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A full-time real estate VA through Katuva typically costs a fraction of what you'd pay for an in-house U.S. hire — most agents save 60–70% on payroll costs while getting a dedicated, trained professional. When hiring with Katuva, expect the cost to land around $8 per hour effective rate.

Here's the real math: a U.S.-based transaction coordinator or executive assistant can run $45,000–$60,000+ per year once you factor in salary, payroll taxes, benefits, and turnover costs. Our pricing is simple — Part-Time at $695/month or Full-Time at $1,350/month, flat.

The real question isn't "what's the cheapest VA I can find" — it's "what's the cost of not delegating." Every hour you spend on data entry or chasing title is an hour you're not prospecting or closing. Book a call and we'll give you an exact quote based on your workload.

A transaction coordinator (TC) is a specific role — someone who manages a deal from contract to close, handling deadlines, disclosures, inspections, and communication with title, lending, and both sides of the transaction.

A real estate virtual assistant is a broader category that can include TC work, but also covers marketing, CRM management, listing coordination, social media, email management, and general admin. Think of it this way: every TC can be a VA, but not every VA is a TC.

At Katuva, we help you figure out which role — or combination — actually fits your business before we place anyone, so you're not paying for a specialist when you need a generalist, or vice versa.

Yes — this is one of the most common misconceptions we clear up on discovery calls. Filipino VAs regularly work U.S. business hours, including Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern time zones. The Philippines has run 24/7 business process outsourcing for U.S. companies for over two decades — it's standard practice.

When you hire through Katuva, your VA's schedule is built around your business, not the other way around. The time difference (typically 13–16 hours depending on the season and your location) can actually work in your favor — a VA working your late afternoon can prep everything overnight so it's done before you're even at your desk.

No — and this is exactly why agents choose Katuva over hiring a random freelancer off a job board. Every VA we place has been trained through our Empower+ program. They come in already understanding core real estate workflows, common software platforms, and how to think in systems rather than waiting to be told what to do next.

That said, your VA still needs to learn your specific systems — your CRM setup, your transaction checklist, your brand voice. That onboarding is lighter and faster because they already speak the language of real estate. Most clients have their VA operating independently within 2–4 weeks, not months.

A well-rounded real estate VA should be comfortable with:

• CRM platforms — GoHighLevel, Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, Chime, or your specific system
• Transaction management — Dotloop, SkySlope, TransactionDesk, or DocuSign
• MLS and listing platforms — depending on your local MLS
• Marketing tools — Canva, social media schedulers (Later, Buffer, Meta Business Suite), and email platforms like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign
• Communication and project management — Slack, Asana, ClickUp, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365

The honest answer: no VA arrives knowing your exact stack on day one. What matters more is whether they can learn new software quickly and think in systems — which is the premise behind Katuva's Empower+ training.

Most Katuva clients have their VA fully ramped up and operating independently within 2–4 weeks. Week one is typically shadowing and learning your systems; week two starts hands-on task ownership with check-ins; by weeks three and four your VA is running processes with minimal oversight.

One thing that speeds this up dramatically: having your processes written down before day one. If you don't have SOPs yet, that's one of the first things we help you build — because a VA without documented systems is just guessing, and guessing is expensive in real estate. This is exactly what Empower+ is designed to help you do.

Yes, hiring a Filipino VA as an independent contractor is a well-established and legal practice used by thousands of U.S. real estate professionals and brokerages. Because your VA is based in the Philippines and not a U.S. employee, you're not subject to U.S. payroll tax withholding, workers' comp, or domestic employment law obligations.

That said, this is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm your specific setup with your own attorney or accountant. With Katuva, this is largely a moot point: you are hiring us directly as a vendor and we are responsible for the VA contractor on your behalf. That's actually one of the significant benefits of working with an agency versus hiring direct.

This is exactly the gap Katuva was built to close. A lot of agents have been burned by hiring a generic VA off a freelance marketplace who's never heard of a "contingency period" or doesn't know the difference between "under contract" and "pending." That's not a failure of the VA — it's a failure of preparation.

Every VA placed through Katuva goes through training on real estate fundamentals and terminology before they're placed with you. We also build a short terminology and process reference with you during onboarding so your VA is speaking your language — not guessing at it — within the first couple of weeks.

It depends on your volume, but often — yes, especially for solo agents or small teams. A single VA can manage social media posting, listing marketing, and lighter transaction coordination tasks like tracking deadlines and following up with title and lending.

The honest guidance: if you're doing under 3–4 closings a month with a modest marketing presence, one VA in a hybrid role works fine. Once you scale past that, it's worth splitting into two roles — even if both are part-time — because transaction coordination requires focused detail work and marketing requires a completely different creative attention. Trying to save money by cramming both into one role often costs more later in missed deadlines or inconsistent marketing. We'll help you figure out honestly which setup fits your current volume.

Communication across time zones works best when it's built into your systems rather than left to chance. Most Katuva clients use a mix of:

• Async-first tools — Slack or Asana for daily task updates and questions
• Direct communication — WhatsApp or Zoom for text or video check-ins
• Loom or short video updates — faster than writing a paragraph, and your VA can watch it whenever their day starts
• A short daily overlap window — even 1–2 hours of shared availability is enough for a live check-in
• Weekly recurring calls — for planning, feedback, and anything that needs real conversation

Once you and your VA settle into a rhythm — usually within the first couple of weeks — most communication becomes async by design, which means things get handled while you sleep instead of piling up on your to-do list. That's the whole point of delegation done right.