Key Takeaways: Virtual Assistants in Real Estate

• 68% of real estate professionals we surveyed plan to expand their use of virtual assistants in 2027.
• A real estate virtual assistant typically costs $10 to $16 per hour, far less than a licensed in-house coordinator.
• Agents and team leaders reclaim 20 to 30 hours per week once a VA manages listings and lead follow-up.
• The most delegated tasks are listing coordination, transaction paperwork, CRM management, and lead nurturing.
• Boutique brokerages and solo agents are adopting VAs the fastest as commissions tighten.
• AI tools now help VAs draft listing descriptions and respond to leads within minutes.

In real estate, speed and responsiveness win deals, yet most agents spend their days buried in paperwork instead of talking to clients. To understand how the industry is adapting, GO Hire Virtual surveyed real estate agents, team leaders, and brokerage owners across the United States about how they use virtual assistants, what they pay, and where they plan to invest next. The findings were striking: outsourcing has moved from a niche tactic used by top producers to a standard part of how modern real estate businesses operate. Hiring a real estate virtual assistant has become one of the most practical ways for agents to keep up.

The single most telling number from our research is that 68% of real estate professionals plan to expand their use of virtual assistants in 2027. Behind that figure is a simple truth: an agent who is answering emails and chasing signatures cannot also be building relationships and closing deals. This report walks through what we learned and closes with a real client story that shows what the numbers look like in practice.

Why We Studied Real Estate Specifically

Real estate is uniquely demanding because the work never fits neatly into business hours. Leads arrive at night, showings happen on weekends, and a single transaction can generate dozens of documents and deadlines. We wanted to move past anecdotes and give agents a realistic benchmark, so we asked practical questions about cost, hours saved, the tasks agents hand off first, and the concerns that hold them back. The goal was to help agents decide where a virtual assistant fits before they commit.

How Much Does a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Cost?

Cost is the first question most agents ask, and the answer is what makes virtual assistants so appealing on a commission-based income. Across the professionals we surveyed, a general real estate VA landed in the range of $10 to $16 per hour, with transaction coordination and marketing specialists commanding somewhat higher rates. For an agent used to the cost of a full-time domestic coordinator, that represents a dramatic reduction in overhead. Just as important, agents pay only for the hours and skills they actually need, scaling support up during busy listing seasons and down when the market cools.

In-House Coordinator vs. Real Estate Virtual Assistant

The contrast becomes clear when agents compare a VA to a full-time in-house transaction coordinator. A domestic coordinator in the United States often costs a team well over $50,000 per year once salary, benefits, payroll taxes, and desk space are included, and that expense is fixed whether the market is hot or slow. The agents we surveyed consistently described shifting that support to a virtual assistant and redirecting the savings into the things that actually generate commissions, such as advertising, professional photography, and prospecting. Most did not frame it as hiring cheaper help; they framed it as trading a rigid fixed cost for flexible capacity. For many teams, a real estate virtual assistant is the simplest way to make that trade.

The Tasks Real Estate Agents Delegate First

When we asked which tasks agents hand off first, a clear pattern emerged. Listing coordination topped the list, including entering listings into the MLS, scheduling photography, and preparing brochures. Close behind were transaction management and paperwork, CRM data entry and cleanup, lead follow-up and appointment setting, and social media posting. What these tasks share is that they are repetitive and deadline-driven yet rarely require the agent’s personal presence. By delegating them, agents free themselves to do the two things only they can do: negotiate deals and nurture client relationships. Many agents also reported handing off review requests and past-client check-ins, which quietly drive repeat and referral business.

Average Hours Saved Each Week

Time savings were the most dramatic finding in the real estate data. Agents working with a virtual assistant reported reclaiming a large share of their week, with many estimating they save between 20 and 30 hours once a VA is fully onboarded onto their systems. For a busy agent, that is the difference between managing a handful of transactions and comfortably running a full pipeline. Agents described using that reclaimed time to attend more showings, follow up with more leads while they were still warm, and finally step away on evenings and weekends without the business grinding to a halt.

Where Agents Reinvest the Time They Save

Reclaimed hours only matter if they go somewhere valuable, and the agents we surveyed were clear about where those hours went. The most common answer was more time in front of clients, whether that meant additional showings, faster follow-up, or simply being reachable when a lead was ready to talk. Others used the time to prospect more consistently, keep their pipeline full, and pursue listings they would have let slip during busy weeks. A smaller but meaningful group told us the biggest win was personal: evenings back with family and the ability to take a weekend off without the business stalling. In every case, the pattern was the same. Delegating repetitive work did not shrink the business, it gave agents room to grow it.

What Holds Agents Back

For all the enthusiasm, agents were candid about their hesitations. The most common concern was trust, especially around client communication and access to sensitive transaction details. Agents worried that a stranger might mishandle a lead or represent their brand poorly during a critical moment. Close behind was the fear that training and managing a virtual assistant would eat up the very time they were trying to save. A third group pointed to compliance and data security, wanting reassurance that their VA understood the rules around client information and contracts. What stood out is that these concerns were almost always about the wrong hire rather than the idea itself. Agents who worked with a managed provider, clear onboarding, and defined processes rarely reported these problems, because structure removed most of the risk before it could surface.

How to Choose a Real Estate Virtual Assistant

The agents who saw the strongest results tended to approach the decision the same way. They started by listing the tasks that drained their week rather than trying to hand off everything at once, which made it easy to match a VA to a clear, bounded role. They looked for real estate experience or a provider that trains specifically for the industry, so their assistant already understood the MLS, listing workflows, and the rhythm of a transaction. They set expectations early with simple standard operating procedures and a short daily or weekly check-in, then loosened the reins as trust grew. Finally, they treated the first month as an investment, accepting that a strong onboarding period pays back many times over once the VA is running independently.

The 2027 Outlook

Looking ahead, the direction of the data is hard to miss. Sixty-eight percent of the real estate professionals we surveyed plan to expand their use of virtual assistants in 2027, and almost none plan to cut back. As commissions tighten and buyers expect faster responses, the flexibility of paying only for the hours and skills you need is becoming a competitive advantage rather than a cost-saving experiment. Add in AI tools that now help VAs draft listing descriptions and respond to leads within minutes, and the gap between agents who delegate and those who do everything themselves is widening. For most teams, the question is no longer whether a virtual assistant fits, but how quickly they can put one to work.

Conclusion

The story our data tells is a practical one. Real estate agents who delegate listing coordination, transaction paperwork, CRM management, and lead follow-up reclaim 20 to 30 hours a week, spend less than the cost of an in-house coordinator, and reinvest that time where it actually moves the business forward. The agents who struggle are almost always the ones who tried to do it alone or hired without a plan, and the concerns that hold others back tend to disappear with the right structure and support. If you are spending your days buried in paperwork instead of talking to clients, a real estate virtual assistant may be the highest-leverage hire you make this year.

Ready to reclaim your week? Talk to Go Hire Virtual about matching your team with a trained real estate virtual assistant starting at just $12 per hour.

About the Author

Kellen Calaway is the owner and founder of Go Hire Virtual. A serial entrepreneur who has built companies across industries including transportation, construction, and agriculture, Kellen repeatedly ran into the same challenge every business owner knows well: finding qualified, affordable team members. That experience led him to launch Go Hire Virtual, where his mission is to help businesses of every size grow through access to skilled, affordable virtual talent. Based in Summit, Utah, he is passionate about helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time and focus on the work that only they can do. Connect with Kellen on LinkedIn.