I wonder how many of us have been around long enough to see the trend change in agents giving new homeowners a nice gift at closing? It hasn’t really been that long since this “protocol” has sort of fallen out of style – what? maybe in the last ten years or so?
I just remember that when I was a newbie, everybody I knew gave nice gifts to their clients at closing. There were even businesses which specialized in putting packages together for such an occasion, and they would personalize the gift (it was usually this obscenely large basket filled with all kinds of stuff) for the clients, according to their likes…golf balls for golfers, a book by a local author for an avid reader, etc. And these baskets could run in to some serious money – several hundred dollars for a nice one. But I just don’t see many of those anymore.
Now, I still see agents giving gifts, but they are scaled way down from those lavish offerings of yesteryear. I mean, you will still see a few now and then, but they are the exception now, not the rule. And they tend to be for specialty clients on high end properties, and/or to finally put to bed a hard earned home sale that was particularly tough on the client…a way of saying, “I know this was hard for you guys, and this is my way of saying ‘Thanks for sticking with me.’”
But have you noticed the latest and greatest trend along the lines of gift giving? And we noticed this about three to five years ago…and it seems to be happening more and more -- THE CLIENT IS NOW GIVING THE AGENT A GIFT AT CLOSING!!! Wow! What’s up with THAT? Maybe we have raised our level of service so dramatically that our clients feel they simply must lavish upon us, gifts of appreciation.
Or, they could just feel sorry for us. HaHa! Whatever the reason(s), this is a delightful new twist, isn’t it? You could always see this occasionally, but not on the scale you see it today.
I will still give gifts at closing on a case by case basis, but not always. But I am more likely to give a $250 gift card to the Home Depot or Lowe’s than I am to spend that same amount on a fancy basket full of stuffy-stuff. Stuffy- stuff is nice, but stuffy-stuff won’t paint your walls or lay a rug or buy a leaf blower – things you might need for that new home you just bought.
Fascinating how our business has evolved over the years, and subsequently how we, as REALTORS, have evolved along with it. I would be curious to hear from some of you as to whether or not the trends I have described here hold true in your market as they do here in mine.
Happy Tuesday evening! (practically hump day!) : )
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