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What do you tend to give as a gift to clients who complete a deal with you? Do you base it on price? My area is a very reasonable priced market, I would say the average price of a home is between 150-200k - what types of gifts do you give? or I suppose on another note, do you not? And when do you tend to give them out? At closing? a few weeks after closing?
I write a note and send a Lowes card so they can buy whatever they want. I did recently have a situation where I gave up .5 percent of my commission, so they can close. In that case I just sent a thank you note.
Sometimes I do Lowes cards between $50-100. Sometimes I'll make a mental note of something they like to do and purchase a gift card from there like a restaurant,etc..
Thank you cards, follow up visits to their homes, and lots of follow up phone calls after the sale.
I normally will wait about a two or three days before sending the gift after closing.
I no longer actively sell, but when I did, I gave a 'dinner for two' certificate. (OH...OH.....we didn't have gift cards then)
That all changed when I found myself buying things for the buyers I represented.....dishwasher, hot water heater, door bell, and whatever else didn't work on the final walk-thru. Needless to say, I wasn't very good at what I did, and after 8 years, and in 1988, gave it up for a "soft job".........appraiser . Now I buy gifts for myself.
I write a note and send a Lowes card so they can buy whatever they want. QUOTE]
I really like that idea, especially for first time home owners, but may I ask how much the card was worth?
$50 and up. It depends on the price of the house, for a house I sold at $154,000, I gave $50.00 and then went up from there. I was a dual agent on a deal and gave the seller double being he was paying me on both ends. I gave the buyer a gift card and paid for their carpet cleaning because they were nice and referred me to a friend.
I know lots of agents that don't give anything, so it's really just a nice gesture.
I know lots of agents that don't give anything, so it's really just a nice gesture.
well thats one way to get referrals lol
i had a friend who purchased a home for 300k, the agency had a charge to store the paperwork, it wasn't too much, but they refused to pay it, and the agent said to them, well, I was going to buy you a bottle of nice wine, but I guess Ill use that money to store your documents... come on, on the sale of a 300k home?
i had a friend who purchased a home for 300k, the agency had a charge to store the paperwork, it wasn't too much, but they refused to pay it, and the agent said to them, well, I was going to buy you a bottle of nice wine, but I guess Ill use that money to store your documents... come on, on the sale of a 300k home?
That's terrible.
I never gave a gift to get referrals, I gave good service for that. When I bought my house my agent didn't give me anything, not even a thank you card. I gave her a gift to say thank you for helping me, meanwhile I was an easy quick sale.
In NJ, the gift can't be over $25.. so what i normally get are cute japanese mugs/tea set/dishes/etc which so far my clients have liked.
do other states have a limit on their gifts as well??
It's not a limit of what to give, $25 is a limit of what you can claim on your taxes for gifts. That's the way I understand it. That's why some people take their clients out for a meal because they can claim 50% of entertainment and up to 300 meals a year. I was told this at a tax seminar I attended but of course ask an accountant to confirm.
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. Now I buy gifts for myself. 
