The Benefits of a Buyers Agent

Many people feel that real estate agents are for sellers and sellers alone. But this is most definitely not case. The first arena in which a buyers agent is helpful is finding perfect home. Real estate agents have access to MLS on a level that buyers do not. They can search specific criteria and find perfect three- bedroom, two-bath home with a fenced in back yard and a rocking chair front porch. In addition, they can narrow real estate property listing searches by capping minimum and maximum prices that buyer wishes to spend. Once homes are selected for viewing, agent then ensures that appointments are set up with sellers of homes to view property.

Next there is negotiation stage where a buyers agent comes in handy. The first part of this legal area is writing of a contract. Real estate agents can help a buyer fully understand ins and outs of an offer to purchase and give them a sense of exactly what they are getting into. Once a contract is created, presented, and accepted, agent then sets up appointments on behalf of buyer for things like home inspection, pest inspection and appraisals. Your agent can advise you as to which investigations and inspections are recommended or required.Buyers agents also have a sense of who is good at these things and who is not, making these decisions easier on buyer. Then, when closing time comes, agent is there to help buyer warm up their signing fingers before signing all of papers making their home ownership a reality.

Hiring a temporary can come with a whole host of problems including their lack of skills, need to provide equipment, supplies, and office space, as well as going through several temps (or agencies) to find one that can adequately provide skills you need! Also keep in mind that temporary services normally take about 1/2 of monies you pay them -- when temp only receives $7 - $11 an hour, you really can't expect a high quality person. If you still think it's best to do it yourself, you'll find that your time is much more profitably spent on revenue-generating activities. Outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant adds to up increased profits for your business.

Work is transmitted via e-mail, fax, mail, overnight service, etc. -- they will coordinate with you to provide work to you in most timely and inexpensive manner possible. You can also keep in touch via telephone, e-mail and instant messaging.

Costs of a Virtual Assistant run from $15 - $50 per hour (depending on scope of work and their skill level) and some work by project or on a monthly retainer. I know of a few VAs that are willing to barter for right products and/or service. Always read any potential Virtual Assistant's website and take a look at their testimonials, client list, etc. If you notice grammatical and spelling errors anywhere on their site or newsletters, you can be assured that your work will come back with spelling and grammatical errors. A highly skilled VA will be very detail oriented and will not put out work with these errors.

I recommend contacting a few VAs via e-mail, then by telephone to see if rapport is there, which is very important for anyone you work with. The one you are most comfortable with that charges a reasonable cost is one to try first. You may want to keep contact information of your second pick where you can easily find it in case your first pick is unavailable for any reason. Then give them a small project and work up from there.

Soon you will find that a dependable, accomplished VA will become your indispensable partner for years to come.

(c) 2005 Nita Helping Hand?, all rights reserved.

You are free to use this material in whole or in part as long as you include the following: