Face-to-face interactions are important in real estate, but emails remain a critical way to interact with potential clients and contacts. Sure, you might be sending some quick messages on-the-go, but for more important communications, typos here can leave a negative impression. Here are a few ways to improve the spelling and grammar of your written communications.

Grammar apps

Gmail might help you catch small errors but it won’t identify potential grammar issues and incorrect word usage. Take advantage of free apps like Grammarly which do a very quick but more thorough grammar check of a piece of writing. It’ll identify not only spelling mistakes but also verb tenses and some word misuse. The app is free to use but there’s a paid version that’ll catch finer details.

Phone vs. laptop

Sending an important email? It may be tempting to tap out a reply on your smartphone but typing or at least reviewing a draft on your laptop will really help you to catch any spelling or formatting mistakes more thoroughly. Smartphones sometimes add footers to the end of messages like “Sent from my iPhone” and this can lend an unintended feeling of casualness to an email.

Be your own editor

When you re-read the same chunk of writing over and over again, it can be easy to miss little mistakes and grammar issues as you’re anticipating the next word or sentence. Here are a few editing tips that we’ve used to help proofread our own pieces of writing. Read the email aloud, slowly. Proofread the piece from bottom to top, sentence by sentence. Another trick to try is to change the font size or style temporarily. Lastly, if you have time, give yourself a break and read the piece again after a good night’s sleep or a short break.

Enlist an amateur editor

If you’ve got a friend or partner handy, they can also be very helpful in catching small errors in writing. They needn’t be professional writers or editors, but the fresh set of eyes can identify issues in spelling and grammar that you hadn’t noticed before.