by Michele Gillis
Staff Writer
Hiring administrative and personal assistants is still big business in the Jacksonville market.
“I have an administrative assistant, who works for me four hours a week,” said Memory Hopkins of Keller Williams Realty, Atlantic Partners. “She handles the tracking of my Internet lead generation and adding my listings to various websites, as well as ordering ‘Just Listed/Just Sold’ postcards, online.”
Hopkins said her administrative assistant also works part time for another company.
“She works as an administrative assistant for a commercial real estate company four days per week,” said Hopkins. “I found her by calling that company for commercial leasing information. She recently obtained her salesperson license but has it in a referral company.”
Hopkins said she pays her personal assistant $12 an hour as an independent contractor and she does not want to actively list and sell real estate, so the job is perfect for her.
Hopkins said she needed an assistant because Internet marketing has become overwhelming.
“We have to be there,” said Hopkins, regarding having an Internet presence. “We have to learn how to mine leads from there. But we only make an income, by being toe-to-toe, with ready, willing and able buyers and sellers. We should not be the ones sitting at the computer doing data entry or categorizing Internet leads. Print advertising is dead. Obsolete. It’s all about the ‘net.”
Denise Demico of Re/Max Coastal has an assistant she is training to handle her short sale files.
“I was spending so much time on document collection on these short sales and realized that I could pay someone a flat fee to do this and keep all the paperwork organized, which would free up my time to service my other customers,” said Demico. “I had to take a close look at time versus money and my time was being wasted on collecting multiple financial documents that if I trained someone to be an extension of myself then I did not get so bogged down in paperwork.”
Demico said she has noticed with the downturn in the market that there are fewer personal assistants out there.
“The business has changed so if you do not have an assistant that does more than schedule appointments then you really do not need to waste your money on what you can do yourself,” said Demico.
Demico’s assistant is actually the mother of a friend of her daughter. She offered to help her since she had free time.
“I am training her myself,” said Demico. “No bad habits to break and they can learn to roll with me at a fast pace.”
Demico pays her assistant a flat fee per file.
The assistant job has evolved with the market just as Realtors’ jobs have.
“Assistants used to be schedulers now they have to be able to understand REO versus short sale and how each transaction requires additional and different step task organization to get to the same outcome – the closing,” said Demico.
Elizabeth Hudgins of Prudential Network Realty has had personal assistants for 16 years. Currently, she has one full time and one part-time assistant.
“Having assistants allows me to get out of the office and network with other agents and prospects,” said Hudgins.
Even though the market slowed down, Hudgins decided to keep her assistants.
Hudgins said loyalty, a real interest in the business and a sense of humor are all good traits to have in a good personal assistant.
Much like others, Hudgins found her assistants through word of mouth and from other agents
Hudgins said the main thing she has noticed about the evolving market is that with the level of technology, it has made it necessary to have someone in the office at all times.
Jenet Cattar of Cattar Realty has a personal assistant and sayid she is a lifesaver. Since there are fewer personal assistants out there Cattar said its all the more reason to treat them with kindness.
“Due to the fact that business has slowed in the past few years, I am sure some Realtors have downsized, including letting help go, but I kept mine,” said Cattar.
She said she likes her personal assistants to be ready, willing and able to do what needs to be done.
Her assistant, Monica Kruse, said she strives to be reliable, trustworthy, accountable, hardworking and ready to do what is asked of her.
Cattar found Kruse through a networking group and trainer her herself.
“We hired her and trained her, but the real secret is that she keeps me organized,” said Cattar. “She is such a fast learner. She takes notes so I don’t have to repeat things more than one time.”
Personal assistants are still paid for what they are worth, even in this market. There is just less of a need for them, so not many are around as there used to be.
“I have heard people talk about paying very low, but if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys,” said Cattar. “My husband, Fred, and I have a strong appreciation for all that she does and it seems to work for us both. You can’t be cheap and think that your assistant will go the extra mile.”
Cattar agrees that the personal assistant job has evolved with the market.
“It used to be strictly real estate, but now there are always a hundred things that need to be done,” said Cattar. “Great help is not easy to find, so we are happy to have someone who will just do what needs to be done.”
Kruse said her job changes from day to day and week to week.
“Some days there are more real estate duties and some days there are more office duties that need to be done,” said Kruse. “I love my job as a real estate assistant. I have learned so much about the real estate industry and I continue to learn daily. I enjoy the flexibility of my job and the wide range of duties that I have. I am never bored.”