Great advice and it is important for branding yourself!

Honestly, as a consumer, It woudl be hard for me to take anyone serious who came to me professionally with a yahoo, or gmail account.

ITA.

If my name wasn't so darn long.... then again, what I ended up with is pretty long too!

Definitely recommend everyone get their own!!! I did recently switch companies and lost the use of my old email.  I'm constantly worried that I'm getting leads I am missing! LOL.  My young clients tend to just email me.  Honestly I've gotten 2 past client referrals strictly by email lately - they don't call, just email.  So I worry I'm missing others now.

And the soandso @ yahoo.com - that's a mess.  It does seem very unprofessional.

Ooh - forgot - even better - the ones who list their emails from their OTHER JOB!

I just did a deal with a fella who's listed email address was suchandsuch@schoolsystemnamehere.com

Now THAT is professional....

Many people use gmail because it is unlimited.  I get lots of email and can fill an email box quickly and need to keep a lot of emails, and gmail is perfect for my needs.  I don't have to spend time deleting all that junk mail.

I have websites for another business I have, and it just gets so full of junk mail, and I never gave out that address to anyone except clients.  Gmail is the only real option for me, I don't have time to keep deleting and playing the email game to keep the box clean.  If I will be judged as being unprofessional because of time management issues, then so be it.  I personally have never understood the judgmental game.  Things are not always as they appear.  Why should someone do things the way someone else says they should be done?  If someone can't or won't do business with a person because they don't like their email account...they may just be wrongfully judging a very good person.  How sad.

In my opinion, too many people judge a book by its cover.  How often does that turn out to be wrong?  Many times.  I know people who do that, and when they are the person who has been wrongfully judged by another, it makes them mad. 

Gregory - while it would be ideal to live in a society where people are not judged that simply isn't the case and you would be negligent to think that a consumer who is looking to hire a real estate agent doesn't judge the book by the first impression. That impression is critical. Clients only get a small glimpse of who you are. I use yahoo to host my email account and domain and I don't get any junk mail. It depends on the filter. I'm not sure anyone is being judgemental, either. What you present does say something about you whether you want to deny it or not. This is the same reason you don't wear jeans & a t-shirt to a listing appointment. A professional image is important and in an age where internet marketing and savvy are critical, a generic email address speaks about your professional stance. My first impression would be that the agent doesn't focus on internet marketing and perhaps doesn't use their email address all that often. While that assumption may be incorrect, it is my first impression.

Renee...your comment has some merit...although a very old topic.  It does amaze me how many agents use aol, hotmail or yahoo email accounts...they shouldn't. 

My first response when I see an email address based on an ISP or any of the free emails out there is that they don't take their business seriously.  It may be wrong to judge them but it isn't that hard to have your own and it isn't very expensive.  Gmail may be unlimited but mine is nearly so.  Downloading my email to my laptop gives me 250GB worth of space.  If I leave it on the server of my hosting account I have about 550GB worth of space.  That is more than I'll ever use for email.

Renee is right that it is very inexpensive to have your own domain $7-$12 year.  Also, if you get a hosting package your domain name is often free.  Granted that hosting packages cost from $60/year to around $99/mo depending on what you need.

You are so right.  It's a no brainer to get your own email addy and use it.  Besides, I pay quite a bit of money for my advertising.  Why would I want to advertise google (gmail) or yahoo for free by using them in my email addy?

What I am amazed at is the # of agents who still use isp email addresses. I wouldn't be mentioning this in a blog if it were not a frequent occurance.

Okay, I've read the post and all the comments, I'm still not sold, maybe its the agents who are judging us not the clients, I have yet to have a client not want to e-mail me because of my address.  I use my comcast and a yahoo address, Maybe my clients have gotten to know me personally or through a referral and it just doesn't matter, as long as I continue to serve them in a professional manner and manage their sale or purchase as if it were my own money!  And yes I work the high dollar end of sales as much as the lower end.

"WE JUDGE OURSELVES BY WHAT WE FEEL CAPABLE OF DOING; OTHERS JUDGE US BY WHAT WE HAVE DONE"                HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

"IT IS UNWISE TO BE TOO SURE OF ONE'S OWN WISDOM.  IT IS HEALTHY TO BE REMINED THAT THE STRONGEST MIGHT WEAKEN AND THE WISEST MIGHT ERR"         MAHATMA GANDHI    

dorisf@comcast.net

dorisandsherri@yahoo.com

Doris - I guess I think of it this way: there are around 700 agents in our area all competeing for business. Sellers/Buyers look through websites and through the Homes & Lifestyles magazine. That's the only glimpse they have of the agents. Some are lucky enough to go through a referral but maybe there is some business you didn't get because of a 'feeling' someone got. Who knows. All I know is that having your own email address CAN'T hurt; not having one can. Why take the risk when it's so cheap?

