This thread takes on a life of it's own every hour.
Our Florida agent evidently doesn't remember that the State of Florida has specific laws regarding what an assistant can do (even split by licensed or unlicensed) and how that assistant must be paid (whether by the agent or by the broker). In addition if an agent hires a licensed assistant that licensed assistant MUST (in almost every local board) be a board member.

I personally would not hire a licensed assistant for two reasons:
1. I don't need them to do any work that requires a license, and
2. If they "want to learn to be a good Realtor" by working with my propriatary information, nothing is stopping them from leaving and taking my contacts with them.

Put down your Marx and Engles soon please.

I'm ready for a appointment with Freud after reading this.

I have learned a lot here in this forum and one of my techniques is to ask and argue, ask and argue, dig all what I can to see what you all have to say and learn about it. I'm not a person that just "swallow", I think for myself and get my own conclusions. I know who I am and you don't know. The same way I can't know how you really are just by reading all your comments on this forum. So I think you should stop thinking you know me and act like you are psychologists here, ok?

I am grateful for all the advice and suggestions I have received, but I have to say that I have read threads that I haven't even participated in, and all of you brag, and brag, and brag, to show the others who has more experience, who has more knowledge, who is the best Realtor. You are happy in judging me as the victim and judging me with other remarks, but I think you have to look at yourselves first.

This pretty much sums it all up.

Just a note on the bragging. I am definitely bragging at times and do not apologize for it. I am a fantastic agent with a wealth of experience, great ideas, fantastic creativity, and am terrific at solving problems. A client is LUCKY to have me for their agent. (And I am lucky to have myself for living a life on this planet.) I will lead them to correct decisions and maximize their value during a transaction. Am I the best agent in the United States? Probably not, but I am right up there. There is nothing wrong with bragging if you back it up and get the job done in superlative fashion, or at the very least, with superlative effort.

And by the way, a good amount of credit for my personality and philosophy goes to Ayn Rand. While I could never achieve her impossibly high standards, they represent an ideal that I attempt at all times to attain. If I only achieve 60% integration of her philosophy and ideals, it puts me in the top 1% of all human beings with respect to ability to function in the real world.

Atlas Shrugged should be required reading for all agents, and all humans. It will not only make you better, it will place you with the best. But only if you are introspective enough to see how deficient you are and are willing to undertake the monumental effort to pull yourself out of the black hole of bad philosophy that you have been fed since the day you were born.

Don't be so modest navarac!
LOL...jk...I tend to be the same and I dont really care if it bothers other agents.
Hey Anyelina- take a note. When you're self employed - no one toots your horn for you. Thers no award ceremonies or special plaques. No boss to award you an "emplyee of the month" gift certificate. If you dont let your clients know what you will do for them - they simply wont know and they'll hire someone else who will.
You know Ive noticed many top producers tend to have a certain degree of ego-mania going on. Just figured it was the nature of the beast.

I throw in the towel Anyelina...best of luck to you.

Navarac: Actually I think you are one of the most (if not the only one) that brings always SOLID arguments in what you say and I respect that a lot. I would love to have a mentor like you, really. But I know, probably you don't want an agent like me but that's ok, I just want to say that. I agree in almost everything you say because it MAKES MORE SENSE what you say than what others have said in this whole forum (other threads I have read that I haven't even participated, just read). I'm going to start reading Any Rand, sounds very interesting definitely.

Minna: I understand what you say, I have been self-employed for about 10 years. Also,I understand that ego-mania you talking about too. I have met a lot like that.

Steve: I appreciate you have taken the time in answering all my comments on this thread and the others, thanks for your patience and being respectable. You have given me great insights and now I understand more things that I was very skeptical and confused about. Thanks!!

I think that 15 dollars an hour will draw a big crowd in todays economy. Pick the one that works best, not necessarily the one with the most qualifications. You want to hire someone who will learn your systems and stick around for awhile.

