ISA
How Much Does a Real Estate ISA Cost? The Full Picture
By Virtexa Solutions · · 5 min read
An inside sales agent (ISA) is often the first hire a growing real estate team makes. The idea is simple: one person works the phones, reaches new leads fast, finds out who is serious, and sets appointments so the agents can spend their time with clients.
The salary is the number most people look at first. But the real cost of an ISA is the salary plus everything around it: bonuses, payroll costs and benefits, tools, the months it takes to get them productive, and your own time managing them. This guide walks through each piece so you can work out what an ISA would actually cost your business.
What ISAs are paid
There is no official national figure for real estate ISA pay. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track ISAs as their own job category, and published ranges vary a lot depending on the market and whether bonuses are included.
One commonly cited benchmark comes from The Real Estate Trainer, which puts ISAs with no previous experience at roughly $40,000 to $65,000 a year, salary and bonus included, and experienced ISAs at $60,000 to $80,000 on average. (The Real Estate Trainer)
Treat those as rough estimates. Pay in your market may be higher or lower, and the best ISAs, the ones who consistently set appointments that actually show up and close, tend to cost more.
How ISA pay is usually structured
Most teams pay ISAs a mix of guaranteed pay and performance pay. The common structures are:
- Base plus a bonus per appointment. The ISA earns a salary or hourly rate, plus a bonus for each appointment that is set, or each one that is actually held. Paying on held appointments rewards something the ISA can control while discouraging appointments that never happen.
- Base plus a share of closed deals. The ISA earns a bonus when a lead they set closes. This rewards quality, but the payout can come months after the call.
- Commission only. Rare, and hard to sustain. Few people stay in a phone role for long without steady income.
Before you settle on a plan, check your state's licensing rules. In many states, an unlicensed assistant cannot be paid a share of a commission, and some conversations an ISA might have, like discussing terms with a seller, may require a license. Your broker can tell you what applies where you are.
The costs on top of pay
Pay is only part of what an employee costs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, wages and salaries made up about 70% of what private employers spent on their workers in June 2026. The other 30% went to benefits such as paid leave, insurance, retirement contributions, and legally required payroll costs. (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation)
That is an average across all private-sector jobs, so your numbers will differ. Still, it is a useful reminder that a $50,000 salary costs your business noticeably more than $50,000.
Then there are the costs that never show up on a payslip:
- Recruiting. Job board posts, screening calls, interviews, and test role-plays.
- Training and ramp-up. A new ISA needs to learn your market, your scripts, your CRM, and your listings. Expect weeks of lower output before they hit their stride.
- Tools. A CRM seat, a phone line or dialer, and any lead-source logins.
- Management. Call reviews, coaching, scheduling, and weekly check-ins. This is your time, and it is time you are not spending with clients.
- Turnover. Phone roles see plenty of turnover. When an ISA leaves, you pay the recruiting and training costs again, and leads go uncovered while you do.
A simple worked example
Here is how the numbers can add up for a single full-time ISA. These are illustrative assumptions, not quotes, so swap in your own.
| Cost | Example |
|---|---|
| Salary and bonuses | $50,000 |
| Benefits and payroll costs (using the BLS 70/30 average) | about $21,000 |
| Tools: CRM seat, phone line, dialer | $1,500 to $3,000 |
| Recruiting and training (one-time) | a few weeks of your time, plus ad costs |
| Your management time | 2 to 4 hours a week |
| Total, first year | roughly $73,000 or more, plus your time |
Now divide that by the number of appointments your ISA sets that actually turn into closings. That cost per closing is the figure to compare against your average commission.
What about an offshore ISA?
Many teams hire virtual assistants overseas to make calls. Rates for real estate cold callers based in the Philippines are commonly listed at around $6 an hour, or about $960 a month for full-time work. (HireTalent.ph)
That is far cheaper on paper, and for some teams it works well. The trade-offs are worth weighing:
- Hours. Unless you pay for a night shift, their working day may not line up with when your leads call.
- Local knowledge. Callers ask about neighborhoods, schools, and commutes. That is harder to answer convincingly from abroad.
- Management. You still need to train, coach, and review calls, often across time zones.
- Compliance. Calling rules such as the TCPA and the Do Not Call registry still apply, and you are responsible for following them.
Where an AI voice agent fits
An AI voice agent is not a full replacement for every part of an ISA's job, but it covers one part very well: answering inbound calls the moment they come in, any time of day.
A Virtexa AI voice agent picks up every call to your business, qualifies the caller on timeline, budget, financing, and the property they are interested in, books showings directly onto your calendar, and warm-transfers hot leads to your phone. Each call lands in your CRM with a summary and a lead score, so you know who to call first. There is no hiring, no ramp-up, and no turnover, and it never has a lunch break.
What it does not do is the outbound side: working through old leads, making follow-up calls, and nurturing relationships over months. If that is where most of your ISA's value comes from, a human ISA still earns their place. Many teams use both: AI for every inbound call and after-hours coverage, and people for outbound follow-up and relationship building. Our AI vs ISA comparison goes through when each one fits.
How to decide
Ask yourself three questions:
- Where do your best leads come from? If they mostly call in, fast and reliable answering matters most. If you buy online leads that need chasing, outbound follow-up matters more.
- When do they come in? If a large share of calls arrive evenings and weekends, a single ISA on business hours will miss them.
- What does a closing cost you today? Work out your current cost per closed deal, then compare it honestly with each option.
If you would like help running those numbers for your business, our free 30-minute System Audit is a good place to start. Book your System Audit. We will look at where your leads come from, how quickly they are reached today, and whether an AI ISA, a human ISA, or a mix of both makes sense for you.