Creating Brochures/Flyers

Although this is virgin territory for me, I am aware that there are laws regarding what a VA can and can't do for a real estate agent.

I currently have property listed for sale with an agent. I told her my plans to become a VA and eventually specializing in working with real estate agents. I created a flyer for my property and emailed it to her....she loved it and is using it.

She called me today and told me she has a property that really needs to sell as soon as possible and asked me if I would create a flyer for that, like the one I did for mine. Of course, I said YES!

My question is this: Just how creative can I be? My understanding is she gives me the particulars about the property and I use my imagination of how to market it on the flyer.....is my thinking correct on this? I had no qualms in doing my own, since I am the owner, but not sure how free I can be with my expressions in this case.

The property is on a lake and I would like to play that out by saying something like:

Would you like to spend a relaxing week-end on this beautiful 500 acre lake? Better yet, why not OWN this home???

Week-ends or year around?....Your choice!

This well built 1999 3bdrm/2bth mobile home is on the water front with access to a 50ft fishing pier and boat launch set up on almost 2 acres. The yard surrounding this home is well manicured with a serene custom made rock waterfall to compliment your gorgeous view of Lake *****.

Just a mini-example of thoughts and the specifics of the home/property will be from the listing by the agent with my descriptive words included. And of course pictures will be included. I just want to make sure I am not crossing any lines of no no's.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

[JKVirtualOffice]

I recently worked with a real estate agent to create a flyer for her but she provided all the text and content. I just formatted it and put in the photos with the text. I think it really depends on the real estate agent and how much freedom they want to give you.

[D_Victoria_Virtual_Assistance]

At one time I was employed as an Office Administrator in a Real Estate office. Myself and another assistant would create property flyers and update website content for Realtors all the time. It really all depended on the Realtor in regards to how much freedom we had over the flyer.

Most provided the text and images and we created the rest. However, we normally followed the same design idea for that particular company. Others had a specific design of their own they wanted used, so all we really did was place the pictures appropriately and formatted the text. I once designed a portfolio page for a Realtor detailing the houses she recently sold. I pretty much did that from scratch....she then edited and I made the changes.

As far as, laws go, my understanding has been that if you are not a licensed real estate agent you can not give out house details such as price and so on nor could you negotiate anything on the Realtor's behalf. I am sure the laws vary in different states.

Thank you for your replies.

I think I will be okay with using my descriptive words, since she will be providing the details of the property. Of course, it will have her stamp of approval before being publicized.

Yes, the laws do vary I have noticed. That is one reason I am not including answering phones as one of my services. I don't mind talking on the phone, just don't want to be tied down to one...lol. I am trying to keep it all as simple as I can, yet professional.

[kimhughes]

Hi Wanda,

Glad to see you join Virtual Assistant Forums! If I am not to late in posting a reply to your question, I would like to offer that you visit my website and go to my services page and then look at the portfolio to see some samples of flyers, brochure, and home books. This might get your creative juices flowing!

[Administrative Partners]

You should be able to look on the local associations website and see what you can and cannot do.. I have a list for MD, but I'm bummed I can't put my hands on it right now.. I found it during the research stages of my business..

You can design flyers but you have to have the approval of the agent. There is certain wording and implications that you can't have in advertising. You aren't obligated to know certain things that they they must know regarding that subject. They can actually get fined for some wording.