In studying the most elite buyers who win the most deals, I noticed one small characteristic among nearly all of them: their email addresses use a company real estate related email domain. In other words, the most serious investors who win the most deals have gotten serious enough to create a company name, incorporate, create articles of incorporation, operating agreements when there are partners, websites, and yes, email domains that match their company. I broke down the email types in to three categories.

In the transactions I’ve done over the trailing 5 years the results were conclusive. Those who have created an entire brand around their investment company, including matching email addresses, win the most deals. Of cours there are some exceptions in which a gmail account holder is a significant player.

What is interesting, though not surprising, is that 68% of the under 100 unit investors and 92% of 100+ unit investors have a real estate related email domain. This makes sense because those investors buying 100+ unit deals are usually serious full-time “in it to win it” enterprises with employees, partners, and hundreds, if not thousands of units. Of the 8% of 100+ unit investors with non real estate related email addresses, zero were in the “None” category described above… having a gmail-type account. All 8% had a “Quasi” email address.

While having a real estate related email address doesn’t guarantee you will win more deals, it does present a much higher level of professionalism when submitting offers to brokers and sellers. Most brokers will admit that an investor with a gmail-type account creates a first impression that they aren’t serious players until proven otherwise. It gives an impression you’re a one-man show that invests part time and isn’t serious enough to have created an investment brand.

In this business investors need every edge they can get. It is easy these days to create a more serious presentation that makes you look more formidable so why not do it? It elevates your chances of being taken seriously by brokers and other investors.