If you run a real estate business, you probably know the feeling of coming back from a full day out at properties only to find your inbox still waiting for you. Buildium’s 2027 Property Management Industry Report, which surveyed more than 930 property managers across the US, found that 64% plan to add properties in the coming year while 70% plan to keep their teams the same size, so that inbox is likely to keep growing. Letting agents in the UK feel the same pressure, with 76% telling Goodlord that time spent on admin holds back their growth. In Ireland, the rental rules that took effect on 1 March 2026 added another task to every new letting, as landlords and their agents now have to send a rent notice to both the tenant and the Residential Tenancies Board.
The same Buildium report found that 12% of property management companies plan to shift work to global or remote team members. Remote staff can take on the desk based work that fills an agent’s day, from tenant emails and listings to paperwork and follow ups, so your local team can stay focused on viewings, valuations and inspections. If the model is new to you, our guide to how offshore staffing works explains it in more detail.
In this article, we look at five roles real estate businesses can hire remotely, what each person handles day to day and which businesses get the most from them.
1. Property Management Assistant
A property management assistant handles the day to day running of a rental portfolio from behind a screen. That covers answering tenant calls and emails, logging repair requests and booking contractors, chasing late rent, sending renewal reminders and keeping tenancy records up to date. Maintenance is often the part that piles up first, and Buildium’s latest survey found it was one of the top challenges for 32% of property managers, up from 24% the year before.
Most of this work happens inside property management software, which means a remote assistant can pick it up quickly. In the US that usually means platforms like AppFolio or Buildium, while UK letting agents tend to use systems such as Alto or Reapit. In Ireland, the work also includes keeping tenancy registrations up to date, since landlords must register every tenancy with the RTB within one month of it starting and again every year after that, which a property management assistant can track for the landlords you work with.
Inspections, viewings and key handovers still need someone on the ground, but more experienced remote staff can take on the wider desk side of the job for a property manager, including landlord reporting and coordinating contractors across the portfolio, which leaves the property manager free to focus on site visits and landlord relationships.
This role suits property management companies, letting agents and landlords with growing portfolios who are spending too much of their week on tenant admin.
2. Administrative Assistant
An administrative assistant keeps the office side of a real estate business running. They manage the inbox and diary, book viewings and valuations, update the CRM after every call, prepare documents for offers and tenancies, and keep property files in order so anyone on the team can find what they need.
For agents who spend most of the day out of the office, this means enquiries get answered while they’re at viewings and nothing has to wait until the evening to be logged. If you’re weighing up this role, our guide to the cost of hiring an administrative assistant shows everything that goes into the full figure. Owners who need closer support for themselves, such as managing their own diary, travel and priorities, may be better served by an executive assistant, and our guide on what a remote executive assistant does explains the difference.
This role suits agencies, brokerages and busy sales teams where agents are losing selling time to paperwork.
3. Marketing Assistant
A marketing assistant makes sure your properties get seen by the right people. They write and upload listings to the main property portals, which means Zillow and Realtor.com in the US, Rightmove and Zoopla in the UK, and Daft.ie and MyHome.ie in Ireland. They also plan and post social media content for new listings and recent sales, send email campaigns to buyers, tenants and landlords, and keep your website up to date.
Marketing also plays a part in winning new instructions, since landlords and sellers may look at an agency’s listings and social pages before they pick up the phone. A marketing assistant keeps that presence active every week, instead of only when someone on the team finds a spare hour. Our guide on what a marketing assistant does covers the role in more detail, and you can also see the tools marketing assistants use to manage listings, content and email. If social media is your main focus, a dedicated social media manager may be the better fit.
This role suits sales agencies, brokerages and developers who want a steady flow of buyer, tenant and landlord enquiries.
4. Graphic Designer
Before anyone books a viewing, they’ve usually seen the property online, so how it looks on screen matters. A graphic designer creates listing graphics, property brochures, floor plan layouts, social media posts, board and signage designs, and branded templates that your whole team can reuse.
Consistent design also helps a smaller agency look established next to bigger names in the area. One of our clients, a real estate company, hired a graphic designer with four years of experience through Arwana at £1,200/month, and you can read more examples like this in our success stories. Our guide on what a remote graphic designer does explains the role in more detail.
This role suits agencies and developers who market several properties at once or want a consistent look across every listing.
5. Paid Ads Specialist
A paid ads specialist runs campaigns on platforms like Meta and Google to bring in new business. For real estate, that usually means valuation requests from homeowners, enquiries from landlords looking for a letting agent, and leads from buyers and tenants. They set up the campaigns, test different ads, track the cost of each lead and move budget towards the ads bringing in the best enquiries.
This role is different from a marketing assistant, who looks after listings and content, because a paid ads specialist focuses on reaching people who haven’t found you yet. Property ads also come with their own rules, because in the US, Canada and some European countries, Meta places housing ads in a special category that limits targeting by age, gender and ZIP code or postcode, so your campaigns need someone who knows how to get results within those limits. Our guide on why your business needs a remote paid ad specialist covers the role in more detail.
This role suits agencies and property managers who want more instructions and landlord enquiries, not just more views on their listings.
Which Role Should You Hire First?
The right first hire depends on where your team is losing the most time. If tenant calls, repair requests and renewals are piling up, a property management assistant will free up the most hours. If your agents are spending their evenings on paperwork and CRM updates, an administrative assistant is the best place to start. If your listings are slow to go live or your social pages have gone quiet, a marketing assistant will make the biggest difference, and if you need more valuations and landlord enquiries, a paid ads specialist is the role to look at first.
You don’t have to hire every role at once, and many real estate businesses start with one person before adding another once the first hire has settled in. An administrative assistant and a marketing assistant work well as a pair, since one keeps the office running while the other keeps new enquiries coming in.
How to Hire Remote Staff for Your Real Estate Business
At Arwana, we help real estate businesses hire dedicated remote staff who work hours that suit your business and become part of your team. We find, vet and manage the right person for the role, so you don’t have to spend weeks sorting through applications, and there are no recruitment fees or long term contracts. Prices start from £699/month, €850/month or $1,000/month, depending on where your business is based.
Once your new hire starts, a clear onboarding plan helps them get to know your systems, properties and clients quickly. Our guide on how to onboard remote staff walks you through the first few weeks.
Conclusion
Real estate businesses in the US, the UK and Ireland are managing more properties, more enquiries and more paperwork without adding to their teams. Hiring remote staff for the desk based work gives your agents and property managers more time for the parts of the job that need them in person, from viewings and valuations to inspections and landlord meetings.
Whether you need help with tenant admin, office support, listings, design or paid ads, there’s a remote role that can handle it for you. Book a call to find out which role would make the biggest difference to your business.
