If you work in real estate, your inbox never stops. Between follow-ups, property updates and first-touch introductions, most agents spend more time typing than talking to clients. The best performers know that isn’t where the money is made.
After spending more than 50 hours talking to real estate agents, brokers, and company owners, Alex Jackson, founding sales hire at Fyxer.AI, has learned exactly what separates top performers from everyone else. It isn’t about luck, or even listings - it’s about where you spend your time.
“The agents who close the most deals aren’t sending more emails,” Alex says. “They’re sending better ones - and they’re using AI to win back the hours everyone else wastes.”
From follow-ups and property updates to first-touch introductions, real estate agents live in their inboxes. But while most are still typing from scratch and spending up to a quarter of the day on admin, the best agents are automating their inbox and spending more time on building relationships and closing sales.
In this guide, we explore how to write real estate emails that actually get responses - including realtor email templates, AI workflows, and the modern approach to email outreach that helps you sell faster without sounding automated.
Why many real estate emails fail
Before we get into AI workflows, it’s worth looking at why so many real estate emails still fall flat. Understanding these pitfalls helps explain why top agents are rethinking how they write, personalize, and send messages in 2025.
The four big reasons most real estate emails fail are simple:
- Writing emails that are too long.
- Being overconfident or presumptive.
- Using templated, outdated, or over-used phrasing that feels robotic.
- Not personalizing the email based on the target audience.
As Alex explains, you need to be aiming for short, concise and packed with value:
People think more information is better. But most emails are read on a phone - if it’s longer than a couple of hundred of words, it’s too long.
He adds that if your tone feels arrogant or assumptive, that’s an instant delete. “There’s a fine line between being confident and being overfamiliar.” Instead, Alex recommends being curious and inquisitive:
You want to come across as genuinely curious, asking questions rather than assuming or pushing too hard. Ultimately it’s about being human - that’s what gets people to engage.
What Makes a Great Real Estate Email?
So what does “being human” actually look like in practice?
A strong real estate email is short, relevant, personalized, and ends with a soft call-to-action.
Here’s the simple structure Alex recommends:
- Personal greeting – Address them by name.
- Relevance line – Mention something specific (a property, a location, or timing).
- Value statement – One sentence about what’s in it for them (e.g., a new listing, price drop, or buyer match).
- Proof point – Add a quick stat or reference (“We’ve helped 40+ clients in [area] find homes under [price].”)
- Soft call-to-action – Ask a question that invites reply, not pressure.
The Hook: subject lines that get opened
Your subject line is your first impression. Alex recommends using data-driven hooks to catch attention.
We found that including a statistic or insight in the subject line can triple open rates. People respond to credibility and numbers.
Example Subject Lines:
- “3 homes just listed under [price point]”
- “55% of home buyers said X about their first experience”
- “Average prices on [street] up [X]%, time for a review?”
Each one uses curiosity, relevance, and brevity.
Think: what insight can I provide this stakeholder? What's the one thing they need to know?
Subject lines also need to be short, else they can get cut off your screen on mobile. The optimal character length for email subject lines is 40-50 characters (6-10 words), so aim to cut words you don't need.
The real estate space is noisy with a huge range in the quality of the service provided. Therefore in addition to a short, concise email, there's two ways to stand out: insight and personalization.
How to add value as a real estate agent
Firstly, you are the expert. Consider, what value can you bring that your target audience cannot find elsewhere? This is often a great place to start for the hook of your email.
The unique value real estate agents can bring is:
- Insight into house price or rental changes
- Nuanced information about specific streets or areas
- The history of areas and the rate of change of prices
- Properties that are coming to market before they've been listed
- Insight into how fast properties are selling or letting
- How competitive the market is at the moment
- Whether the market is getting more or less competitive
- Popularity of areas, and how many enquiries you're getting for different areas
Each of these points gives you something meaningful to lead with something your audience can’t get elsewhere online. It turns your email from “just another update” into expert commentary that’s worth opening.
Personalize your outreach
The second biggest way to add value is to show you have listened to your target customer.
Most real estate emails fail because they sound like they could have been sent to anyone. The difference between a generic message and one that gets a reply often comes down to a single line: something that proves you understand who you’re talking to.
Make sure that the emails you are sending are personalized based on what people are looking for, their problems in that moment or their interests. Think:
- What did they mention last time you spoke: a preferred school zone, garden size, or commute time?
- Do they prefer a particular style of property? Old vs. new
- What's their parking or pet situation?
- Do they want to do work, or do they want to move straight in?
- Have they viewed properties in a certain area or price range recently?
- Do they have a partner or significant others?
- Are there any accessibility considerations? Are there children or elderly people involved?
- Have market conditions changed since your last conversation - faster sales, more listings, or slower movement?
If you don’t have much to personalize from, use contextual personalization. This is when you tie your email to something happening in their area or price band. For instance:
Homes in [neighborhood] are now selling 12% faster than last month.
Or even better:
Homes near [street] are now X% up in price
If you don't have this information, one suggestion is to try and enrich your database. Ask your customers more questions when you meet them for the first time, and make sure you take good notes to refer back to later.
