What's in a name? We've all heard that question at some point in life, but I have a different twist on it today. What's in an email name? I hadn't thought much about that until a friend was making comments about how unprofessional a Realtor's email address looked on a piece of mail.
All local Realtors in our community can have an email address that is 
generated by the multiple listing service. A lot have taken that option, and it's immediately recognized by anyone who is a part of that service, but those who are selling or buying are unlikely to recognized the domain name. So it is kind of a moot point.
The idea of professional vs unprofessional emails really made me think. Early last year, I moved to have anyone who works with me adopt a xxxxx@cbginc.net email, and it has worked well for us. But, here again, was it necessary? I've bounced that around all year in 2014, but yesterday may have answered my question.
I'm working with a client who has his own lender. I asked the lenders name, and he couldn't remember, but he had her office number in his phone. That seemed odd, but I can see how that would happen. She was a referral from his brother.
Then I asked for a pre-qualification letter. She tried to fax it to me four times with no success. That seemed odd, but fax machines can be an issue at times. Those of us who use a web-based fax wouldn't face that. She said my fax machine wouldn't accept it. Then it was "I'm getting a message that your box is full." I have two faxes. One is online and one is right beside my desk. I have a ton of storage in my online fax and I don't have my desktop fax set to store faxes. She had both numbers.
Then she emailed it to me. No success. Emailed again. Still no letter. Finally, my client received an email from her with the letter. He forwarded it to me and I printed it. When I was reading it over I noticed two things that stood out like a flashing light. Her email ended in Hotmail, and her office number was a cell phone.
For the first time, it struck me. She didn't look like a professional lender because she was using a teeny-bopper email address and a cell phone as her office phone. Does it really matter? I don't know. Does it? That's my "not fully resolved" question. Does it matter to the masses or is this much ado about nothing?
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