so difficult, and since even businesses with a simpler pay structure prefer to outsource it, this is really the only sensible choice. At the same time, if your needs are more rudimentary, you don’t even have to hire a licensed accountant. You could probably do with virtual assistant bookkeeping services as a way to alleviate some of your administrative and accounting burden.

First of all, if you have a few people on your team, you’ll quickly learn that payroll processing isn’t nearly as simple as you hoped it would be.

Then, there’s the issue of tax preparation. This is a commission-based industry, but you’re still running an enterprise. There are so many business expenses and deductions, and a skilled accountant can make a difference between your business being profitable and running in the red.

Then, you need to understand that real estate businesses sometimes serve as a bond between tenants and landlords. Processing these invoices alone can be tiresome. You already have so much responsibility for property management, and it’s good to have an option to pass this on to someone else.

Real estate marketing

Real estate is one of the most competitive fields worldwide, which means that it would make sense to handle marketing in-house. When something is so closely tied to your money-making ability, you want as much control over it as possible, right?

Well, if things were that simple, this could have been the case.

In reality, while you do want control, you also want firepower, which is something that a single virtual assistant handling your social media accounts won’t be able to provide. What you want is the marketing power of a full agency. You want to know that you have an entire team of experts holding you back and conducting your digital marketing campaign.

To start a department of this size and capabilities, you would have to spend a fortune. This means that you would either have to downsize your requirements/expectations or outsource. For the majority of small businesses, starting an in-house department capable of handling all their needs and expectations is not even on the table.

Even with all the tricks, there’s only so much you can improve productivity before the lack of experience and manpower becomes noticeable. Sometimes, outsourcing is the only option.

Other than this, marketing is usually handled by an outside agency. In marketing, it’s all about insights, and sometimes, outsiders have the fresh perspective you need.

Property management assistants

Property management is one of the biggest and most important aspects of the real estate industry. There are so many reasons why you could outsource this to specialized assistants.

While property managers are incredibly expensive and well-versed in their work, the bottom line is that you don’t need a manager per property. Sure, there’s so much administrative work, but a single veteran manager with a team of property management assistants can do a lot and help you achieve your goals without costing more than you can afford.

The quality of service is much higher than what you would get by hiring regular virtual assistants, quickly onboarding them, and hoping that they can do the job. The thing is that there’s so much work for virtual assistants in the property management field that it’s not so hard to find people with previous experience (even a lot of previous experience).

Since a lot of real estate specialists and property managers start as interns or assistants, this means that the field in question has an abundance of (motivated) talent that you can rely upon.

Property developers can outsource their property management to reduce risks and liabilities. As a developer, you already have too much on your plate. Having one thing less to worry about is a great thing.

At the end of the day, real estate businesses outsource far more than these four services. However, this is where they can make the biggest difference by outsourcing, which is why these services are the most commonly outsourced ones.

Just remember that time, focus, and manpower are all resources. These resources can be tied down by handling things in-house and freed up by outsourcing. Sometimes, it’s worth losing a bit of control for the sake of greater efficiency (and cost-efficiency).