Am I expecting too much after closing on a house?

[Anonymous]

I own a gift basket company and am connected with a local RE firm. Many of the agents there (not the brokerage itself) contact me for gifts for properties they've sold. We have a suggested price structure that most but not all use: $150 for a $500K or lower property; $225 for $500K to $1.5MM property, and $1.5MM and higher are often about $350 or more.

Decent champagne, nice cheeses, crackers, spreads, chocolates, sometimes a cheeseboard and small cloth napkins. Sometimes pasta and sauce. We use nice baskets. It really is a nice gesture by the realtors and seems appreciated by the buyers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would like to know your thoughts. We recently bought a very expensive home. (over 3M) so expensive to me. One of my closest friends is in real estate and casually asked me what our broker sent as a closing gift because she is looking for unique ideas to send for her own clients as closing gifts. I didn't think much about it as we just closed about 7 weeks ago but then realized nothing was given. And that kind of surprised me when she drew my attention to it. Last time we closed on a house we got a huge beautiful gourmet food basket and the time before that, a case of my husbands favorite wine.

My friend told me in all the homes she has sold, she has never not given something even a small token something as a closing gift and a thank you for a nice commission check. My husband was not crazy about this broker to begin with but now that I think about it, I am kind of disappointed. Is this the norm? If giving something is the norm, it makes me realize my husband is a great judge of character It is not that we need the gift but more the thought/gesture. Especially since she walked away with a 6 digit commission.

Why would the broker send something? Do you even have a relationship with the broker?

Sounds like your issue is with the agent.

It’s gauche to expect a gift, though.

Has OP answered this question yet??
Why on God's green earth would a broker send you anything??
Your agent would be the one who might do so.
How does someone who lives in a $3 million dollar home not understand this?

Nice job teaching everyone the proper terminology. No one should get away with simple misunderstanding of terminology. There is a spot in the Justice League waiting for you!

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit and all that.

It’s a valid question. Is OP more or less of a moron than you? That’s a question worth pondering.

[Anonymous]

Closed on our house in 2004 and got a $50 Home Depot card. Much appreciated, it was a fixer upper. Paid about $200k. Closed on a $900k house in 2019 got a $300 Home Depot card, because realtor knew we wanted to buy gear for the garden. Very much appreciated again.

[Anonymous]

We got a generous gift card to a nice restaurant nearby when we closed, and our house was less than $1M. A few months later our realtor delivered a Thanksgiving pie from a local bakery to our doorstep. She also sends little gifts to her past clients about twice a year (free movie tickets, a set of spice rubs, reed diffuser).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Closed on our house in 2004 and got a $50 Home Depot card. Much appreciated, it was a fixer upper. Paid about $200k. Closed on a $900k house in 2019 got a $300 Home Depot card, because realtor knew we wanted to buy gear for the garden. Very much appreciated again.

Just remembered that in addition to the gift card, realtor delivered a personalized gift too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would like to know your thoughts. We recently bought a very expensive home. (over 3M) so expensive to me. One of my closest friends is in real estate and casually asked me what our broker sent as a closing gift because she is looking for unique ideas to send for her own clients as closing gifts. I didn't think much about it as we just closed about 7 weeks ago but then realized nothing was given. And that kind of surprised me when she drew my attention to it. Last time we closed on a house we got a huge beautiful gourmet food basket and the time before that, a case of my husbands favorite wine.

My friend told me in all the homes she has sold, she has never not given something even a small token something as a closing gift and a thank you for a nice commission check. My husband was not crazy about this broker to begin with but now that I think about it, I am kind of disappointed. Is this the norm? If giving something is the norm, it makes me realize my husband is a great judge of character It is not that we need the gift but more the thought/gesture. Especially since she walked away with a 6 digit commission.

Why would the broker send something? Do you even have a relationship with the broker?

Sounds like your issue is with the agent.

It’s gauche to expect a gift, though.

Has OP answered this question yet??
Why on God's green earth would a broker send you anything??
Your agent would be the one who might do so.
How does someone who lives in a $3 million dollar home not understand this?

Nice job teaching everyone the proper terminology. No one should get away with simple misunderstanding of terminology. There is a spot in the Justice League waiting for you!

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit and all that.

It’s a valid question. Is OP more or less of a moron than you? That’s a question worth pondering.

Convenient how you leave out the “and all that” relevant part of the quote

“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence.” - Oscar Wilde

PP was being extremely pedantic and I pointed it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My goodness who cares. You are well-off enough to buy a $3M home and you're worried about a shitty bottle of Veuve.

I don't think OP is worried or grasping. Just getting a sense of what the sentiments are around gift-giving, networking, creating a bond with RE agent, etc.

[Anonymous]

We bought in 2021. Received champagne, a gift card to a local restaurant, gifts for our kids, and holiday delivery months later from our realtor. Above and beyond but very appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got a generous gift card to a nice restaurant nearby when we closed, and our house was less than $1M. A few months later our realtor delivered a Thanksgiving pie from a local bakery to our doorstep. She also sends little gifts to her past clients about twice a year (free movie tickets, a set of spice rubs, reed diffuser).

I feel like we had the same realtor. She's amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have asked for a rebate on the commission. Surely no one pays 6% on a 3m house?!

Well, OP paid nothing. The seller pays.

And who paid tge seller??? Think very hard about this. How did the seller get the money for that 3% commission? Oh wait…

No, *You* think a little harder about this.

OP made no direct payment to the buyer agent. That payment was made by the seller. It’s not like the 3% was tacked on like a tax.

Also, it’s really weird that OP expects a gift from the *broker.* Has she even met the broker?

I negotiated a 1/2% rebate on the buyer agent commission. So we got 1/2% credit on our 1.1 house and a thoughtful gift as well.