What Realtors Are Gifting Buyers Instead of Wine Baskets: What to Plan For

Every agent has a go to closing gift. Wine, a candle, an engraved cutting board, a fruit basket. They are nice. They also show up the same week your client is surrounded by boxes, trying to find the coffee maker, and most of them end up in a cabinet before anyone opens them.

The gifts people talk about later are the ones that solved a problem they actually had that week.

Gifts that get used

• Help with the move itself. A moving tote rental, a couple of hours of movers, or a junk removal pickup for whatever they are leaving behind at the old place.
• A locksmith rekey. Almost every buyer means to rekey the new house and almost nobody gets around to it in the first month.
• A house cleaning. Either before move in, so they unpack into a clean house, or after move out at the old place.
• Dinner on the first night. A gift card to a restaurant near the new house. The kitchen is still in boxes and nobody wants to cook.
• A local hardware store gift card. The first month in a house is a steady stream of light bulbs, outlet covers, shelf brackets and paint samples.

Why a moving gift works so well

Timing is the whole thing. A closing gift usually arrives when there is nowhere to put it. A moving gift arrives exactly when it is needed, during the two weeks your client is packing, and it gets used in front of everyone helping them move.

It also takes something off their list. Buying boxes, finding tape and breaking down cardboard afterward is one of the least fun parts of a move, and nobody misses it.

What makes a gift turn into a referral

There is no trick here. A gift that is useful, shows up at the right moment and clearly came from you does most of the work. Add a short handwritten note so it reads as personal, not as a marketing piece.

How much should you spend?

There is no fixed rule. Most agents scale the gift to the deal and their own budget. A useful gift does not have to be expensive. A restaurant gift card or a Studio tote package for a first time buyer moving out of an apartment both land well.

How the tote gift works

You pick a package based on the home your client is moving out of, send us their name, packing address and the date if they have one, and we take it from there. If the move date is not set yet, check that box on the form and we will reach out to your client to schedule. Details and the request form are on our page for agents.