This is my very first post in the forum, and I'm hoping to learn a lot here. This post caught my eye for a few reasons:

- I obtained my RE salesperson license in 2004 with no prior RE knowledge
- I started as an assistant to one of the most respected and knowledgeable brokers in Hawaii. He has been a "top producer" consistently for the last 30 years or so - not your fly-by-night rookie who blazes like a shooting star and disappears just as quickly
- I was paid $12.50/hr to start (no commission structure)
- No insurance benefits, paid sick/vacation time, etc.

The knowledge that I gained in working with him has proven invaluable. His work ethic, strong sense of integrity, communication skills, and intense commitment to his clients are things with a higher intrinsic worth than the actual monetary compensation that I received. Because those skills and habits I learned in the 2 years that I was with him have enabled ME to achieve a much higher level of success with my own career than I otherwise could have gained in starting out in the business on my own.

These are some of the "benefits" I received that on the job, that NO newbie could dream of achieving within their first year:
- The opportunity to work on 30+ transactions per year
- Worked on a few commercial and lots of high-end residential sales
- Going to exclusive social events to learn from and "rub elbows with" some of the top producers in Hawaii
- Learned how to handle different situations and difficulties that can arise and threaten a transaction

In the end, I was earning $15/hr with a commission structure that I was very happy with. But I had to prove myself capable and valuable to him before that could happen. When it came time for me to venture out on my own, we were both very sad, but I had outgrown the "nest" and I was ready to test my wings. I didn't feel scared, intimidated or inexperienced - all feelings that I had had when I walked out of the DCCA office with my crispy new license. I felt empowered, knowledgeable and confident that I could handle my own business.

(A note on benefits:) Insurance is expensive, and until the insurance companies give ALL of us Realtors reasonably priced options, this is a boat we are all in. I was lucky enough to have a husband whose job covered me and my son. With regards to vacation and sick pay, this was one area that I was not happy with. I voiced my concerns, and I was able to negotiate for 10 days a year of paid days off (for me to use at my discretion).

To this day, we are very close, and I will occasionally call him for advice. (I'm at different brokerage firm than he is)

I hope this sheds some light on the question, and I feel that both sides of the argument have very valid points, but are missing the bigger picture: that an assistant can START at one end of the pay structure and END on the other - once they have proven themselves. Also that the potential benefits can be INVALUABLE (or should I say incalculable?) to both parties.

But! But! I want it all NOW as if I AM proven, experienced, and valuable!

I am a very methodical person, and if you want to determine whether or not something is effective, you have to do an "experiment." This is how I would do it if I were you:

1) Figure out how much you can commit to pay an assistant every month - without fail. Do not be optimistic - be realistic. Someone will be relying on you to pay for their time, and have children or their own financial commitments to meet.

2) Multiply that monthly budgeted amount by 6 and put aside 6 months' worth of the assistant's pay. Do not touch it for any reason other than to pay your assistant. This will relieve the mental stress of worrying if you have enough to cover their salary every month. It will also help you to focus on the overall picture of their performance, without worrying if you have a slow day, or even a slow week.

3) Sit down and determine which tasks are tedious, repetitive, or time consuming for you. Remember that these will not be the same for everyone. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Just think of all of the tasks that you dread doing, are slow at, or procrastinate with. Chances are, your time would be better spent NOT doing those things. Find someone who can do it faster. Time, after all, equals $$$ right? :) Basically, make a list of your weaknesses - we all have them! For my boss, his weakness was the computer - he couldn't turn the damn thing on! He typed painfully slow (one finger tap-tap style), but he was an eloquent speaker and great salesman. He would dictate all emails and letters to me. Since I type close to 70 WPM, we could accomplish together in 5 minutes what would otherwise take him an hour and a half to do. Was paying me $1.80 for 5 minutes of my time worth saving him a 1.5 hours of his? I'll let you decide that! :)

4) Create an ideal schedule of what you want your assistant's day to be. My day used to look something like this:
8:00: Check and respond to all emails (client inquiries taking top priority)
9:00: Print MLS hotsheet and search for anything that might meet our buyer's needs
10:00: Check on active escrows, orders, etc.
11:00: Set up viewing appointments for my broker to take clients to preview
12:00: Lunch
1:00 - 5:00: A variety of tasks including:
- Print up listing folder materials
- Work on flyers, ads, marketing for listings
- Cold calls
- Property management items
- Scan/shred old closed files that were only in hard copy
- Update website content/tweets/facebook
- Any special projects that he wanted to work on
- Showing properties to buyers (rare)

5) Take the list of duties and tasks that you created in step 3, and create a job posting based on those tasks. Be honest what they can expect to do as your assistant. Do not create a false expectation that they will be doing the high-action things that they see done on those RE reality TV shows. It will be lots of honest, hard work. I would, however, mention that there is lots of room to grow and obtain valuable experience.

