If you’re researching whether to hire a real estate virtual assistant, the first question is always the same. How much is this actually going to cost me?
Fair question. There’s a lot of vague pricing out there. Some agencies quote “starting at $5/hour” with no context. Others list $1,500+ monthly retainers without telling you what’s included. This guide is the honest answer: what real estate VAs cost in 2026, what you actually get at each price point, and how to figure out whether the math works for your business.
I run Axora Virtual Solutions, a real estate VA agency based in Pakistan that staffs U.S. realtors and brokers. I’ll share our pricing along with what I see across the industry so you can compare apples to apples.
The short answer
For most U.S. real estate agents, a quality real estate virtual assistant costs between $8 and $25 per hour, or roughly $400 to $1,800 per month for ongoing support.
The price you pay depends on three things:
- Where the VA is based (Philippines, Pakistan, India, Latin America, or U.S.)
- How specialized the work is (general admin vs transaction coordination vs cold calling)
- Whether you hire direct or go through an agency
Below I’ll break each of those down.
Real estate VA hourly rates by region
Philippines: $5 to $10 per hour. The Philippines is the most popular offshore VA market for U.S. realtors. English is excellent, time zone overlap is reasonable if you set night-shift expectations, and rates are the lowest in the industry. Trade-off: real estate domain knowledge varies wildly from VA to VA.
Pakistan: $7 to $15 per hour. Pakistan has emerged as a strong second option in the last 3 years. Strong English, growing pool of agents trained specifically on U.S. real estate (MLS, contract terms, transaction flow), and most VAs work U.S. business hours.
India: $6 to $12 per hour. Similar to the Philippines on price. Larger general-VA market but smaller pool of real-estate-specific talent.
Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Argentina): $10 to $20 per hour. Same time zone as U.S. agents, native or near-native Spanish, growing real estate specialization. Higher than Asian markets but lower than U.S.-based.
U.S.-based VAs: $25 to $50 per hour. Premium pricing. Worth it for sensitive work (showing coordination with high-net-worth clients, sole-proprietor day-of-closing tasks), but most agents find offshore matches the quality at a fraction of the cost.
Monthly plan pricing (the more common model)
Most agencies, including ours, sell monthly hour bundles rather than billing strictly hourly. Here’s what typical packages look like in 2026:
Starter / Part-time (10 to 25 hours/month): $200 to $500. Good for solo agents doing 1 to 3 transactions a month who mostly need help with CRM cleanup, calendar management, and lead follow-up.
Standard (40 to 60 hours/month): $700 to $1,500. The most common plan for active agents. Covers listing prep, transaction coordination on 2-4 deals, full lead follow-up, and marketing collateral.
Full-time (160 hours/month): $1,400 to $3,000. Dedicated VA working U.S. business hours. Best for top producers or small teams who need someone who treats your business like their only job.
Pro (100+ hours but not full-time): $1,500 to $2,800. Sweet spot for team leads. More throughput than Standard, more flexibility than full-time.
For reference, Axora’s plans run Starter $399 (20 hours), Standard $899 (50 hours), and Pro $1,599 (100 hours). All month-to-month, no contracts.
What you actually get at each price point
Cost is only half the equation. The other half is what the VA can actually do for you. Here’s the realistic picture.
Under $10/hour: General admin
At this rate you should expect a competent general assistant who can do data entry, calendar management, basic email triage, and follow scripts you write. Don’t expect them to understand MLS field nuances, write nuanced lead-nurture emails, or handle inspection negotiations.
This is fine if you have systems in place and just need execution. It’s not fine if you need someone who can think on their feet about a real estate problem.
$10 to $18/hour: Real estate trained VA
This is the sweet spot for most agents. At this rate you should expect:
- Already knows MLS data entry standards (your local board) before they start with you
- Can read a contract and flag missing initials or addendums
- Understands the inspection-negotiation-appraisal timeline
- Can call a lead and sound like part of your team, not a script reader
- Has experience with at least one major CRM (Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, BoomTown, Sierra Interactive)
If you’re paying $10 to $18/hour and your VA can’t do these things, you’re being undersold.
$18 to $30/hour: Specialized roles
Transaction coordinators, listing coordinators, and ISA (Inside Sales Agent) roles typically command a premium. These are people who own a specific function in your business rather than executing tasks.
A good TC at $20 to $25/hour handles 8 to 15 transactions a month from acceptance to closing. A good ISA at $20 to $30/hour calls 100 to 200 leads per week.
Is a real estate VA actually worth it? The break-even math
Here’s how to figure out if hiring a VA pays for itself.
Step 1: Estimate the gross commission you earn per hour of “agent work” (showings, listing appointments, negotiations).
For a typical U.S. agent doing $200k in gross commission across 800 working hours per year, that’s $250/hour of agent work.
Step 2: Estimate how many of your current weekly hours are non-agent work (data entry, follow-up emails, transaction admin).
The average agent spends 50 to 60% of their week on tasks that don’t require a license. Let’s call it 25 hours per week, or 100 hours per month.
