Real Estate Foundation — the big picture
What you're actually signing up for
Most VA training pretends a Filipino VA can support a US real estate team without understanding US real estate. That's wrong, and it's why so many REVAs stall at data-entry pay. You need to understand the industry to do the job — this lesson is the floor: the minimum knowledge you must hold before anyone trusts you with a live deal.
Three flavors, three market types
Residential (single-family homes, condos, townhomes) is 90%+ of the work you'll support. Commercial (office, retail, industrial) is occasional and niche. Investment/wholesale (buyers acquiring property for income or flipping) drives huge cold-call demand — some clients live entirely in this space.
| Market type | What it means | Who's stressed |
|---|---|---|
| Seller's market | More buyers than houses. Bidding wars, homes sell in days. | Buyers |
| Buyer's market | More houses than buyers. Negotiating room, homes sit. | Sellers |
| Balanced | Equal supply and demand. Rare. | Nobody |
Different markets reward different roles. In a buyer's market, ISAs become more critical — listings sit longer, so agents need more leads to hold their income.
The cast of characters
The principals — the seller (owns the property) and the buyer (wants it). Only their money moves; everyone else services their deal. The agents — listing agent (represents the seller), buyer's agent (must have a signed BRA before any showing — post-NAR rule), dual agent (both sides, disclosed, rare), designated agents (two agents, same brokerage, one per side), and the managing broker, who is legally responsible for every agent under them.
The money side — the lender, the loan officer (your constant contact), the underwriter (approves or denies the loan; the buyer never talks to them), and the appraiser (independent, hired by the lender to confirm value). The neutral parties — the title company (title search, escrow, runs the closing — in Minnesota, attorneys are not mandatory; they are in NY, NJ, and IL), the home inspector (30–80 page condition report), and specialty inspectors (sewer scope, radon, mold, pest, structural).
The support layer — you. Listing Coordinator (sign to sold), Marketing Coordinator (content and visibility), Administrative Coordinator (files, vendors, database), Transaction Coordinator (offer to deed recording), Inside Sales Agent (lead qualification and appointments), plus the Operations Manager who runs the whole back office. The Showing Agent requires a US license — that one is not a VA role.
How a deal moves — the five stages
Follow the money at closing
Eight movements happen on closing day, in this order:
- Buyer brings cash to close (down payment + closing costs)
- Lender funds the loan amount to title
- Title pays off the seller's existing mortgage
- Title pays the listing brokerage commission
- Title pays the buyer's brokerage compensation (per the BRA + concession structure)
- Title pays itself (closing fees, title insurance)
- Title pays property-tax prorations and special assessments
- Remainder = seller's net proceeds, wired same day
Earnest money sat in escrow the whole time; at closing it's applied to the buyer's down payment and costs.
The post-NAR reset (2024–2026)
The NAR Settlement (March 2024, effective August 17, 2024) changed two structural things. One: cooperating compensation can no longer be advertised on the MLS — "seller offers buyer's agent 2.5%" is gone from the MLS and moved to non-MLS channels. Two: buyer's agents must have a signed Buyer Representation Agreement (BRA) before any showing, specifying a fixed, knowable compensation amount.
The Minnesota layer — your first regional example
Every state has quirks. If your team is Minnesota-based, these are non-negotiable:
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| MLS / showings | Northstar MLS (22,000+ agents) · ShowingTime |
| Closings | Title-led; attorney NOT mandatory; 30–45 days |
| Inspection period | 5–10 business days standard |
| Earnest money | 1–2% of price, due within 24–72 hours of acceptance |
| Taxes | Property tax May 15 + Oct 15 · deed tax $3.30 per $1,000 (seller) · mortgage reg tax $0.23 per $100 |
| TISH | Truth-in-Sale of Housing report — Minneapolis + Saint Paul only, seller pays |
Mandatory MN seller disclosures: Seller's Property Disclosure (Statute 513.55), lead-based paint (pre-1978 homes), well, septic/SSTS, radon awareness, wetlands/floodplain, and HOA documents where applicable.
Wire fraud — the risk that outranks everything
Real estate is the #1 wire-fraud target industry in the US. Fraudsters intercept email threads between buyers and title companies, then send fake wire instructions. Buyers wire $50K–$500K to scam accounts and never see it again.
Do
- Verify every wire instruction by phone, using a number from a separate source
- Treat any "updated" or "new" instructions as suspicious until verified
- Escalate the moment anything feels off — to your agent and the title officer
- Accept a 2-hour closing delay over a $500K loss, every time
Don't
- Trust wire instructions sent only by email
- Call the number in the email signature or the forwarded message
- Ever assume "we know each other now, skip verification" — the rule never expires
Do this now
Take 20 minutes. On one page (paper, whiteboard, or a doc), map a full deal from memory: the five stages in order, the pending-period timeline with day counts, and the eight money movements at closing. Then check yourself against this lesson and mark every gap in red.
Save it as deal-map-v1. You'll redo this map in a week — the version with zero red marks goes in your portfolio as proof you can talk to a title company without asking your agent what every email means.
Tip: use your ← → arrow keys.