Give every real estate agent a real mailbox on your brokerage domain and route shared leads through a dedicated mailbox plus verified forwarding or webhooks—never shared passwords. ArawaMail needs either a domain registered with ArawaMail or one managed in Cloudflare, creates username@domain accounts after receiving is active, and supports forwarding with plan-based limits while keeping a local copy.
Why real estate teams need branded agent email and controlled lead handoff
Clients and partners judge professionalism by the domain in the From address. Personal Gmail or shared password accounts create compliance risk, messy offboarding when agents leave, and lost lead history. High turnover is normal; email systems must support rapid disablement without data loss or password resets for the whole team.
The practical outcome is clear ownership: each agent can send and receive under their own address, while leads@ or info@ can be answered by a coordinator or distributed without exposing credentials.
Practical setup: agent addresses plus a shared leads mailbox
Start by adding your domain (connect Cloudflare, or skip that step if the domain is registered with ArawaMail) and activating receiving, then enable sending. Create one mailbox per active agent (example: [email protected]) and one dedicated mailbox for shared leads ([email protected]). ArawaMail does not support aliases or plus-addressing; every functional address that must send or retain history needs its own mailbox. See Aliases, Shared Inboxes & Plus Addressing for the recommended pattern.
- Agent mailboxes: full send, receive, folders, and mobile access.
- Shared leads mailbox: owned by a named coordinator. Use verified forwarding (Free plan: 1 destination; Pro: 5; Business: 10) to copy new mail to agents or a helpdesk while keeping the original in the mailbox and setting Reply-To to the original sender.
- Outgoing webhooks: filter by the leads mailbox and POST to your CRM or helpdesk for automatic triage. Deduplicate on message id.
For domains not registered with ArawaMail, Cloudflare zone ownership is required for the guided DNS activation; domains registered with ArawaMail skip Cloudflare (see Cloudflare requirements). Review the exact records before going live. Details are in How to Connect a Cloudflare Domain to ArawaMail.
Turnover and offboarding without shared passwords
When an agent leaves, disable the mailbox. This immediately blocks SMTP, mobile, and MCP access, revokes sessions, and cancels queued sends. Mail to the disabled address falls to a domain catch-all (if configured) or is discarded. Administrators retain access to the historical data. Permanently delete only after the disable period and any required retention review; deletion is irreversible.
This matches the broader pattern in Employee Email Offboarding. Because no password was shared, you do not need to rotate credentials across the team.
Pricing and scale notes for brokerages
ArawaMail plans limit users, domains, and storage. A 5–15 agent team typically fits Pro or Business depending on forwarding volume and additional domains. Forwarded recipients count toward the monthly transactional allowance. Check current limits on the pricing page and the business email overview.
Using MCP for lead triage
An AI assistant can connect via MCP OAuth to one approved mailbox (for example the leads mailbox). It can search by sender, subject, or date and read conversations without marking them read by default. It cannot access other mailboxes or manage spam. Useful for summarizing overnight leads, but always review before acting. Connection steps are in the AI assistants guide; plan limits are on the pricing page and forwarding limits in the email accounts guide.
How we analyzed this: Steps are taken directly from ArawaMail documentation for domain onboarding, email accounts, forwarding verification, disable/delete behavior, and MCP scope. No undocumented alias or shared-inbox license features are claimed.
FAQ
Can I create an alias like jane@ that delivers to a shared mailbox?
No. ArawaMail does not support aliases or plus-addressing. Create a real mailbox for every address that needs independent send or retention.
How do I share leads without sharing the password?
Use one leads@ mailbox owned by a coordinator, then verified forwarding (with local copy retained) or outgoing webhooks to a helpdesk/CRM. Each agent keeps their own mailbox for personal correspondence.
What happens to mail when I disable an agent’s mailbox?
Inbound mail goes to the domain catch-all if one is configured; otherwise it is discarded. Existing messages stay until you permanently delete. Access for that user is blocked immediately.
Does this work for large brokerages with many agents?
Yes, subject to plan limits on users and forwarding destinations. Larger teams often combine individual agent mailboxes with webhook-driven lead routing rather than pure forwarding.
Related: Business Email Setup guides, Should You Use a Catch-All Inbox?, and domain strategy notes for teams.