Step 3: Cost of replacing those hours with a VA.
100 hours of VA work at $13/hour costs $1,300/month.
Step 4: What you’d earn if you redirected those 100 hours to agent work.
100 hours × $250/hour × 30% conversion rate (you won’t convert every hour of prospecting into a deal) = $7,500 incremental revenue.
Step 5: Net. $7,500 incremental revenue minus $1,300 VA cost = $6,200 net per month.
This math works at almost every price point above $5/hour as long as you actually redirect your freed-up hours to high-value work. The agents who don’t see ROI from a VA are usually the ones who hire a VA and then use the freed-up time to watch market updates instead of prospecting.
What real estate VAs typically handle
To give you a sense of what fills a 50-hour-per-month plan, here’s a realistic breakdown of what one of our clients (a solo agent doing 18 transactions a year) delegates each month:
Listing support (12 hours)
- MLS data entry on new listings
- Photo and video scheduling, asset upload
- Listing flyer and social post creation
- Open house prep and recap
Lead follow-up (15 hours)
- First-touch calls and texts on internet leads within 5 minutes
- Running the 7-touch follow-up cadence for warm leads
- CRM tagging and pipeline updates
Transaction coordination (15 hours)
- Contract review and missing-item flagging
- Inspection coordination and follow-up
- Title, lender, and closing scheduling
- Document collection and storage
Marketing and admin (8 hours)
- Past-client outreach (referrals, anniversaries)
- Calendar management
- Email triage
- Monthly market reports for sphere
That’s 50 hours that almost any active agent does themselves today, mostly badly because they’re tired and rushing between showings.
Red flags when shopping for a real estate VA
Not every “$8/hour real estate VA” is actually worth $8. Watch for these:
- They promise to do “anything” without specifying what they’ve actually done before. A real real estate VA has resume-worthy experience: specific brokerages, specific CRMs, specific transaction volume.
- The agency can’t tell you which time zone your VA will work. Realtor leads die in minutes. If your VA is asleep when leads come in, you’re paying for delayed work.
- No trial period or money-back guarantee. Any agency confident in their VAs will let you trial without a contract.
- No backup VA or coverage plan. Solo VAs get sick, take vacations, or quit. An agency that doesn’t have coverage will leave you stuck.
- Pricing that doesn’t include any management. “$5/hour” sounds amazing until you realize you’re now managing a remote employee in another country with no agency support. Real cost ends up higher because of your own time spent.
How to start without committing
The biggest mistake I see agents make is signing a 6-month contract before they know if VA support actually works for their business.
You don’t have to do this. Most reputable agencies (us included) offer a free trial. At Axora it’s 5 free hours, no card on file, no commitment. You pick 3 to 5 real tasks from your week, we run them, and if it works you continue. If it doesn’t, you walk.
This costs the agency money, but it’s the only way to fairly test the fit. You should not be deciding whether to hire a VA based on a sales call. You should be deciding based on whether the actual work was good.
Claim your 5 free hours (no card required).
FAQ: Real estate virtual assistant cost
What’s the cheapest real estate VA option?
Direct hire from the Philippines at $5 to $7/hour is the cheapest option. Trade-off is you become the manager, recruiter, and HR department for someone in another country. Most agents find an agency at $10 to $15/hour is cheaper once you factor in your own time managing.
Do real estate VAs work U.S. business hours?
It depends. At Axora we staff VAs who work U.S. Eastern, Central, Mountain, or Pacific time zones based on where you are. Some Philippines-based agencies have VAs working overnight to match U.S. hours; others don’t. Always ask before signing.
How much does a real estate transaction coordinator cost?
A dedicated TC typically runs $20 to $30 per hour, or $300 to $500 per transaction file. Most agents doing 1-3 deals/month find per-file pricing easier; agents doing 5+ deals find hourly cheaper.
Can a VA actually call my leads, or just send emails?
A trained real estate VA can absolutely make calls. The ones who can’t sound like part of your team are usually general VAs without real estate experience. Test this in your trial: have them call you cold, like they would a real lead, and judge their tone.
How long does it take to onboard a real estate VA?
With a pre-trained VA, you can hand off basic tasks within 24 to 48 hours. Full integration into your specific systems (your CRM tags, your script preferences, your transaction templates) usually takes 2 to 4 weeks.
Are there hidden fees in agency VA pricing?
Reputable agencies are flat-rate, no setup fees, no per-task charges. If an agency quotes $899/month but then charges you per call made or per email sent, walk.
What happens if my VA isn’t a good fit?
Any agency worth using will replace your VA at no cost. We do same-week swaps at Axora. If an agency tells you “we’ll figure something out,” that’s not a policy, that’s a maybe.
Final word
Hiring a real estate virtual assistant is one of the highest-leverage moves an agent can make, but it only works if you pick the right partner and actually delegate. The agents who get the most out of a VA aren’t the ones who pay the least, they’re the ones who hire the right fit and then trust the VA to do real work.
If you want to find out what that looks like for your business, your first 5 hours are on us. No card, no contract.
