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She Scaled a Real Estate Agency Using Overseas VAs Then Sold to Her Own Agents
TL;DR: Former math teacher Adrienne Green launched the Auburndale Group real estate agency in August 2021 after relocating to Chattanooga. She niched down exclusively to real estate investors rather than general homebuyers, and used Filipino VAs to handle the bottom 80% of tasks. The team grew to 6 agents and 5 VAs, completing 129 transactions in the first full year. When passion waned, she sold to two of her own agents for 6 figures at 2x EBITDA with seller financing. Key to sellability: not naming the agency after herself, building systems that ran without her, and using affordable VAs to boost net income.
Key Insights
- Niched down to real estate investors instead of serving everyone - investors make more frequent transactions and she understood them as an investor herself
- Used Filipino VAs to outsource bottom 80% of tasks like emails and paperwork, keeping costs low and herself focused on revenue-generating activities
- Did not name the agency after herself, making it transferable without her personal brand
- Built systems and procedures that let the agency operate without her daily involvement
- Sold to her own agents who knew the business, avoiding the challenge of finding external buyers who understand real estate teams
Actionable Takeaways
- Niche down to the customer segment you understand best as a practitioner - your personal experience becomes your competitive advantage
- Hire overseas VAs for the repetitive 80% of work to maximize your time on revenue-generating activities
- Avoid naming your business after yourself if you ever want to sell it
- Build documented systems and procedures for everything to create transferable business assets
- Consider selling to employees or team members who already know the business
Principles Validated (2)
Read full article on theygotacquired.comAdded Feb 15, 2026