In the world of real estate, closing gifts have long been a topic of discussion.
Some agents swear by them, seeing them as a ribbon to wrap up the meaningful client relationship they built and show their appreciation, while others question their necessity entirely.
Whether practical, sentimental or celebratory—closing gifts can leave a lasting impression on buyers and sellers, when done thoughtfully.
Personal touches are great, but be practical
Since becoming a real estate agent in 2021, Whitney Lumsden has gifted a hand-drawn picture of their new home to every single one of her buyers—36 and counting—and some of her sellers, too.
While Lumsden doesn’t consider herself an artist, her art process begins with tracing the outline of a home’s cover shot from the MLS, adding in color with either pencils or watercolors and crisping up the lines with a fine line Sharpie. Each finished piece takes her anywhere between an hour and an hour and a half, but it resonates with her clients.
“It’s just sentimental—like, for some of my sellers, it was their first home and they raised their family there, so just giving them that…they really liked it,” says Lumsden.
The hand-drawn photo of a client’s home fulfills the personalized aspect of Lumsden’s typical closing gift, but she likes to include a variety of items, or services, that serve a useful purpose.
“Fire extinguishers, fire blankets, stuff like that—they’re not sexy, but they’re things people need,” she says. “With my sellers, I think the same thing. They don’t give a crap about a cutting board, in my opinion, but would rather have something that’s going to help them—either emotionally or with time.”
With sellers, Lumsden includes a professional cleaning service for a “move-out clean.” She tells her buyers to remove large items and trash, but saves them the worry about cleaning the mirrors, baseboards, drawers and appliances.
Not only does this alleviate the seller of the added stress, but it also provides a good handoff for the buyer, adds Lumsden.
For buyers who are already walking into a clean home—mostly when working with sellers who are moving out of state—she gifts them a $500 gift card to a home improvement store. “I try to do more practical things that I think are going to either alleviate stress or be more useful than a cutting board.”
Through her experience working with first-time buyers, Lumsden reiterates why clients will appreciate practical closing gifts more in the long run.
“First-time homebuyers—a lot of them don’t understand home maintenance and what it means to own a house; they’re thinking, ‘How am I going to decorate the living room? Where am I going to put my dishes in the cabinet?’ They’re not thinking about fire extinguishers and water detection leak kits,” she says. “It’s not sexy, but guarantee, if they have a water leak when they’re not home and it sends that notification to their phone, they can either send someone over there or rush home and fix it, and they’re not going to incur thousands of dollars in damages.”
Another staple in Lumsden’s (literal) basket of go-to gifts for buyers is a one-year warranty. She buys a $300 warranty from American Home Shield that covers appliances, HVAC systems, plumbing, electrical and more.
“It’s kind of like an add-on to your home insurance, but you’re not having your deductible or plan go up for asking for things. My last buyer—their electrical system keeps tripping and they contacted me asking, ‘What can we do?’” she says. “I told them to reach out to American Home Shield since they had the warranty, and now they’re going out there and fixing the whole panel for them for free.”
For this particular client, Lumsden’s relationship with them—and her closing gift—has come back two-fold through the two referrals she’s gained, and is currently under contract with.
Overall, Lumsden doesn’t consider the closing gift as the sole reason behind a client’s satisfaction and potential referrals, but more so an added bonus.
As a final addition, Lumsden always includes a binder with hard copies of important paperwork like contracts and final settlement statements; she also sends the information through email for clients who prefer electronic copies.
A celebratory but mindful approach
Jennifer Kinney, a REALTOR® in the Detroit market, has seen mixed opinions on closing gifts among her peers.
Recalling a Facebook post on a real estate agents’ group, Kinney notes how one agent ruled them out entirely—arguing that offering gifts to clients is “unprofessional” since doctors and lawyers don’t do it.
Though there are certainly more nuances regarding ethical boundaries for doctors and lawyers, agents should be mindful if they ultimately decide to offer clients a gift.
Gifting a bottle of champagne might seem like a no-brainer, but it could end up soiling your relationship with a client.
On the few occasions Kinney has gifted clients a bottle of champagne, she “absolutely knew ahead of time” that her clients drank.
At a closing party she threw recently, after a stressful, year-long transaction, she decided to bring champagne glasses to celebrate the deal, but was a bit uneasy about her decision.
“I brought champagne glasses, but I was very nervous about it because I didn’t actually know if anybody was in recovery, so I made sure to have sparkling apple juice in that situation,” Kinney recalls. “But honestly—in hindsight—it bugged me enough that I think it was kind of my gut saying, ‘There might be somebody in recovery. Like, this wouldn’t be a good thing to do.’”
Even though the clients she represented weren’t abstaining from alcohol or in recovery, Kinney says—because she didn’t know the other people at the closing table—it’s best to avoid gifting any sort of alcohol in case the client is practicing sobriety.
Different gifts for different clients
Kinney doesn’t gift first-time buyers the same thing she gifts families selling their homes they’ve had decades of lived experiences in.
On a recent closing, her clients were selling their home to move out of state and retire. They raised their kids in that home, so, needless to say, it was special to them.
To commemorate that time—like Lumsden—she decided to gift the family a portrait of their home, commissioned by a local artist.
“I’ve done that a few times in those scenarios, and every time, there are tears,” Kinney says. “People are moved by it.”
Like with the artwork, Kinney makes a point to support local and small businesses, like with baked goods at open houses and at the parties she throws for her first-time buyers.
In place of a gift, Kinney likes to throw housewarming parties for new buyers to celebrate that big milestone. Capping it at about 40 guests, Kinney caters with cheese, sparkling beverages and desserts.
For her, she views closing gifts as icing on the cake for a good client relationship rather than a way to “secure” a referral or a repeat client.
“If they aren’t going to work with me again, and if they didn’t like me for some reason or something went sideways—that gift is definitely not going to bring them back.”