The professional vs. unprofessional argument can go on and on, and can be a bit subjective. One indisputable FACT of this discussion is that using your own domain as your email address puts your website just a click away, every time you use email. Forget about appearances or professionalism, this is just a no-brainer from a marketing standpoint.

I polled people in the past regarding Email Addresses, and found that Real Estate Agents need a professional Email Address, people end not to trust the common ISP's for business purposes due to the scamd going on at this time.

I agree with you.  I have multiple email but professionally I alwasy use the windermere.com one.  Thanks for weighing in on this.

Hi Renee - Excellent tip about owning your own domain versus using your broker's. It can be difficult (and expensive) to change all of the marketing and web material should an agent change offices, and chances are that probably 20-30% of their contacts will never get the new email address. The cost of a personal domain is so little, but the benefits are almost immeasurable.

HI Renee. I have my business email through my website, but it also populates over to my personal email so I don't have to spend that extra time sorting through multiple email accounts.

You can always REDIRECT....

I have a company email address that's HORRENDOUS:  dennis.volz.b8t6@statefarm.com.  I purchased the domain, www.dennisvolz.com @ GoDaddy.  I simply tell GoDaddy to REDIRECT all the mail that comes to

Dennis@DennisVolz.com to the BIG n UGLY StateFarm.com address.  You can also make it a Catch All address that means if ANYTHING comes to dennisvolz.com it will end up in the same place.  I can use claims@dennisvolz.com or info@dennisvolz.com or ComeOnOverAndWeWillHaveLunchTogether@DennisVolz.com.

kinda fun.... :)

I recently attended an "investor's seminar."  Sure enough, one of the most important factors was this email address.  I had purchased a package for my office, almost a year ago and never used it.  After listening to the speakers at this seminar, my agents and I are now using our real estate email system. It can be redirected as Dennis suggested, as well.  Good information and tips are offered to help us, not to critique us.  Try it out, what have you to lose?

It's a Good Life!

Fran

I agree, as a real estate attorney whenever I see an address ending with a provider, i believe that this is a hobby rather than a business. .

Renee, good reminder that people need to portray themselves as a professional. Not hanging on to AOL, cox, gmail, etc. So many real estate professionals on the MLS still have the yahoo or gmail or aol addresses. ;-) I've purchased many - including my own name....

Really? Gosh Renee, you're cute and smart. Thank you so much and Later in the rain~Deb

Hi Renee - excellent reminder to all to promote THEMSELVES and not their broker or yahoo or aol or whatever.  I've used my own name for many years now.  It's easy to go if people own their own domain name, and one of the great things about using your own name is that if/when you change email providers, your email address stays the same and no one will even know you've changed from aol to comcast or verizon or some other internet provider.

I'm always surprised when I see people that I consider pretty internet savvy using their ISP as part of their email address.

Great reminder!
Ann

Hi Renee,
Yes I certainly agree, great post! I also wrote on this topic earlier in the month.

Renee, Such good and inexpensive advice. One of the agents used his company email and when the company changed names, his entire email list was lost! Not a happy camper..your own name does not  usualy change,

I just switched companies and I'm going through this right now.  What a hassle.

Thank you so much for your great advice.

Enrico Pozzo, Coldwell Banker Bain: Seattle Condos, Lofts, Houseboats and all Seattle Real Estate Listings

This was pointed out to me last year and I only had to be told once.  I switched from comcast.net to  my own name and like stated above, it also serves to have my website advertised.  I totally agree that it is a wise move.

On a side note, I would like to applaud you on how well you handle comments that don't agree with your position.  Very professional, direct and to the point.  You are very good at articulating and defending your position...you would do well on a debate team!

Thank you Sharon! I've always wished I had been on a debate team. It would have been fun and challenging. I love analyzing my positions and those of others. Do they have debate teams for adults?

Renee, good point.  Are you building your business or your broker's business.  When or if you leave, is your information portable?  Or are you just a part timer just waiting to build a website. AJ

Renee, You said it well.  When I started out 23 years ago, it was all about the company where I was affiliated rather than the agent.  I then joined Re/Max where I learned very quickly, it was all about me, the agent.  Marketing oneself professionally is the smart thing to do.

This is such good advice but too bad so many agents are out there who don't know what domain name means.  They have the yahoo address or the hot mail and think they are doing great.  They all need to get out of town and go to some education events which is where I learned the difference.

This is a topic new agents need to think about early! When I was with my previous company, I used a corporate email...when I realized that if I ever moved, I would lose everything, I changed over to my own domain. I still lost a few in the transition, but it wasn't devastating...also, always using a phone number that you control is crucial - I still have people calling me who don't know I changed cos!

I am inviting a seasoned agent to AR and my first piece of advice, get your own domain name and do it now!