Can Realtors Give Gifts to Clients? Best Practices and Ideas

The process of buying a house can be stressful, and full of perils and pitfalls as you try and help your client through several setbacks out of your control. Timing is a huge factor, as well as just a little bit of luck, and with so many moving parts involved in the process, it can often feel like a great emotional ordeal.

So, once you’ve finally completed a sale, and your clients have exchanged contracts and have finally got the keys to their new dream home, it’s time to say goodbye. But, you’ve probably gotten to know these people really well over several months (maybe even longer), and have celebrated their highs as well as supported them through their lows, so a simple goodbye might not feel like quite enough. You might wonder, do realtors give closing gifts to buyers?

The answer is: yes! It’s become a tradition in recent years for realtors to give their client a parting gift once they’re safely in their new home and everyone goes their separate ways. However, if you do go down the route of gift-giving, there are some things you should bear in mind. To make sure you give your client a gift that will not only have a practical use but will remind them of you and the working relationship you built with them, here are some of the best practices you should follow. If you’re wondering how much can a realtor give as a gift, or if there’s a particular gift for real estate agent etiquette to be aware of, then this article will tell you everything you need to know.

Creative Closing Gifts Realtors Can Give to Clients

Of course, giving a gift to your client when you’ve helped them purchase a house and are parting ways goes beyond just sentimentality. It’s also an important part of your business model and should be viewed as a critical final step in the client experience. Remember, you’ll probably know these people really well – you’ll certainly know a lot about their personal taste as you’ve worked to find them a home which takes it into account.

So, if you’re going to give them a gift, make sure it’s something they’ll really love and find use in.

You’ll probably want to steer away from anything consumable (or at least, make sure they aren’t the entire gift). Everyone loves a good bottle of wine or box of chocolates, but the chances are you’ll be forgotten about once they’ve finished them and thrown the packaging away.

You want a gift that will remind your clients of you and your services. That way, they’ll be more likely to recommend your services to other people they know who are looking to move house too; a high-quality, practical gift, will serve as a constant reminder of who you are and how you helped them. Obviously, you want the primary reason people remember and rate you to be the knowledge and expertise you bring, but a parting gift should be considered a crucial part of your client’s journey with you to their dream home.

If you want to give a gift to your client, but you’re a little stuck on ideas, here are some thoughts to provide you with some inspiration:

• Plants for interiors or exteriors (or both): picture a single rose that, over time, develops into a beautiful bush – perhaps climbing up a trellis or just sitting proudly in a flowerbed. A plant is a poetic way of illustrating the journey you take when buying a new home and taking root within it, and will remind them that it was you who helped them along that journey.
• Handy kitchen gadgets like saucepans, knives, or pots: got clients who are really into cooking? A new kitchen utensil or piece of crockery makes a perfect, practical gift.
• Pet tags engraved with the new home address: as if the trial of moving house wasn’t enough, there’s also all the admin of changing addresses on everything. If your client has a pet, make that job just a little bit smaller by giving them an engraved tag with the new address on it already.
• Home appliances: an air fryer, a new vacuum cleaner, a rack for drying laundry… The possibilities are endless.

Still a bit stuck for ideas? An ideal option could be a gift card for them to spend themselves. That way, they can choose something for themselves that they’re guaranteed to love, but you’ve still made the gesture of covering the cost.

Gift-Giving Etiquette: Do’s and Don’ts

You know your client best and will probably have a good idea of a gift they’ll really love and appreciate. Always remember though that gifts for clients, as well as being a lovely personal touch to your service, are a business expense. Set a budget for your gift-giving and stick to it. If you’re someone who has quite a turnover of clients, even small gifts can really add up; make sure you aren’t eating into your income too much.

Here are some other things you should bear in mind when considering gifts for your clients:

DO:

• Remember that this is a parting gift. So, don’t give any presents until you’ve had the closing appointment, contracts have been exchanged, and your client has their keys. Until that happens, it’s still entirely possible it could all fall through, and you’ll have jumped the gun.
• Include a receipt with your gift. For all you’ve put a great deal of consideration into your gift, you can’t guarantee your client will love it. By including a receipt, your client can return the gift and choose something else, if they want to.

