Virtual Assistant or Local Assistant?

Question

Hey BP World!

Like the title says, which is better, a VA or real assistant you see semi-regularly. Here's the backstory...

I recently got serious into REI. Started my education 9 months ago when I realized renting out my house wasn't adding up the way I wanted it and figured there had to be a better way, thus discovering BP. Once I finally made the commitment to do this, I bought 3 properties within a month of the jump while selling the home that wouldn't rent well enough to be worth it. I quickly found out that was more than my "system" could handle. You see, I work a full time job in which I am virtually disconnected with the world for 8 hours a day, Monday-Friday. No cell phone, no e-mail, barely reachable by work phone. A bit of an issue when you're needing to send documents back and forth and be reachable for questions regularly. While I can step away from work for a short bit to check my phone/e-mail, this system is far from productive and leads to many individuals getting frustrated.

So, I need someone who can fill out paperwork (shy of signing), review it, manage the deals, do bookkeeping, and compile each day's happenings where I can quickly go through it and make sure everything is order. I have a hard time turning over every bit of my life to someone I've never seen or met (yes, I've read Tim Ferris's opinion on the matter) and hope they don't screw me over down the road. I feel like a local assistant, though maybe more costly, would bring a sense of security (to me) as well as reachability during east coast business hours. Any thoughts/experience on the matter?

Also, I live in the Tampa Bay, FL area, so if anyone has any recommendations, I would be most appreciative. Thanks!

-Jason Pinkerton

Stacy Decker · Answer

Check with my referral - they do a lot of local placement as well and take care of the screening for you!

Jonathan Makovsky · Answer

@Jason Pinkerton I have done both, and my systems were not strong enough to hire a VA, so local help has been MUCH better for my business. If you have a really strong system, or a specific task that is easy to repeat without the need for much brainwork then hiring a VA is probably a way more economical move. However, I really like that my staff can use critical thinking methods and easily communicate with tenants, vendors, and other service professionals and I did not trust a VA enough to do those things.

Also, I think if going the VA route, I've read to not have a general VA for everything, but rather specific VA's to handle each niche of your business. (Again, another reason why I personally like local staff, because mine are well educated and can handle a lot of different areas of my business.)

With all that said, hiring a VA is cheap enough that it's a fairly low risk investment. Additionally, if you have an AmEx card see if you're targeted for a promotion on Upwork for a $100 statement credit (I believe if you spend $200).

Best of luck!

Stacy Decker · Answer

I would look into ccmyadmin.com I have used them personally and the screening they provide is great. They also have their VA's sign NDA's so you are protected. Check them out, I've referred quite a few people to them and people have been very happy!

Account Closed · Answer

In all honesty, I would be more concerned about the quality of the assistant vice the geographical location.  Food for thought.

Jason Pinkerton · Answer

Thanks everyone! I am leaning towards the local assistant, given my current business structure and inability to communicate very well while at work.

Any tips on do's and don'ts placing an ad? I've never hired anyone for a job, let alone a real estate assistant job, so I want to avoid pitfalls like Craigslist scams or something. Thanks for any advice.

-Jason Pinkerton

Peter Mckernan · Answer

@Jason Pinkerton I would say a local assistant would be best for you and you can bring them on part time, then slowly or quickly move them into full time. I would suggest having a bookkeep (CPA) perform the books and have the assistant get the bank statements and all other items to that person for the bookkeeping side of things.

I saw that because the bookkeep will charge $45-$75 an hour on average, but they will only put a couple hours in a month until you start producing a lot of banking transactions a month. This seems to be a lot of money, but if you think about the bookkeeping, if this local assistant is not familiar with using Quickbooks, or any other program you will have to spend time and money to train them on that added task while you can get someone already verst in that field.

The assistant can get a whole list of items done for you... Prepare documents, set times for seeing people renting out your properties, set your schedule, set your social media up, file documents in dropbox, USPS runs, and the list is endless.

All-in-all, an assistant that is local would be best!

Virtual Assistant or Local Assistant?

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