montster Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 we just bought a house a few weeks ago. we had an incredibly patient, professional and courteous agent who was available at a moment's notice, from the time nine months ago when it seemed we were nowhere near ready to buy a house to when we finally signed the closing papers. on our move-in day last week, she came by and gave us a bottle of champagne and a $200 gift certificate for dinner as a thank you for our business. even before that, my wife and i had discussed giving our agent a gift, perhaps a gift card to a day spa or something like that. we'd still like to, even if it seems like we're only getting something for her because she got something for us. i'm just curious if giving your real-estate agent a gift is common practice, and, if so, what are ideas for what people gave. (for the record, we had no house to sell.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheikYerbuti Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Yeah, it's called "The Commission". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 I took ours out to dinner with us but for real I think that the commission is the gift that the agent is looking for. After we closed our deal, she sent us a thank you card with 100.00 Home Depot card and a 50.00 gift card to one of our favorite resturants. We also very much liked this woman but we stopped short of getting her a gift. One thing that I will do for her is send some clients her way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darin3 Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 I took ours out to dinner with us but for real I think that the commission is the gift that the agent is looking for. After we closed our deal, she sent us a thank you card with 100.00 Home Depot card and a 50.00 gift card to one of our favorite resturants. We also very much liked this woman but we stopped short of getting her a gift. One thing that I will do for her is send some clients her way. Absolutely perfect, spot-on info here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 you did her a favor buy using her. real estate is in the crappy right now. any agent is happy just to have clients. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 (edited) A nice bottle of wine should be sufficient if she drinks. Dont go too crazy. Im sure she appreciates the commission but it is nice to see you were that pleased with her that you want to do something extra. Skips idea of taking her to dinner with you is a great one as well. Congrats on the house Edited June 5, 2009 by whomper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 I took ours out to dinner with us but for real I think that the commission is the gift that the agent is looking for. After we closed our deal, she sent us a thank you card with 100.00 Home Depot card and a 50.00 gift card to one of our favorite resturants. We also very much liked this woman but we stopped short of getting her a gift. One thing that I will do for her is send some clients her way. Â Â Absolutely perfect, spot-on info here. Â +1 Â On a side note....when we closed on our house 10 years ago, our agent had another closing set-up at the same time, so a lackey from his office represented us at the table. He was great, closing went very smooth, no problems. Â Except our agent never once called us post-closing, never sent any kind of gift or card, nothing. We are still on his mailing list, asking us to recommend him to our friends in need, and asking for our business if we are ready to move yet again. Â Not likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexgaddis Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Yep, give them a referral...best gift you could give them outside of their commission, which it sounds like they earned for once... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Yeah, it's called "The Commission". + 1 million Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 On a related topic, we somehow managed to spend a pretty tidy sum working out an operating agreement in which no side had any truly major issues with at all. Mostly just lawyers being lawyers and laying on a bunch of "what ifs". Eventually we agreed to stop the madness, call off the dogs, and just realize that if one of those insanely unlikely situations came up and one or both of us turned into psychotic a-holes, then we'd just sue each other. Â What gift should I get this guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 + 1 million seriously Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 I havent done a ton of transactions but every one i have done I represented the buyer and always gave something. The 2 that I have done somewhat recently..1 I gave a Bonzai tree. I bought it from a guy that I know that raises them. The woman absolutely loves it  The other couple is a friend of mine. I forfeited 900 dollars in commission to save his deal which i felt was generous enough. I just bought him a nice bottle of wine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 So, uh, the agent. Was she hot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted June 6, 2009 Author Share Posted June 6, 2009 I took ours out to dinner with us but for real I think that the commission is the gift that the agent is looking for. After we closed our deal, she sent us a thank you card with 100.00 Home Depot card and a 50.00 gift card to one of our favorite resturants. We also very much liked this woman but we stopped short of getting her a gift. One thing that I will do for her is send some clients her way.  when she delivered the gift to us, i told her that, unfortunately, we don't know anyone who's selling or looking for a house, but if we did, i'd recommend her in a heartbeat. she seemed appreciative of that.  A nice bottle of wine should be sufficient if she drinks. Dont go too crazy. Im sure she appreciates the commission but it is nice to see you were that pleased with her that you want to do something extra. Skips idea of taking her to dinner with you is a great one as well. Congrats on the house  thanks, whomp. friends of ours took their agent to dinner, but i really think it would be too awkward for all. we'll likely get her a bottle of wine, or send her flowers to her office. thanks for the responses, guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Um, my real estate agent took ME to dinner. Dropped some serious coin, too. Course, that was about 4 years ago before things went into the crapper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darin3 Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 We got a gift card from our mortgage broker and our realtor got us a photo frame (with a little black lab on it - she knew we had a black lab puppy) and a few other little gifts for our "housewarming". We got both the broker and realtor nothing, aside from assuring them we'd refer clients to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuke'em ttg Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 WHAT ABOUT THE F'N CARPENTER THAT DID ALL THE BACKBREAKIN WORK FOR PEANUTS COMPARED TA WHAT THIS SLUT JUST PULLED DOWN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 I did want to add that my agent who did end up being a dual agent for the deal did give up 1% of her commission to make the deal work. So even though we took her out to a pretty decent dinner, I really feel like I got the best of the deal with her. I mean sure she wants to sell the house but she knew that when I drew my line in the sand that she had to make the other people take the deal and that took taking the offer that was given on a Friday to her giving up 1% on Monday night before the other party took the offer. Â She told me that we did really well with how we came in with our offer and assured us that we got the house as cheap as possible. The house right behind mine just went on the market this past week for 13K more and no way compares to mine. A house 15 or so houses down that was on the market the same time as mine that we looked at but liked ours better did sell for 8K more and is the same house but steps to the door and not as many little upgrades. I owe most of this to my agent as I am not sure I would have gotten this house with a different agent. Â I just sent my sister to her last week and my sister called me this morning to thank me and tell me that they are going to put a bid in on a house today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bier Meister Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 our realator has been a friend since a little after we moved out here. we used him to sell our condo about 2 years ago, then used him again to buy our home last sept. he was a little green with the first sale and we actually ran into some major bs with the buyers. he did an admirable job dealing with the BS. he did a very nice job when we bought (i was living in avon, and mrs was down in denver) our new home. a lot of coordinating. as we do things with their family a bit..... i think after the first one they bought us a nice dinner. the second we hosted a small housewarming where i cooked and provided some good wines. Â if this were a stranger: i would have probably gotten the person a gift cert at one of my favorite restaurants up here for teh first one.. and a nice bottle of wine for the second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 How about you and your wife invite the agent for a 3-way? Nothing says "thanks" like giving of yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoTheWebToedBoy Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 We bought our house a couple of years ago. After it was all over I invited everyone that helped me move over for some prime steaks and alcohol. That gave him access to a couple of possible new clients, and at least one commission as I recall. Â He got me a good deal, least I could do.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar Magnolia Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Our realtor sold our house and he made $42,500 (3% commission). He did get us multiple offers and it sold in 3 days for above asking. This was at the end of 2004, not current market. Â We bought him and his girl friend dinner. What did he give us? A calendar with his realtor's logo on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Ryan Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 referral is the best gift you can give. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 They unbolted the hitch, loaded their tools, drove away. No kiss. No nothin. :kickrock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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