6) Interview those who reply and outline the job, and introduce the basic daily schedule to them. Those who feel that they are above performing those tasks, or are already very familiar with them will decide at that point that they are not the right fit for the position, and are probably better off doing their own sales. A new agent will not be too experienced in these tasks, and that's okay - because that's what you're looking for. At this time, I would let them know that this is a 6 month position, and if all goes well, they will continue in the position. They understand that it's basically a 6 month probation period. This is important, because it does not obligate you to keep them longer than you have budgeted. Even most large corporations have this sort of a stipulation when they hire people.

7) Hire the best person for the job. You need to have a good working chemistry with that person - you will be seeing them everyday! However, do not base it only on how well you get along - be sure that they have at least one good solid job reference and possess at least basic computer knowledge.

8) Commit to it!! Teach them exactly how you want things done, then let them DO IT!!! The hard thing will be to fight the urge to double check or redo their work. The point is for you to let those tasks go. So let them go!! I've seen lots of assistant/broker relationships fail because the broker simply cannot let things go. By nature, I think we are control freaks (we have to be!) but if you find someone who you can trust, then let them do their job. They are helping you have more time with your family, on vacation, and living life. There is no sense in paying someone to do the work that you are going to repeat later.

9) Unless things go completely south, stick through the entire 6 month process. If you have a slow week, or even a slow month, that is when you will need your assistant the MOST!! You now have two bodies to bring in business. Have them cold call, call past clients, send emails - whatever they have to to get people into your office. Since you've set aside their pay, there is no reason to stress about having a slump. This is really when you should see the advantages of an assistant in helping you GET MORE BUSINESS!!

10) At the end of the 6 month process, it should be very clear if the assistant has been helpful to your business. Look at your previous months' sales, and see how they compare to the same months last year. One of a few scenarios should be apparent:
(1) Sales are significantly higher than last year - Conclusion: assistant is worth keeping. Advise them that they are permanently hired, and consider a commission structure if they have proven to be invaluable (and you don't want to lose them to someone who will "appreciate them" more). Also consider offering time off, benefits, insurance, etc.
(2) Sales are not significantly higher than last year - Conclusion: assistant is probably not worth keeping.
(3) Sales are lower than last year - Conclusion: Fire your assistant right away!

11) If you find yourself in either situation 2 or 3, you really have to ask yourself if there were other factors involved. There can be so many things that can potentially affect your sales. Try to envision your sales without those other circumstances.


Hopefully at the end of this experiment, you will be singing the praises of having an assistant. It's a win-win situation for everyone. Just remember to be CLEAR and UPFRONT with your expectations. Communication and finding the right "match" here is critical. Find someone who plays a strong game in your weak ones.

Hope this has helped!! Good luck...

One last note: My tasks included updating/adding MLS info and doing showings. Also, my broker paid for my E&O insurance to cover everything I did. If he ever got hit with a lawsuit (never happened), all of my actions and communications would have been covered. Because our work was so intermingled, he didn't want to take the chance of hiring a non-licensed person. I think board rules vary from state to state, but in Hawaii they are very strict. The cost of a lawsuit can be much higher than the cost of paying a licensed individual and E&O. I would ask an attorney in your state before making such a decision.

He also paid for my MLS, board fees, and CE classes. We agreed that if/when I decided to leave and start doing my own independent sales, I would reimburse him for the remainder of the year's fees that he'd paid.

Nice posts! If you ever want to move to Atlanta and go back to being an assistant let me know!