The Value of Outsourcing in Real Estate

Have you ever felt that the world is getting busier and you have less and less time as each year goes by? It is easy to get into this mode of thinking, and run around in circles trying to get everything done. You may have thought the only answer was to employ staff, and deal with the personnel issues and headaches that arise from that, but there is an alternative.

The answer may be to outsource some of the work that you do, particularly the mundane work and work you are not so good at or dislike. When you think of outsourcing, you may think of large companies sending their workload over to China , with local workers losing their jobs, but there is also an increasing market place for outsourcing individual jobs. Any time that you do a job for which the salary would be less than you want to earn, you are devaluing your time in proportion.

The difficult part is that you need to understand that work you outsource will not be done the same way that you would do it. A good rule of thumb is that if it is done 70% as well as you would do it, then it is worth paying someone to do it to free up your time for more valuable tasks. It is easy to find people to take on tasks for you -- for instance, if you would like a website designed or articles written you should try www.elance.com or www.guru.com, where there are many people willing to bid on your project. Often you get what you pay for, and these sites have a feedback system which allows other clients to tell you what they thought of the work.

If delegating the odd task isn't sufficient for you, you could also consider getting a virtual assistant, who is someone who will take care of many of your normal office tasks, but do so remotely via the Internet. They can take your phone calls, type your correspondence, update your blog, etc. You will still be responsible for making your own coffee, however.

Finally, if you are finding short sale deals laborious to complete, there is even an outsourcing solution for that. You can spend your time finding the houses, negotiating with the homeowner and producing a set of documents for the deal you want to make. Then you can pass over these documents to an outsourced short sale company who will take care of all the phoning and faxing to follow up with the lender, saving you countless time spent on hold and doing other mundane tasks. In fact, it's possible that the short sale company will be able to complete the sale better than you could because they deal with the lenders all the time and therefore have developed good relationships.
If you can find some time in your busy schedule to think about where best you can outsource aspects of
your work, then you may be surprised how much more you can get done.

Til next time,
David Oswald