In-house Transaction Coordinator vs. Virtual Transaction Coordinator Service

The difference between an in-house Transaction Coordinator and an independent Transaction Coordinator

The post below is from the blog of my former TC company – while that site no longer is live, much of what I’ve learned in the 16 years I had that business is shared here at the TC Academy, in my books, and with and with the clients, I coach.

In-house Transaction Coordinator vs. Virtual Transaction Coordinator Service

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with countless Realtors looking to leverage their time while providing nothing but excellent service to their buyers and sellers. Helping Realtors from contract to close is what my team and I enjoy doing.

This is an actual email I received today:

"I would love to talk to you about the Transaction Coordinator services you offer. We have a gal that does it in our office, but our phones are SO busy that it is hard for her to do that and answer all of the calls without things falling through the cracks!"

As of this blog post, I haven't spoken to the agent who sent this email, but I will soon as we’ve scheduled an appointment, however sadly, her situation is not unique. Well-meaning real estate offices often bring a Transaction Coordinator into the office to help the agents with their productivity and paperwork. In the beginning, everyone is jazzed about it. For a small fee for each transaction, the busy Realtor can have the help of a Transaction Coordinator who has been personally selected, screened, and placed in the office by their broker or manager. So far, so good, right? Well, maybe…

Generally, one of three scenarios plays out:

She's a rock star, can handle 75 monthly transactions, and doesn't mind working 60+ hours a week to do it (at least initially). She takes calls at night; works most weekends, and you wonder if she ever sleeps. However, as we all know, working 60+ hours a week for too long leads to burn out, and while she may be doing great for a while, soon this star either fades or implodes.
She receives little to no training on handling the volume of real estate transactions she's expected to. Soon, many agents discontinue using her services because they are frustrated that they don't get the personal attention they thought they would. Rather than having a weekly meeting, a platform to post updates or even emails they pop by her desk and "hang out," which only distracts her and slows her down. (thus things fall through the crack)
A storm begins to brew; the agents aren't happy because things are missed or they are expected to do their own work when she’s on vacation or out sick. She has no leadership to help her methods of coordinating are putting out fires and being reactive, rather than a system to effectively do her work proactively. In addition to handling the transaction coordination, she's also being asked to do other "favors". She's covering for the receptionist who is on vacation; she's helping on the phones with showing instructions and even creating a few flyers for some agents in a pinch.

Over the last 14 years as the owner of a Virtual Transaction Coordinator service, I've seen this happen or heard this from our clients time and time again. In a few cases, I've been called in, and the Transaction Coordinator, who was once in-house, has joined my team and was given training and support, which created a better experience for the agents she works for. In other cases, I've done consulting work to help the office create systems and train the Transaction Coordinator to use them. And recent years, I’ve created a course called Transaction Coordinator Essentials, which is available at the Transaction Coordinator Academy, to train to provide much-needed training for this line of work.

If you’re in need of support from contract to close, to leverage your time to allow you other opportunities in your day, then give us a call or drop us a line and let’s schedule some time to meet. We’d love to help you provide excellent service to your clients while giving you peace of mind knowing that the things you need to be handled are done and you have an extra set of eyes and ears to make sure that things are running smoothly.

While I no longer have a TC company, I work with many in the industry as a coach and mentor and provide training here at the Academy.