The short answer: switch on alfred_’s Chase what I’m owed routine. Every Monday at 8 AM it reads the emails you sent in the last 7 days and the replies in those threads, then emails you what you asked people for that is still outstanding, oldest first, each with a short follow-up suggestion. It sends nothing.
On a Monday with a dozen files open, the question isn’t what each file needs. Your transaction platform’s checklist already knows that. The question is who you emailed last week and never heard back from: the processor you asked to confirm the appraisal was ordered, the inspector you asked for the re-inspection report, the title officer you asked for the updated commitment. That list lives in your Sent folder, and nobody builds it for you.
The native way, and where it stops
Gmail has follow-up nudges. In Settings, on the General tab, next to “Nudges,” you can turn on “Suggest emails to follow up on,” and Gmail shows “sent emails that you may need to follow up on” at the top of your inbox (Gmail Help). It’s free and worth turning on.
Where it stops: nudges are Gmail’s suggestions, shown at the top of one inbox when you happen to open it. There’s no Monday list to work down, nothing restates what you actually asked for, and a nudge covers only that one Gmail account.
Outlook lets you flag a message as you send it. Before you select Send, choose Follow Up on the Message tab and pick Today, Tomorrow, This Week or Next Week, and Outlook reminds you then. You can even flag it for the recipients, though Microsoft’s own advice is to “use this feature with discretion” because “some recipients might not appreciate having reminders added to their Outlook” (Microsoft Support).
Where it stops: you have to flag each request at the moment you send it, which is exactly when you’re juggling three files. And a flag is a date, not a check. It reminds you on Thursday whether or not the lender already answered on Wednesday.
Your transaction platform has the checklist. SkySlope calls its checklist “the core of a SkySlope file,” the thing that makes sure agents “complete and submit all of the necessary documents for their file” (SkySlope). It tells you what the file is missing. It doesn’t know you emailed the inspector on Tuesday and asked for the report by Thursday.
Chase what I’m owed: the list on Monday morning
Open Routines in alfred_ on the desktop, find Chase what I’m owed, and switch it on. (The iPhone app has a Routines screen too.) It runs every Monday at 8 AM and arrives by email, and the same list is on the web in alfred_. Routines come with an alfred_ subscription; plans are on the pricing page.
Each Monday it:
- Reads the emails you sent in the last 7 days from your connected Gmail or Outlook accounts, and the replies in those threads.
- Finds the explicit requests you made of other people: work, material, a review, a confirmation, a decision, or payment. For a coordinator, that’s the appraisal, the HOA documents, the re-inspection report, a confirmed closing time, the seller’s payoff figure.
- Leaves out anything clearly answered or done.
- Lists what you’re still waiting on, oldest first, with a short follow-up suggestion for each.
It sends nothing. The suggestion is a line you can use or ignore. If a thread can’t be read, the report says how many it skipped, so a gap doesn’t pass for a clean week.
What it looks like
Example, invented for this post. Monday, 8:00 AM.
Still waiting on 4 requests, oldest first:
- Title, 14 Oak Street. Last Monday you asked for the updated commitment showing the lien release. No reply. Follow-up: “Checking on the updated commitment for 14 Oak Street. Can you send it by Wednesday?”
- Inspector, 220 Pine Avenue. Tuesday you asked for the re-inspection report on the roof repair. They replied “end of week.” Nothing since. Follow-up: “Is the re-inspection report for 220 Pine Avenue ready? The buyer’s agent is asking.”
- Loan processor, 9 Birch Lane. Wednesday you asked them to confirm the appraisal was ordered. No reply. Follow-up: “Can you confirm the appraisal for 9 Birch Lane is ordered, and when you expect it?”
- Seller, 1180 Harbor Road. Thursday you asked for the signed HOA disclosure. No reply. Follow-up: “We just need the signed HOA disclosure for 1180 Harbor Road to stay on schedule.”
1 thread couldn’t be read and was skipped.
What it leaves out
- Anything you asked for outside email. A call to the processor, a text to the inspector, a task assigned inside your transaction platform. If the ask wasn’t an email you sent, it isn’t on the list.
- Requests older than 7 days. It reads the last week of sent mail. A request from two weeks ago with no answer drops off unless you’ve followed up since. Your follow-up is itself a request, so chasing something keeps it on the list.
- Contract deadlines. It doesn’t read the purchase agreement or pull dates from it. Inspection and financing deadlines still come from your timeline.
- A per-file view. The list is sorted by age, not grouped by property. The address appears because it’s in the email, not because the list is organized around it.
What it changes for the team
Brokerages want four things from a coordinator’s week, and they’re easy to name and hard to get:
- Nothing slips. A request with no answer surfaces on Monday, in writing, instead of the week of closing.
- No manual status report. The Monday email is the report. You don’t rebuild it from your Sent folder.
- The agents stay selling. The chasing happens on your side, so the listing agent isn’t the one asking title for the commitment again.
- The broker sees status without asking around. It’s an ordinary email, so forwarding it to an agent or the broker takes one click. There’s no shared broker dashboard: each person’s routine reads their own inbox.
If you also want the week laid out on Monday morning, Plan my week arrives at the same hour: one line per day with meetings and tasks due, the busiest and most open day, and up to five emails from the last 7 days that need you this week.
Where each step happens
- Desktop, in the office: switch the routine on from the Routines page, open the threads behind each item, and send the follow-ups you choose. If you’d rather not write them, ask alfred_ in chat to draft one; it shows you the email before anything goes out.
- Email, Monday at 8 AM: the list itself, also on the web in alfred_. This routine doesn’t arrive by text.
- Text, on the road: you can still act on the list from your phone. Text alfred_ “reply to title on 14 Oak Street and ask for the commitment by Wednesday,” and it shows you the reply and sends only when you say yes. More on texting alfred_.
- iPhone app: read the Monday email and open the threads, with one inbox across your accounts.
The honest caveat
“Clearly answered or done” is a judgment alfred_ makes by reading the thread. A reply like “should be fine” can land either way. Treat the list as the place to start on Monday, not as the file’s system of record, and glance at the thread before you chase someone who may have answered by phone.