Closing Gifts Guide
- Photo Gallery: 16 Closing Gifts for $50 and Under
- 6 Most Popular Customer Gifts
- Do You Even Need a Gift?
- What Your Peers Are Giving
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Cost vs. Value Report
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Take a Quiz
30 under 30
Young Professionals
REALTOR® Emeritus
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Buyer's Guide: Do-It-Yourself Gift Ideas
Get creative: You can create the perfect gift yourself.
With some time, a little patience, and very little money, real estate practitioners can create a memorable closing gift on their own. Here are a few ideas to inspire you:
Backyard barbeques: Erasmo "Razz" Garcia, a real estate professional and partner at 1st State Realty in San Antonio, said he throws barbeques for his clients and their families as a way to say "thank you."
"They will share the free barbeque story with their guests and bring referrals," Garcia says. He also sometimes pays for his clients' moving truck rental.
Festive décor: Over the holidays, Sharon L. Kerr, ePRO®, GRI, with Coldwell Banker Sunstar Realty Inc. in Port Charlotte, Fla., gives do-it-yourself gifts to her clients and friends. She buys glass blocks from a home goods store, drills a small hole in the back, and stuffs in a string of lights inside. She then ties a large ribbon around the block, and hot glues on accents such as sea shells. The end result is a festive DIY piece of home décor.
Wine maker: Home brewer Kim Olson, ABR®, e-PRO®, in Edina, Minn., makes her own wine and customizes the labels with a photo of the buyer's new home (or the home they just sold). It costs her only about $3 to $5 per bottle.
"Everyone loves it, especially since it is homemade," says Olson. "They like the personal touch that I made it myself—not just the label, but the wine. When I visit my clients a year after they closed, they are still displaying their wine bottle proudly for all of their friends and family to see."
Vision board: Shad Dennis, a real estate professional with Weidel, REALTORS®, in New Hope, Pa./Lambertville, N.J., gives a "value vision board," in which he takes about nine pictures or text descriptions of a house, prints out the image compilation, and frames it for his clients. He also buys his sellers a virtual tour for marketing.
"For one sale where I represented an individual's estate, I made a contribution in the estate's name to an appropriate charity and sent the certificate acknowledging the donation to the family," Dennis said.
8 More Do-it-Yourself Gift Ideas From Real Estate Pros
- Everyone loves a party. Invite your clients to a get-together.
- Deliver homemade cookies.
- Use your talents: painting, sewing, or calligraphy—frame your original art.
- Compile recipes into a homemade, personalized cookbook.
- Lend a hand: gardening, cleaning, painting, or moving.
- Handy with a hammer? Make storage units, shelves, or a decorative coat rack.
- Put together a new home owner's gift basket. Include small tools, cleaning supplies, paint brushes, light bulbs, a local map, needed phone numbers, etc.
- Get camera-happy: Make a new-home picture book, frame a picture of the house, or attach a photo to jewelry, stickers, magnets, or holiday ornaments.
Learn More: Photo Gallery ׀ What Others Are Using ׀ Most Popular Ideas
You can contact the staff of REALTOR® magazine by e-mail at narpubs@realtors.org.