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Ditto here, my most recent realtor sold my last home and found my next one. Both in the $300K range. I have also given her two referrals for other listings. She didn't give me anything. My previous realtor 2 houses ago gave me a housewarming basket the day I closed of wines, cheeses, meats and crackers. The contents were not cheap either, she purchased some nice wines.
I learned a long time ago, by my own faux pas, of course. Never give alcohol unless you know the recipient very well. All too many have a good friend named Bill, and it's not something they would share with their Realtor or mortgage loan officer. However, all were graciously received and I actually learned of my mistake many months later. (I had bought cases of good wine at Costco and handed it out during the Holidays).
Gift giving has drastically changed in the lending arena. A loan officer was recently let go by a big box for taking Realtors court side at a Wizards game. The reason was giving Realtors something of value. Apparently the head of the legal team (same bank) also had company tickets. At my prior places of employment it was made very clear, only employees and their families were to use company box seats. More and more banks are turning these tickets back in - too much liability.
Yesterday I hosted my first housewarming party as a client thank you gift. It was great! About 6 families from their street and another 5 families that were friends or relatives showed up. Everyone thanked me, said it was a great idea and great gift, and one of the neighbors even asked me to come to their next block party!
I wasn't as organized as I wanted to be in terms of getting contact information from everyone via a guest book, but I will figure out how to make it better as I do more of these.
My mother has been a Agent/Broker for over 30 years, and I asked her if she ever gave presents to customers. She said she had, but not that often. Full disclosure, I have a company that makes an artistic regional calendar product for different cities across the country. I thought this would be a good gift for a realtor to give to their client, but while she loves our product as well, she didn't think it would be a good fit.
Is she right, or is a $14.99 gift that is representative of the local area a good present for one of your customers? Lastly, is there any resource or website that exist for realtors to buy these types of presents?
I nearly always give a small gift to clients (though a very few have been so gnarly that I've skipped that touch!). By the time we've bought or sold a house together, I have a good idea of what they like, so I tailor the gift to the family or individual.
A few gifts I've given over the years:
1. Nice bird feeder and seed for a bird lover with a big new patio.
2. Lowe's gift card and a few personalized items, in one of their 5 gallon buckets.
3. A personalized cutting board for someone who loves to cook.
4. Gardening tools in a cute carrier for someone who has a yard for the first time.
5. Bottle of nice wine with special wine glasses and a cool wine opener thingie left on the counter of a new house (only if I know they are wine drinkers).
6. Basket of teas, mugs, and cookies.
I generally don't give gift certificates because I want to give them something practical that they will use and think of me every time they see it.]
There are all kinds of creative ideas and giving a gift at closing is one of my favorite parts of the sale.
Once in awhile a client gives me something. I've received gift certificates (always appreciated!), wine, baskets with gourmet goodies in them...and one client gave me a beautiful VIOLIN. He was absolutely insistent on it and I was shocked but very grateful. I don't think it was a particularly valuable violin and he had numerous violins, violas, etc. but WOW. What a nice gift.
Actually, this was a seller who gave it to me. I had listed their home and had been marketing it aggressively, and they had a change in their life that put the skids on their move. I released them from the listing agreement of course, and refused to take any sort of payment from them for the marketing. The man knew I very much admired his musical talents as well as his collection of musical instruments, and suddenly he said, "Just a minute," jumped up, ran out of the room and came back in with a case with a violin in it and he said, "I want you to have this - maybe you or one of your kids will take lessons one day!"
Once in awhile a client gives me something. I've received gift certificates (always appreciated!), wine, baskets with gourmet goodies in them...and one client gave me a beautiful VIOLIN. He was absolutely insistent on it and I was shocked but very grateful. I don't think it was a particularly valuable violin and he had numerous violins, violas, etc. but WOW. What a nice gift.
Actually, this was a seller who gave it to me. I had listed their home and had been marketing it aggressively, and they had a change in their life that put the skids on their move. I released them from the listing agreement of course, and refused to take any sort of payment from them for the marketing. The man knew I very much admired his musical talents as well as his collection of musical instruments, and suddenly he said, "Just a minute," jumped up, ran out of the room and came back in with a case with a violin in it and he said, "I want you to have this - maybe you or one of your kids will take lessons one day!"
What a nice guy.
A gift from the heart, the most precious gifts.
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