Virtual assistants bring leverage. A local assistant protects your brand. Troy Palmquist writes that understanding the difference is what separates scalable agents from overwhelming ones.
Most agents don’t wake up one day and want an assistant. They wake up underwater.
I was recently talking with a friend about an assistant role she was hiring for, and midway through the conversation I thought to myself, “If she’s going through this right now, she can’t be the only one.”
There’s a familiar moment that hits real estate agents across the country every year. When the business finally gets going, the deals pile up, the phone rings, the calendar fills up, suddenly the dream (a steady flow of customers and deals) becomes a problem.
This is usually when the agent asks the first assistant to think about what’s next.
Are you really ready to be an assistant? Can you afford it? What happens if I hire the wrong person? What if I hire the right person and I can’t imagine how I would have lived without them?
That’s why I spoke to Nicole Gary, a top agent in New York City and Miami. She not only grows her business with both virtual and local support. She is now also living the reality of changing important roles.
What she shared is what most agents need to hear before making the jump to becoming an assistant. While virtual assistance is powerful, local assistance remains invaluable.
False argument: “Virtual assistant or local assistant?”
For those who have never had an assistant, an assistant is an assistant. The reality is that different people have different strengths, and a virtual assistant’s abilities will be different than a local assistant’s.
Ambiguous job descriptions, ambiguous ownership, and constant urgency can make it difficult to determine what kind of assistant you need and whether you need virtual or local. Knowing what you need from your assistant and what tasks it handles will help you understand whether you need a virtual assistant, an in-person local assistant, or both.
Three buckets that each agent needs to isolate
Use these task lists to determine what you need your assistant to do. It will help you decide which type of assistant is right for your workplace and how much autonomy you want them to have.
Bucket A: Repetitive backend work (VA friendly)
These tasks are process-driven, document-based, and easy to standardize.
Deal paperwork and compliance routing Calendar and schedule coordination CRM updates and database hygiene Buyer itineraries and show sheets Vendor schedules and follow-ups Template-based marketing coordination
Why VAs work here:
Speed, consistency and cost efficiency Minimal market nuances required Clear success metrics
Bucket B: Market execution work (local only)
These tasks exist in the real world and directly shape the client’s perception.
Coordinating showings, access, keys, and lockboxes List preparation and on-site vendor coordination Pre-show walk-throughs and troubleshooting Printing, assembly, and delivery of materials Physical presence at appointments and pitches
Why local assistants are important:
You can teach the system. Local knowledge cannot be taught immediately. Client experiences are built in moments, not spreadsheets. In a complex market, execution defines your brand.
Bucket C: Judgment work (highest risk)
Here’s how agents lose business, trust, and reputation:
Communicating with clients under pressure Managing mistakes and near misses Protecting your agency’s brand when things go wrong Making decisions without supervision
The hard truth:
The higher the price, the higher the cost of a wrong decision. This is a bucket that most agents never test and pay for later.
Why VA-specific models break under pressure
Virtual support can handle the volume, but not always the nuances. White-glove services require orchestration as well as responsiveness, and high-end, complex transactional needs and small client errors can become major problems.
Gary says concierge services are hassle-free. It’s a machine that works behind the scenes. The role of an assistant is not just to “help the agent.” They are there to run your business according to the policies and procedures you have in place.
If you’re promising a premium service, you’ll need at least some direct support.
Real estate is still a real business
Doors, locks, lighting, presentation, timing: In many ways, real estate is a tactile business. Customer trust is built through attention to detail. For example, a client may not consciously pay attention to the details behind a well-run open house, but it increases their trust in you anyway.
Elite agents widen the gap between themselves and their competitors by finding local assistants and service providers who can handle IRL details, giving them more time to do what only they can do: negotiation, strategy, and market analysis.
Why AI adoption will make everything worse
Resumes and “real estate experience” don’t mean much these days. Many of the candidates you find have learned how to lie about their abilities and cheat AI-based selection.
Gary said testing correctly, with an emphasis on judgment, initiative and attention to detail, will yield better results. That’s why she moved from a skills-based screening process to situational testing with real-world examples. When she interviews assistants, what she’s looking for is how they think under pressure, not how they perform in ideal situations.
8 Judgment-Based Interview Questions Every Agent Should Steal
Use scenarios that enforce prioritization, responsibility, and discretion. Ask what the assistant would do in the following situations.
Something is broken in the list The client is angry about an error The showing is in jeopardy minutes before the start time Conflicting urgent priorities Catching mistakes before they happen Handling complex documents Detailing your living space Be clear about what your support duties are
The ability to extrapolate and think critically about these assumptions will inform how an assistant processes information and what their service philosophy (or lack thereof) is.
Skills can be trained. I can’t judge. Please hire for judgment first.
What is the real answer to “virtual or local?” Both?
You are not lacking in energy. You lack influence. Gary said he would not trade his assistant for money because the cost of living without one is not economical. It is operational.
If you’re still not sure if you’re ready to work as an assistant, ask yourself the following questions:
Is my real estate business chaotic? If the answer is yes, it’s already too late. Is my business big enough to hire an assistant? Infrastructure enhancements (such as assistants) will facilitate growth. They are not rewards for growth.
This isn’t about trends or tools. It’s about building a business that can grow without interruption. This is a lesson that top agents and brokers learn early on, and everyone else learns the hard way.
Troy Palmquist is the founder and president of HomeCode Advisors. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