Now we've run through what makes a great email, let's look at specific examples.
Basic Real Estate email template
Subject: New property in [area] that matches your search
Hi [First Name],
I wanted to share a property that just came on the market in [location], which matches the features you mentioned [feature 1, feature 2] last time we spoke.
Homes in this area have been selling within [X] days, so I thought you might want to take a look early.
Would you like me to send over a few photos?
Best,
[Your Name]
[Your Agency]
This real estate email format works because it’s personal, timely, and low-pressure. It creates curiosity and opens a conversation with a slight sense of urgency, but without feeling pushy.
You can also re-engage past leads by revisiting their preferences. Sometimes a simple, low-effort question works better than an immediate request for a viewing:
Is [buying or renting] in [area] still something you’re looking at in the next few months?
That kind of soft prompt reduces friction and helps you personalize follow-ups over time.
Email templates for different scenarios
Beyond one-off messages, smart real estate agents use email templates to nurture long-term relationships.
Here are three types to include in your outreach rotation:
1. Market Update
Subject: Quick market update for [your area]
Hi [First Name],
Homes in [location] have seen a [X]% change in average price this month.
If you’re considering buying or selling, now might be a good time to review your options.Would you like to see a local report?
Best,
[Your Name]
2. Follow-Up
Subject: Still looking in [area]?
Hi [First Name],
I remember you mentioned [specific property or budget]. I’ve just seen a few listings that could fit.
Would you like me to send them over? Let me know if what you're looking for has changed since we last spoke.
[Your Name]
3. Client Check-In
Subject: How’s your new home in [area]?
Hi [First Name],
Just checking in to see how you’re settling in. I’d love to hear how everything’s going - and if you know anyone else looking in the area, I’d be happy to help.
Thanks again for working with me,
[Your Name]
4. Thinking of selling
Hi [First Name],
I noticed a few homes in [area] have recently sold above asking price (see example [here]) - it might be a good moment to explore what your property could be worth.
Sometimes this can help plan a few years out, even if selling in the next 1-2 years isn't on the cards.
Let me know if a valuation could be helpful?
Best,
[Your Name]
One piece of advice to remember: be human
“People buy from people,” Alex says.
“Even in a market driven by data, the relationships still close the deal.”
Tone matters as much as content. “You’re trying to start a conversation, not close a deal in the first email,” Alex says. “Be curious, polite, and concise.”
The goal is to sound like yourself, approach the email with curiosity and aim to add value at every interaction. As even if someone is not ready now, relationships around property can last a lifetime.
Aside from the email templates themselves, our research shows that the biggest thing holding real estate agents back is not what to write, but having the time in the day to get work done.
The biggest issue is not the email, it's time.
According to Alex, the challenge is the same across nearly every agency and brokerage: agents are buried in admin.
Research shows that professionals spend only 33% of their time selling. The rest goes to managing CRMs, updating listings, and managing email admin.
In real estate, that “dead time” adds up fast. While agents are crafting follow-ups or retyping property descriptions, no one is out selling homes or closing deals.
As Alex explains:
If your agents are stuck doing admin, they’re not generating revenue.
The result is slow response times, inconsistent follow-ups and missed opportunities.
How Realtors can use AI to save on email admin
Using AI to copy and paste a realtor email template from ChatGPT is risky. “If you can imagine a thousand other agents sending that same sentence, delete it,” Alex says.
AI is now a major part of real estate workflows - but only when used intelligently. “The biggest advantage of AI isn’t replacing human outreach,” Alex explains. “It’s removing the repetitive admin so you can spend more time actually connecting with people.”
AI is helping in practical, immediate ways - not by overhauling workflows, but by removing the friction within them.
That's what Fyxer.AI was created for. It’s about automating the tasks that take time but add little value, such as:
- Categorising incoming messages so you know what needs attention - and what can wait.
- Drafting replies in your natural tone, so you can approve and send in seconds, not minutes.
- Prepping meeting follow-ups automatically, turning notes and actions into ready-to-send summaries.
The result is less time spent reacting, more time spent selling.
Across the Real Estate industry, Fyxer helps professionals reclaim valuable time. Our benchmarks show that agents typically recover 14% to 22% of their working day, while the top 1% save up to 25 hours a week - the equivalent of 12 extra working days every month.
As one Realtor from Knight Frank shares:
Since I started using Fyxer, it’s been an absolute game changer. Having Fyxer in place gives a competitive advantage ahead of anyone else who isn’t using it. Compared to everyone else, I have a head start.
The Future of Real Estate Emails
The future of real estate email marketing isn’t about volume — it’s about efficiency and authenticity. AI will handle the admin, but genuine connection will still win the sale.
With the right mix of automation and empathy, agents can spend less time typing and more time doing what they do best — selling homes and building trust. “AI can make you faster,” Alex says. “But being thoughtful still makes you better.”
Data is based on our internal analysis anonymized, aggregated data from everyday work across a diverse range of industries. The dataset represents 38,000 professionals from more than 300 sectors - from Real Estate to Accounting - collected over 19 months (February 2024 to October 2025).