DON’T:

• Give personalized gifts that can’t be returned. If you’ve given them a beautifully engraved portrait of them or something similar, and they don’t like it, they’re either stuck with it forever or it’ll end up in the trash.
• Give humorous, political, or otherwise controversial gifts. Humor is incredibly subjective, and what one person finds funny might be incredibly offensive to someone else. Steer clear of anything political or that otherwise makes some sort of statement. The risk of it being ill-received and your clients remembering you for all the wrong reasons is too great.

Also, remember that this gift should be seen as merely a cherry on top of a great service sundae. Don’t put any less effort into building your relationship with them and helping them find and secure their perfect house, just because you know you’re going to give them a gift at the end of it anyway. Your client is no fool, and a nice present is unlikely to sway them if they’re otherwise unimpressed with your service.

Gifts also shouldn’t serve as a replacement for an honest and frank discussion with your client about how they found their experience and how you could improve it for next time. A client gift is just a token of appreciation to help them start their journey in their new home; it shouldn’t be purely a bribe to get them to leave you a positive review.

Can Real Estate Agents Give Gifts for Referrals?

In short: no. It’s against the law, and – from a business perspective – could do you more harm than good.

If, for example, you offered a lump sum to your client every time they made a referral to someone else (and they ended up using your services and closing on a house as a result), you might end up getting lots of referrals, but you can’t be confident that you’re getting them entirely on your own merit. Clients might be more likely to recommend you to anyone and everyone, purely because they’ll get some money out of it, rather than because they thought you did a good job. On the flip side, if a potential client hears about your services and it then transpires that you give cash handouts to anyone who recommends you, it doesn’t exactly show great integrity or trustworthiness as a business, and they might decide against using your services at all.

Obviously, good referrals help in spreading the word about who you are and how you can help people secure the home of their dreams, but organic referrals are always going to be far more effective in getting people to take notice.

Building Client Loyalty with Thoughtful Real Estate Gifts

Ultimately, while you want your gift to bring joy to your clients, you also want it to serve as a constant reminder of you and your services.

While this does mean putting maximum effort into helping your client get their dream house – which means staying on top of the market and making sure they aren’t missing out on prime properties, and remaining proactive once they’ve found the house they want to make sure you do everything you reasonably can to make sure they get it – a thoughtful parting gift is a great way to ensure that they’ll think of you many years into the future.

If your clients have used your services before and are considering their next move, ideally, they’ll think of you whenever they use their air fryer or sit in their back garden to admire the plant you got them and will be more likely to use your services again. As well as that, if they have friends or family who are also considering moving (or perhaps are even first-time buyers who feel completely intimidated by the whole process), they’ll be more likely to recommend you to them. Say they visit your home and admire the kitchen gadget you bought for them: it’s a great conversation starter that will inevitably lead to talking about the positive experience you brought in buying their home.

Another great way to stay at the forefront of your client’s mind is to follow up with a greeting card at the holidays e.g. a Christmas card to mark their first Christmas in their new home. Of course, remain mindful of your client’s beliefs and customs when doing this; you don’t want to send a Christmas card if they’re celebrating Hanukkah.

Incorporate Gift-Giving into Your Everyday Practice With Client Giant

If you’re a realtor with a great many clients on your books, the thought of coordinating gifts for every one of them might be a bit too much on top of all the other work you have and need to do to get them safely through the front door of their new home. Luckily, these days many companies will do this for you, taking the thinking off of your plate so you can focus on more pressing matters.

Our Client Giant transaction packages consist of a series of personal touches that will be delivered to your client at critical points along their home-buying journey:

• When they’re under contract: for example, stress-relieving teas and moving supplies like cardboard boxes and tape
• When conditions are removed: mark this major milestone with a specially selected hamper filled with gourmet treats
• When the transaction is closed: for example, handwritten thank you cards to express your gratitude for them choosing you
• When they’ve exchanged keys and are moving in: for example, sweet treats for a movie night in their new home, a dinner reservation at their now-local restaurant, or a gift tailored especially to their individual interests

We also offer retention plans at reasonable prices, to enable you to surprise and delight your past clients on an ongoing basis.

Basically, we’ll do all of the legwork, keeping you up to date on every part of the process, and all you have to do is focus on securing the house of your dreams for your client (no pressure!).

Read more about our range of gift-giving packages on our website. You can also use our cost calculator to work out just how much you should re-invest in your client experience and which of our packages might suit your needs best.

We hope this article has helped clear up some of the potential confusion around the question of “Can realtors give gifts to clients?” If you have any further questions though, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We look forward to hearing from you soon.